Explore an interactive atmosphere layers diagram. Enter an altitude or pick a phenomenon to see its layer, temperature in °C, °F and K, the lapse rate, and the pause that caps the layer.
The Atmosphere Layers Diagram plots temperature against altitude across all five layers of the atmosphere: troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere.
Enter any altitude from 0 to 10,000 km, or pick a familiar phenomenon such as the ozone layer, the jet stream, the Karman line or the ISS orbit, and the tool reports the matching layer, the temperature in degrees Celsius, Fahrenheit and kelvin, the lapse rate of that part of the profile, and the pause that caps the layer, with a step-by-step explanation of how the answer was found.
From the ground up they are the troposphere (0-12 km), stratosphere (12-50 km), mesosphere (50-80 km), thermosphere (80-700 km) and exosphere (above 700 km). Each is separated from the next by a pause where the temperature trend reverses.
The troposphere is heated from below by the ground, so it cools by about 6.5 C per kilometre as you climb. The stratosphere is heated from above by ozone absorbing ultraviolet sunlight, so its temperature rises with altitude instead.
The mesopause, at about 80 km, where the temperature reaches roughly -90 C. Above it the thermosphere warms steeply as the thin gas absorbs extreme ultraviolet and X-rays.
The Karman line at 100 km is the internationally recognised boundary of space. It sits inside the thermosphere, well below the 700 km thermopause.
QuizWhiz is an AI quiz generator: upload a PDF, paste your notes, or link an article and get a graded practice quiz with explanations in seconds.