Under what conditions does inversion of temperature apply?
Answers
What are the conditions leading to the development of temperature inversion and the consequences of this atmospheric phenomenon?
Temperature inversions ... temperatures increasing with height in the atmosphere ... occur predominantly in two ways. One is the cooling of the atmosphere near the surface when incoming solar radiation declines as the sun goes down, resulting in loss of heat at the surface by outgoing thermal radiation. This is the process by which the so-called "nocturnal surface inversion" is created. It occurs virtually every day, but is inhibited by cloudiness.
The other way temperature inversions are produced is by winds aloft bringing in warm air above a layer of relatively cool air by a process called "differential advection".
It's common for air in the stratosphere to be warmed through absorption of sunlight by ozone, which can result in a temperature inversion at the "tropopause" (that marks the boundary level between the troposphere below and the stratosphere above).