(published on 07/28/2012)
(published on 02/05/2013)
Yes, the Earth and its atmosphere are very far from being an equilibrium system. There's energy input from the hot Sun, which mostly warms the Earth's surface. Then that energy flows out to cold space, mostly in the form of infrared light. Part of this pattern is that the atmosphere generally gets colder as you get farther from the surface. There are parts of the stratosphere, however, that are hot because they absorb ultraviolet light from the Sun.
So everybody knows there are big gradients in the temperature of the atmosphere, although they aren't monotonic. Only crackpots think that gravity makes temperature gradients in equilibrium.
Mike W.
(published on 01/02/2016)