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Theaverage temperature at the equator, because day length is constant at 12 hours, does not vary with the seasons as it does at higher latitudes.

Instead, it varies with altitude, because the work done by rising air causes it to cool and as a result temperatures higher above the surface are cooler than at sea level. At the equator, temperatures cool up to 27,000 metres above sea level, an altitude known as the tropopause.

Typically, at sea level on the equator temperatures are a constant 30ËšC (86ËšF) by day and 25ËšC (77ËšF) by night. They fall by about 6ËšC or 10ËšF for every thousand metres of altitude, so that at an altitude of 4,600 metres the average temperature is 0ËšC or 32ËšF. (Although convective precipitation is not effective in such cold temperatures, it is still sufficient for the permanent snow line at the equator to be no higher than the 0ËšC isotherm).

However, at high altitudes, owing to the intense sun and poor retention of heat in thin air with little CO2, diurnal temperature ranges are much higher than at sea level, so that at 3,000 metres temperatures will range from 16ËšC (61ËšF) in the daytime to 0ËšC at night. At 4,600 metres it may vary from 10ËšC in the day to -10ËšC at night.

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7y ago

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