  The purpose of this paper is to characterize the statistical properties of
solar granulation in the photosphere and low chromosphere up to 650 km. We use
velocity and intensity variations obtained at different atmospheric heights
from observations in BaII 4554 A. The observations were done during good seeing
conditions at the VTT at the Observatorio del Teide on Tenerife. The line core
forms rather high in the atmosphere and allows granulation properties to be
studied at heights that have been not accessed before in similar studies. In
addition, we analyze the synthetic profiles of the BaII 4554 A line by the same
method computed taking NLTE effects into account in the 3D hydrodynamical model
atmosphere. We suggest a 16-column model of solar granulation depending on the
direction of motion and on the intensity contrast measured in the continuum and
in the uppermost layer. We calculate the heights of intensity contrast sign
reversal and velocity sign reversal. We show that both parameters depend
strongly on the granulation velocity and intensity at the bottom photosphere.
The larger the two parameters, the higher the reversal takes place in the
atmosphere. On average, this happens at about 200-300 km. We suggest that this
number also depends on the line depth of the spectral line used in
observations. Despite the intensity and velocity reversal, about 40% of the
column structure of granulation is preserved up to heights around 650 km.
