Consider the following statements : I. Without the atmosphere, temperature would be well below freezing point everywhere on the Earth's surface. II. Heat absorbed and trapped by the atmosphere maintains our planet's average temperature. III. Atmosphere's gases, like carbon dioxide, are particularly good at absorbing and trapping radiation. Which of the statements given above are correct?

States that the atmosphere keeps surface temperature within certain limits and that in its absence extremes of temperature would exist between day and night.

A student could combine this with the idea of day–night radiative heating to infer that, without an atmosphere, nights could become much colder (possibly below freezing) while days could be much hotter.

Explains the planetary heat budget and that some incoming solar energy is reflected/absorbed by the atmosphere before reaching the surface.

One could extend this by estimating the surface energy that would remain without atmospheric reflection/absorption to judge how much solar heating the bare surface would receive and whether average temperatures might remain above or fall below freezing.

Notes that a moderate temperature on Earth arises partly because the planet is the right size to support an atmosphere, which plays a major role in sustaining life.

A student could infer that losing the atmosphere would remove that moderating influence and then compare Earth’s solar input (using a basic Sun–Earth distance map) to evaluate likely surface temperatures without atmospheric effects.

Provides examples of planets with listed average temperatures and whether they have atmospheres, implying a connection between atmosphere presence and planetary surface temperature.

By comparing the table’s temperatures and atmosphere presence, a student could use planetary examples (and their distances from the Sun) to reason whether an airless Earth would resemble the temperature extremes of other airless or thin-atmosphere bodies.

Describes that the atmosphere causes temperature to decrease with altitude because the atmosphere is heated from the surface (normal lapse rate).

A student could use this rule to argue that, without an atmosphere heated from the surface, the vertical temperature structure would change and surface heat retention (especially at night) would be reduced, affecting whether surfaces stay above freezing.