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The stratosphere is the second-lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It lies above the troposphere and is separated from it by the tropopause. This layer extends from the top of the troposphere at roughly 12 km (7.5 mi; 39,000 ft) above Earth's surface to the stratopause at an altitude of about 50 to 55 km (31 to 34 mi; 164,000 to 180,000 ft).
The thermosphere (or the upper atmosphere) is the height region above 85 kilometres (53 mi), while the region between the tropopause and the mesopause is the middle atmosphere (stratosphere and mesosphere) where absorption of solar UV radiation generates the temperature maximum near an altitude of 45 kilometres (28 mi) and causes the ozone layer.
Diagram of the five primary layers of the Earth's atmosphere (not to scale). From Earth's surface to top of stratosphere (50 km) is slightly less than1% of Earth's radius. Between troposphere & stratosphere is the tropopause.
The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere. This extends from the planetary surface to the bottom of the stratosphere. The troposphere contains 75–80% of the mass of the atmosphere, [9] and is the atmospheric layer wherein the weather occurs; the height of the troposphere varies between 17 km at the equator and 7.0 km at the poles.
Relationship of the atmosphere and ionosphere. The ionosphere (/ aɪ ˈ ɒ n ə ˌ s f ɪər /) [1] [2] is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about 48 km (30 mi) to 965 km (600 mi) above sea level, [3] a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere.
As a result, it is the least-understood part of the atmosphere, resulting in the humorous moniker ignorosphere. [20] [21] The presence of red sprites and blue jets (electrical discharges or lightning within the lower mesosphere), noctilucent clouds, and density shears within this poorly understood layer are of current scientific interest.
As a file created by an employee of the NWS (formerly USWB) in the course of their official duties, whether hosted on weather.gov; on an NWS sub-branch website ...
The layers are to scale. From the Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius. The exosphere is a thin, atmosphere-like volume surrounding a planet or natural satellite where molecules are gravitationally bound to that body, but where the density is so low that the molecules are essentially collision ...