Related topics: global warming

Tonga volcano 'afterglow' causes dazzling skies in Antarctica

Scientists working in Antarctica have captured breath-taking photos of the skies above the icy continent, including these mesmerizing shots taken by Antarctica New Zealand science technician Stuart Shaw, who is stationed ...

Smoke from major wildfires destroys the ozone layer, study shows

A new study shows that smoke from wildfires destroys the ozone layer. Researchers caution that if major fires become more frequent with a changing climate, more damaging ultraviolet radiation from the sun will reach the ground.

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Stratosphere

The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. It is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher up and cooler layers farther down. This is in contrast to the troposphere near the Earth's surface, which is cooler higher up and warmer farther down. The border of the troposphere and stratosphere, the tropopause, is marked by where this inversion begins, which in terms of atmospheric thermodynamics is the equilibrium level. The stratosphere is situated between about 10 km (6 miles) and 50 km (31 miles) altitude above the surface at moderate latitudes, while at the poles it starts at about 8 km (5 miles) altitude.

The word stratosphere is from the Greek meaning 'stratified layer'.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA