Ozone as concentrations in μg/m. The study of ozone concentration in the atmosphere started in the 1920s. The highest levels of ozone in the atmosphere are in the stratosphere, in a region also known as the ozone layer between about 10 km and 50 km above the surface (or between about 6 and 31 miles). However, even in this "layer", the ozone concentrations are only two to eight parts per million, so most of the oxygen there is dioxygen, O, at about 210,000 parts per million by volume. Ozone in the stratosphere is mostly produced from short-wave ultraviolet rays between 240
Ozone of UV-B radiation at similar frequency reaches the ground to cause some sunburn, and these same wavelengths are also among those responsible for the production of vitamin D in humans. The ozone layer has little effect on the longer UV wavelengths called UV-A (315–400 nm), but this radiation does not cause sunburn or direct DNA damage, and while it probably does cause long-term skin damage in certain humans, it is not as dangerous to plants and to the health of surface-dwelling organisms on Earth in general (see ultraviolet for more information on near ultraviolet). Low level ozone (or tropospheric ozone)