Labs / Geography
Layers of the Atmosphere
Drag the amber probe up through the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. The air cools as you climb, warms again inside the ozone-rich stratosphere, cools once more, then soars past 1000 °C in the near-vacuum thermosphere — while the pressure and density collapse toward nothing.
Alt 0.0 kmT 15 °CP 1013 hPaρ 1.225 kg/m³Layer Troposphere
What to try
- The air keeps cooling as you climb the troposphere — so why does it suddenly start warming again in the stratosphere?
- Switch to the Pressure curve. By what altitude has half the atmosphere's air been left below you?
- The thermosphere reads hundreds of degrees — would it actually feel hot to an astronaut floating there? What does the Density curve suggest?
- Where does an airliner cruise compared with the ozone layer and the jet stream — and why fly right at the top of the troposphere?
- The ISS orbits near 400 km, far above this chart. If there is still a trace of air that high, what must happen to its orbit over time?