What term is used to describe the lowest layer of the Earth's atmosphere, characterized by a general decrease in temperature with increasing altitude?

💡 Solution & Explanation

The troposphere forms the lowest thermal layer of the atmosphere where temperature decreases steadily with increasing altitude due to heating from the Earth's surface. Higher layers like the stratosphere experience temperature inversions caused by ozone absorption of ultraviolet radiation. This layer holds approximately seventy-five percent of the atmospheric mass and drives most weather phenomena.