stratosphere

A layer of the atmosphere located between the troposphere and the mesosphere, which at mid-latitudes extends approximately from 11 to 50 kilometers of altitude. Within it, there is barely any vertical air movement, with horizontal movement dominating. Winds blow intensely. While in its lower part temperature barely varies with height - the isothermal sublayer -, somewhat higher up it begins to increase rapidly. That increase is due to the presence of ozone molecules, a gas that reaches its maximum concentration at around 25 kilometers of altitude and that very effectively absorbs much of the ultraviolet solar radiation, with the resulting heating of the air. The stratosphere is a layer with marked atmospheric stability. While at its lower limit - the tropopause - the temperature usually ranges between –50 and –60°C, at its highest part - the stratopause - it hovers around 0°C. Thanks to sounding balloon launches begun in the last decade of the 19th century, the existence of this layer was first established, as the marked thermal inversion taking place within it was detected. The French meteorologist Léon Teisserenc de Bort (1855-1913) was its discoverer, in 1898, although it was not until 1902 that the discovery was made public.