Mesosphere

From SPACEwiki

The mesosphere (from the Greek words mesos = middle and sphaira = ball) is the layer of the Earth's atmosphere that is directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. The mesosphere is located about 50 to 85 kilometers (30 to 50 miles) above the Earth's surface.

The stratosphere and mesosphere are referred to as the middle atmosphere. The mesopause, at an altitude of 80–90 km (50–56 mi), separates the mesosphere from the thermosphere—the second-outermost layer of the Earth's atmosphere. This is also around the same altitude as the turbopause, below which different chemical species are well mixed due to turbulent eddies. Above this level the atmosphere becomes non-uniform; the scale heights of different chemical species differ by their molecular masses.

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