Earth's atmosphere can be divided into layers based on temperature. The lower portion, in contact with Earth's surface, is the troposphere . The most turbulent weather occurs in this layer of the atmosphere. Structure of Earth's atmosphere. The troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere closest to Earth's surface, contains lots of water vapor.
Water vapor absorbs infrared radiation.
This means that much of the heat stays near the surface. With increasing distance from Earth's surface, there is less water vapor to hold the heat, so the infrared energy escapes and the temperature in the troposphere decreases with increasing altitude. The tropopause is where temperature reaches a minimum. The stratosphere is above the tropopause. The stratosphere contains very dry air.