In the document MIL-STD-210A, variations of the standard atmosphere are defined. These variants are the hot atmosphere, the cold atmosphere, the polar atmosphere and the tropical atmosphere. These may be used in place of the standard atmosphere to study the effects of extreme temperature.
The four atmospheres have different profiles that are shown in the following table. The atmospheres are defined to 100000 feet with temperature in degrees Rankine.
| ALT,Kft | HOT | COLD | POLAR | TROPICAL | STANDARD |
| .0 | 562.7 | 399.7 | 444.0 | 549.5 | 518.7 |
| 1.0 | 558.9 | 413.2 | 447.0 | 545.6 | 515.1 |
| 2.0 | 555.1 | 426.7 | 450.1 | 541.7 | 511.5 |
| 3.0 | 551.2 | 440.4 | 453.1 | 537.8 | 508.0 |
| 4.0 | 547.3 | 444.7 | 453.5 | 534.0 | 504.4 |
| 5.0 | 543.4 | 444.7 | 453.0 | 530.1 | 500.8 |
| 6.0 | 539.5 | 444.7 | 452.4 | 526.2 | 497.3 |
| 7.0 | 535.5 | 444.7 | 451.9 | 522.3 | 493.7 |
| 8.0 | 531.5 | 444.7 | 451.3 | 518.4 | 490.2 |
| 9.0 | 527.5 | 444.7 | 450.8 | 514.6 | 486.6 |
| 10.0 | 523.6 | 444.7 | 450.0 | 510.7 | 483.0 |
| 11.0 | 519.9 | 443.9 | 447.2 | 506.8 | 479.5 |
| 12.0 | 516.1 | 440.6 | 444.3 | 502.9 | 475.9 |
| 13.0 | 512.3 | 437.3 | 441.5 | 499.1 | 472.3 |
| 14.0 | 508.5 | 434.0 | 438.7 | 495.2 | 468.8 |
| 15.0 | 504.6 | 430.6 | 435.9 | 491.3 | 465.2 |
| 16.0 | 500.7 | 427.3 | 433.0 | 487.5 | 461.7 |
| 17.0 | 496.8 | 423.9 | 430.2 | 483.6 | 458.1 |
| 18.0 | 492.8 | 420.5 | 427.4 | 479.7 | 454.5 |
| 19.0 | 488.9 | 417.0 | 424.5 | 475.8 | 451.0 |
| 20.0 | 485.2 | 413.6 | 421.7 | 472.0 | 447.4 |
| 21.0 | 481.5 | 410.1 | 418.8 | 468.1 | 443.9 |
| 22.0 | 477.7 | 406.5 | 416.0 | 464.2 | 440.3 |
| 23.0 | 474.0 | 403.0 | 413.1 | 460.4 | 436.7 |
| 24.0 | 470.2 | 399.4 | 410.3 | 456.5 | 433.2 |
| 25.0 | 466.4 | 395.8 | 407.4 | 452.7 | 429.6 |
| 26.0 | 462.6 | 392.2 | 404.5 | 448.8 | 426.1 |
| 27.0 | 458.7 | 388.6 | 401.7 | 444.9 | 422.5 |
| 28.0 | 454.8 | 384.9 | 398.8 | 441.7 | 419.0 |
| 29.0 | 451.0 | 381.1 | 395.9 | 437.2 | 415.4 |
| 30.0 | 447.4 | 377.4 | 393.0 | 433.4 | 411.8 |
| 31.0 | 443.8 | 374.7 | 392.5 | 429.5 | 408.3 |
| 32.0 | 440.2 | 374.7 | 392.2 | 425.6 | 404.7 |
| 33.0 | 436.5 | 374.7 | 392.0 | 421.8 | 401.2 |
| 34.0 | 432.9 | 374.7 | 391.7 | 417.9 | 397.6 |
| 35.0 | 429.6 | 374.7 | 391.4 | 414.1 | 394.1 |
| 36.0 | 426.3 | 374.7 | 391.2 | 410.2 | 390.5 |
| 37.0 | 423.0 | 374.7 | 390.9 | 406.4 | 390.0 |
| 38.0 | 419.6 | 374.7 | 390.7 | 402.6 | 390.0 |
