Atmospheric pressure-temperature profile ($T(P)$)

An atmospheric pressure-temperature profile specifies temperature as a function of pressure through an exoplanet atmosphere. Pressure normally increases inward under hydrostatic equilibrium, so it is a useful vertical coordinate even when the absolute altitude is uncertain. In a radiative equilibrium region, heating and cooling by radiation determine the profile; where that profile would be unstable, convection can carry energy and bring the gradient close to an adiabatic temperature gradient.

The profile explains why a molecular band can appear in absorption or as emission lines. Greater opacity makes the emerging light sample a higher layer. If that layer is colder, the band is dimmer; an atmospheric thermal inversion can reverse this behaviour. An atmospheric retrieval therefore needs both abundances and the profile, rather than identifying composition from band depth alone.

The lower part of a planetary atmosphere where temperature generally decreases outward and convection can carry intrinsic or surface heat. Its upper boundary is a tropopause. Stellar irradiation, composition gradients and clouds affect the extent of this region; pressure alone does not universally identify it.

The transition above a planetary troposphere, usually near a temperature minimum or the change to a weakly varying or outward-increasing temperature profile. The overlying planetary stratosphere is stable against ordinary thermal convection. Its pressure is planet- and location-dependent.

For $P_0>0$, $\alpha \ne 0$, $T\ge T_0$ and physical $T>0$, the atmospheric pressure-temperature profile $P=P_0\exp (\alpha \sqrt{T-T_0})$ is equivalent toThe branch restriction is essential: squaring does not create a second physical branch. Its temperature gradient is $dT/d\log P=2\sqrt{T-T_0}/\alpha$. Thus, in hydrostatic equilibrium, $\alpha <0$ gives an atmospheric thermal inversion, while $\alpha >0$ gives outward cooling. At $T=T_0$ the inverse branch has zero derivative; $\alpha =0$ gives constant pressure and cannot describe a nontrivial hydrostatic vertical interval.

For a homogeneous ideal gas of constant specific-heat ratio $\gamma >1$, the Schwarzschild criterion applied to the square-root exponential atmospheric profile givesFor $T_0>0$ and $\alpha >0$, put $s=\sqrt{T-T_0}$ and $A={\nabla }_{\mathrm{ad}}$. The quadratic inequality $A\alpha s^2-2s+A\alpha T_0<0$ has solutions precisely when $A\alpha \sqrt{T_0}<1$, between $s_{\pm }=[1\pm \sqrt{1-(A\alpha {)}^2{T}_0}]/(A\alpha )$. This is a local instability of the imposed temperature gradient; actual convection adjusts that gradient and the prescribed profile need not survive.