Stratosphere facts for kids

Diagram showing the five primary layers of the Earth's atmosphere: exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. The layers are to scale. From Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50 km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius.

The stratosphere is one of the layers of the atmosphere of the planet Earth. It extends from about 8 km above the poles (18 km above the equator) to about 50 km. In the stratosphere, the temperature rises with increasing height. This makes the stratosphere very stable. This temperature gradient is caused by the ozone layer which absorbs some UV radiation from sunlight. The absorbed radiation is converted to heat.

This differs from the lower layer, the troposphere, where temperature declines with higher altitude.

Images for kids

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  This image shows the temperature trend in the lower stratosphere as measured by a series of satellite-based instruments between January 1979 and December 2005. The lower stratosphere is centered around 63 kilometers above Earth's surface. The stratosphere image is dominated by blues and greens, which indicates a cooling over time.

See also

In Spanish: Estratosfera para niños