Animations by
Susan Twardy
Released on December 9, 2003
The Earth's layers of atmosphere differ in chemical composition and temperature. They combine to create a protective sheild that maintains our delicate energy balance essential for life on Earth. Most weather occures in the nearest layer, the troposphere (0-7 miles). The stratosphere is the level where jet airliners fly and the ozone layer resides (7-30 miles). Beyond that is the coldest part of the atmosphere, the mesosphere where only large helium balloons fly (30-50 miles). Finally, the thermosphere gradually fades into space (50-180 miles).
Data Used: TIMED
Note: While we identify the data sets used in these visualizations, we do not store any further details nor the data sets themselves on our site.
GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation:
Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0