Which of the following statements explains why temperature increases with altitude in the thermosphere? Choose one: The ozone layer is located within the thermosphere, and it absorbs high-energy solar radiation. Earth's lower atmosphere is heated indirectly by longer-wavelength terrestrial re-radiation. The air particles in the thermosphere absorb high-energy radiation from the Sun. Earth's lower atmosphere is heated directly by incoming short-wavelength solar radiation.

The air particles in the thermosphere absorb high-energy radiation from the Sun.

Explanation:

The thermosphere lies above the mesosphere but below the exosphere in the Earth's atmosphere. The thermosphere can be considered to be part of space because of how close to space it lies, and ionization of particles by ultraviolet rays occurs a lot here; this been that some part of the thermosphere is overlapped by the ionosphere. Due to its proximity to space, particles in the thermosphere are exposed to a high level of solar energy radiation, which causes their temperature to be very high, sometimes as high as 1700 °C or more.