The gaseous area surrounding the planet is divided into several
concentric spherical strata (layers, like shells) separated by narrow transition
zones.(The boundaries are know as '-pause') The atmosphere gets thinner,
the further from the Earth you go and so there is no clearly difined boundary
where the atmosphere stops and space begins, but more than 99%
of the total atmospheric mass is concentrated in the first
40 km from the Earth's surface.
Atmospheric layers are characterized by differences in chemical
composition that produce variations in
temperature. Click on a part of the atmospherev to find out more.
