Height 0 kmT 0 Kp 0 Paρ 0 kg/m³c 0 m/sTroposphereFPS 0

Drag to orbit, wheel or pinch to zoom. Heights are drawn on a layer-by-layer non-linear scale (the real atmosphere is a hair-thin skin compared with the Earth). Balloon size is not to scale.

Atmosphere Layers: Temperature Profile and Sounding Balloon

Send a weather balloon up through the standard atmosphere and read the air as it thins and changes temperature layer by layer.

Balloon and display

Layers (click one)

Live readouts

Temperature vs height

log10 pressure (Pa) vs height (km)

Missions

Independent numerical checks

Controls

Launch starts the ascent; the Speed slider is simulated seconds per real second. Reset puts the balloon back on the ground.
Helium mass sets the free lift; burst diameter is the envelope limit. Click a layer in the table (or press Isolate) to highlight it.
Drag / one finger: orbit; wheel / pinch: zoom. Camera cycles orbit, ascent follow and a side profile.

The science

Standard atmosphere. The 1976 US Standard Atmosphere is a model of a mean, dry atmosphere. Temperature is piecewise linear in geopotential height H = r₀h/(r₀+h): −6.5 K/km (troposphere, to 11 km), 0 (to 20), +1 (to 32), +2.8 (to 47), 0 (stratopause to 51), −2.8 (to 71), −2.0 K/km (to 84.852 km, the mesopause). Temperature rises in the stratosphere because ozone absorbs ultraviolet light, and in the thermosphere because the very thin gas absorbs extreme ultraviolet.

Pressure. Hydrostatic balance dp/dH = −ρg₀ with ρ = pM/(R*T) gives p = p_b[T/T_b]^(−g₀M/(R*L)) for a layer with lapse rate L, and p = p_b exp(−g₀M(H−H_b)/(R*T_b)) for an isothermal layer. Sound speed is c = √(γRT) and the mean free path λ = kT/(√2 π d² p) with d = 0.365 nm.

Balloon. Helium at ambient pressure and temperature fills an elastic envelope: V = m_He R* T / (M_He p) (Boyle/ideal gas). The displaced-air mass ρV = m_HeM_air/M_He does not depend on height, so the free lift stays constant and the balloon rises at the drag-limited speed v = √(2 F / (ρ C_d A)) (C_d = 0.3). It bursts when V reaches the envelope volume.

Simplifications. No wind in the vertical, no heat exchange between gas and air (gas = ambient T), no stretch pressure, no humidity, standard (not real) day. The table stops at 86 km: the thermosphere and exosphere are drawn schematically and are not modelled numerically. Layer boundaries move with season and latitude in the real atmosphere. Educational only. Models built with Blender, scene by Three.js.