| 39.0 | 416.2 | 374.7 | 390.4 | 398.8 | 390.0 |
| 40.0 | 414.9 | 374.7 | 390.1 | 395.1 | 390.0 |
| 41.0 | 415.4 | 374.7 | 389.9 | 391.4 | 390.0 |
| 42.0 | 415.8 | 374.7 | 389.6 | 387.7 | 390.0 |
| 43.0 | 416.2 | 371.5 | 389.4 | 384.1 | 390.0 |
| 44.0 | 416.6 | 366.4 | 389.1 | 380.5 | 390.0 |
| 45.0 | 417.1 | 361.1 | 388.8 | 376.9 | 390.0 |
| 46.0 | 417.6 | 355.8 | 388.6 | 373.4 | 390.0 |
| 47.0 | 418.0 | 350.4 | 388.3 | 369.9 | 390.0 |
| 48.0 | 418.5 | 345.0 | 388.1 | 366.5 | 390.0 |
| 49.0 | 419.0 | 340.5 | 387.8 | 363.0 | 390.0 |
| 50.0 | 419.5 | 336.8 | 387.5 | 359.6 | 390.0 |
| 51.0 | 419.8 | 334.7 | 387.3 | 356.3 | 390.0 |
| 52.0 | 420.0 | 334.7 | 387.0 | 352.9 | 390.0 |
| 53.0 | 420.2 | 334.7 | 386.8 | 349.6 | 390.0 |
| 54.0 | 420.4 | 334.7 | 386.5 | 348.6 | 390.0 |
| 55.0 | 420.6 | 334.7 | 386.2 | 350.7 | 390.0 |
| 56.0 | 420.7 | 334.7 | 386.0 | 352.9 | 390.0 |
| 57.0 | 420.9 | 334.7 | 385.7 | 355.1 | 390.0 |
| 58.0 | 421.1 | 334.7 | 385.5 | 357.2 | 390.0 |
| 60.0 | 421.5 | 334.7 | 385.0 | 361.7 | 390.0 |
| 62.0 | 421.9 | 337.6 | 384.4 | 366.1 | 390.0 |
| 64.0 | 422.3 | 343.7 | 383.9 | 370.7 | 390.0 |
| 66.0 | 422.6 | 349.3 | 383.4 | 375.3 | 390.1 |
| 68.0 | 423.6 | 354.4 | 382.9 | 379.9 | 391.2 |
| 70.0 | 425.0 | 359.2 | 382.4 | 384.2 | 392.2 |
| 72.0 | 426.4 | 363.6 | 381.9 | 386.8 | 393.3 |
| 74.0 | 427.8 | 365.4 | 381.4 | 389.4 | 394.4 |
| 76.0 | 429.2 | 364.9 | 380.9 | 392.1 | 395.5 |
| 78.0 | 430.6 | 364.4 | 380.3 | 394.7 | 396.6 |
| 80.0 | 432.0 | 363.8 | 379.8 | 397.4 | 397.7 |
| 82.0 | 433.6 | 363.1 | 379.3 | 400.1 | 398.8 |
| 84.0 | 435.1 | 362.3 | 378.8 | 402.8 | 399.9 |
| 86.0 | 436.7 | 361.5 | 378.3 | 405.5 | 401.0 |
| 88.0 | 438.4 | 360.8 | 378.3 | 408.2 | 402.0 |
| 90.0 | 439.9 | 360.0 | 378.3 | 410.9 | 403.1 |
| 92.0 | 441.4 | 359.2 | 378.3 | 413.6 | 404.2 |
| 94.0 | 442.9 | 358.4 | 378.3 | 416.3 | 405.3 |
| 96.0 | 444.6 | 357.6 | 378.3 | 418.9 | 406.4 |
| 98.0 | 446.3 | 356.7 | 378.3 | 421.6 | 407.5 |
| 100.0 | 448.1 | 355.8 | 378.3 | 424.3 | 408.6 |
The following charts compare these four atmospheres with the standard atmosphere. Also shown are two atmospheres obtained by simply adding a fixed increment of temperature at each altitude.
Vertical scale is temperature in degrees Rankine.
Vertical scale is temperature in kelvins.
It is interesting to note the temperature actually increases with increasing altitude for a small range when using the cold or polar atmospheres.