Obviously I figured it’d be much colder, but I’ve been in -55°f wind chills and it took me being at 8000+ feet elevation, in a northern latitude, in the peak of a record setting winter, for us to hit that. So, yeah I expected freezing temps up there, but -52.6°f is making my brain hurt. It’s just so crazy that I figured it had to include some other weather phenomenon, not just altitude.
the thinner the gas (less atoms per m³), the less temperature it transfers
athmosphere filters light: which is why we see the sky as blue and why a very clear hot day has a high UV index (though most of the dangerous radiation gets reflected)
space temperature works via radiation; the habitable band around earth has 80 to 120°C in direct sun exposure, while it’s freezing -120 to -150°C in earths shadow; mainly through infrared radiation
I guess the short version is; a balance between infrared reflectivity and direct transfer, with heat house effect also playing a role. But the ground absorbing the majority of the radiation/temperature, is the main reason in the Troposphere.
8000 feet standing on a mountain isn’t the same as being 8000 feet above the ground. It’s likely that what you’ve experienced is some combination of air from lower altitudes being carried by wind blowing up the mountain, and the ground absorbing sunlight and warming up the air.
Without either of those things, the temperature in open sky is likely to be colder than a mountaintop at similar altitude
Oh, I’m not disagreeing, and I assume that speed was not helping, I just had no idea that it got that cold. I was hoping, if you can call it that, that the incident was due to some freak weather phenomenon
This is why flying is an over-rated super power. It’d be cold and wet and windy and require heavy gear. None of this undies on the outside spandex stuff.
Obviously I figured it’d be much colder, but I’ve been in -55°f wind chills and it took me being at 8000+ feet elevation, in a northern latitude, in the peak of a record setting winter, for us to hit that. So, yeah I expected freezing temps up there, but -52.6°f is making my brain hurt. It’s just so crazy that I figured it had to include some other weather phenomenon, not just altitude.
Yeah, it’s not as simple as the comments suggest.
I think a good start are those articles: Athmosphere of Earth, Albedo, Greenhouse effect, together with the facts
I guess the short version is; a balance between infrared reflectivity and direct transfer, with heat house effect also playing a role. But the ground absorbing the majority of the radiation/temperature, is the main reason in the Troposphere.
8000 feet standing on a mountain isn’t the same as being 8000 feet above the ground. It’s likely that what you’ve experienced is some combination of air from lower altitudes being carried by wind blowing up the mountain, and the ground absorbing sunlight and warming up the air.
Without either of those things, the temperature in open sky is likely to be colder than a mountaintop at similar altitude
Also, aircraft go far higher than 8000 feet. Crusing altitudes can be more like 20,000 or 30,000
Oh, I’m not disagreeing, and I assume that speed was not helping, I just had no idea that it got that cold. I was hoping, if you can call it that, that the incident was due to some freak weather phenomenon
This is why flying is an over-rated super power. It’d be cold and wet and windy and require heavy gear. None of this undies on the outside spandex stuff.
Chronicle is the only “super powers” movie to ever address this. Iron Man did too, but only when it helped the plot.