Stratosphere: Quick Facts

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Diagram of Earth's atmosphere layers-troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere-showing how temperature and air pressure change with increasing altitude, with key features like the ozone layer and pressure percentages at various heights.

Diagram showing the layers of Earth's atmosphere from the surface upward: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and exosphere, with labeled altitudes, weather balloons, airplanes, clouds, auroras, meteors, and satellites for scale.

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Topics

Jet stream Quasi-biennial oscillation Atmosphere Ionosphere and magnetosphere Ozone layer Mesosphere Exosphere Troposphere Thermosphere 16 Questions About Earth’s Atmosphere and Weather Answered Kármán line Aurora Chemical equator

Key People

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Jean-Felix Piccard

American chemical engineer

Auguste Piccard, 1961

Auguste Piccard

Swiss-Belgian physicist

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Léon Teisserenc de Bort

French meteorologist

ten types of clouds and their elevation: cirrus, cirrocumulus, cirrostratus, altocumulus, altostratus, nimbostratus, stratocumulus, stratus, cumulus, cumulonimbus

Earth’s Atmosphere and Clouds