Wiktionary

stratosphere

See also: stratosphère

English

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Etymology

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From French stratosphère, a word coined by its discoverer, meteorologist Léon Teisserenc de Bort. See strato- +‎ -sphere.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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stratosphere (plural stratospheres)

  1. (geology, obsolete) Collectively, those layers of the Earth’s crust which primarily comprise stratified deposits.
    • 1908, Eduard Suess [aut.], Hertha Beatrice Coryn Sollas and William Johnson Sollas [trs.], The Face of the Earth (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press), volume 3, chapter 1, page 2
      So great is the part played by stratified deposits in the structure of the earth’s crust that we might be tempted to speak of the stratosphere of the earth in contradistinction to the scoriosphere of the moon.
    • 1909, Eduard Suess [aut.], Hertha Beatrice Coryn Sollas and William Johnson Sollas [trs.], The Face of the Earth (Oxford, at the Clarendon Press), volume 4, chapter 15, page 546
      The stratosphere, or younger sedimentary envelope has been formed almost entirely at the expense of the Sal envelope.
  2. (meteorology) The region of the uppermost atmosphere where temperature increases along with the altitude due to the absorption of solar ultraviolet radiation by ozone. The stratosphere extends from the tropopause (10–15 kilometers) to approximately 50 kilometers, where it is succeeded by the mesosphere.
    • 1909, Scientific Abstracts, A., volume 12, page 208 (heading)
      Variation in height of the stratosphere (isothermal layer).
    • 2008, Kshudiram Saha, The Earth's Atmosphere: Its Physics and Dynamics, Springer Science & Business Media, →ISBN, page 102:
      The mesosphere may be described as the earth's intermediate or middle atmosphere, which separates the thermosphere above from the ozonosphere (or stratosphere) below, both of which are responsible for absorption of most of the ultraviolet part of the solar radiation and preventing it from reaching the earth's surface.
    • 2018 November 23, Matthew Robinson, “Dimming the sun: The answer to global warming?”, in CNN‎[1]:
      The technique would involve spraying large amounts of sulfate particles into the Earth’s lower stratosphere at altitudes as high as 12 miles. The scientists propose delivering the sulfates with specially designed high-altitude aircraft, balloons or large naval-style guns.
    • 2025 March 19, Jessica Roy, “She hit the $1.2 billion jackpot. But the California winner must do this to make it last a lifetime”, in San Francisco Chronicle‎[2]:
      Even if you’ve run an ironclad household budget and managed your retirement accounts on your own, you’re about to be at a level of wealth in a different stratosphere. It’s time to hire professionals.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Further reading

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