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Troposphere

Adapted from Wikipedia · Explorer experience

A stunning view of our planet Earth as seen from the Apollo 17 spacecraft during its journey to the Moon.

The troposphere is the bottom layer of Earth's atmosphere. It is where we live and where all our weather happens. This layer holds most of the air and water vapor around us. You can find rain, snow, wind, and beautiful clouds right here!

From the ground, the troposphere reaches up about 18 kilometers near warm places like the equator. In colder areas, it is thinner, only about 6 kilometers high. On average, it is about 13 kilometers thick all around the world. The troposphere mixes the air close to the ground, helping create the air we breathe every day.

Above the troposphere is a special layer called the tropopause. It separates the troposphere from the layer above it, called the stratosphere. Even other planets like Venus, Mars, and moons like Titan around Saturn have their own versions of the troposphere. Each of these worlds has its own special weather and air conditions.

Images

A beautiful view of clouds and sunlight over Indonesia as seen from the International Space Station by astronaut Jeff Williams.
A beautiful view of the sky and Arctic waters seen from an airplane window.
Beautiful white cumulus clouds floating in a clear blue sky.
A stunning view of Earth rising over the Moon, captured by astronauts during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968.
A colorful illustration of the planets in our solar system, showing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune as captured by NASA spacecraft.
Illustration showing how winds move in a west-to-east pattern in the upper atmosphere.
Weather map showing air pressure patterns in the atmosphere
An artist's rendering of HE 1523-0901, one of the oldest known stars in our galaxy, located about 7500 light years from Earth.

Related articles

Weather
Water vapor
Tropopause
Stratosphere
Venus
Mars

This article is a child-friendly adaptation of the Wikipedia article on Troposphere, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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