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The mesosphere (/ˈmɛsoʊsfɪər/; from Greek mesos, "middle") is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases. This characteristic is used to define its limits: it begins at the top of the stratosphere (sometimes called the stratopause), and ends at the mesopause, which is the coldest part of Earth's atmosphere with temperatures below −143 °C (−225 °F; 130 K). The exact upper and lower boundaries of the mesosphere vary with latitude and with season (higher in winter and at the tropics, lower in summer and at the poles), but the lower boundary is usually located at altitudes from 50 to 65 km (31 to 40 mi; 164,000 to 213,000 ft) above the Earth's surface and the upper boundary (the mesopause) is usually around 85 to 100 km (53 to 62 mi; 279,000 to 328,000 ft).[2][3][4][5]
Space Shuttle Endeavour to straddle the stratosphere and mesosphere in this photo. The troposphere, which contains clouds, appears orange in this photo.[1]
Diagram showing the five primary layers of the Earth's atmosphere: exosphere, thermosphere, mesosphere, stratosphere, and troposphere. The layers are to scale. From Earth's surface to the top of the stratosphere (50 km) is just under 1% of Earth's radius.
This article is about the atmospheric meso. For other uses, see Mesosphere (disambiguation).
The stratosphere and the mesosphere are sometimes collectively referred to as the "middle atmosphere",[6] which spans altitudes approximately between 12 and 80 km above Earth's surface. The mesopause, at an altitude of 80–90 km (50–56 mi), separates the mesosphere from the thermosphere—the second-outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere. This is the turbopause, below which different chemical species are well-mixed due to turbulent eddies. Above this level the atmosphere becomes non-uniform because the scale heights of different chemical species differ according to their molecular masses.
The term near space is also sometimes used to refer to altitudes within the mesosphere. This term does not have a technical definition, but typically refers to the region of the atmosphere up to 100 km (62 mi; 330,000 ft), roughly between the Armstrong limit (above which humans require a pressure suit in order to survive) and the Kármán line (where astrodynamics must take over from aerodynamics in order to achieve flight); or, by another definition, to the range of altitudes above which commercial airliners fly but below which satellites orbit the Earth. Some sources distinguish between the terms "near space" and "upper atmosphere", so that only the layers closest to the Kármán line are described as "near space".