Atmosphere of Earth (see the temperature section, below). Because the general pattern of the temperature/altitude profile is constant and measurable by means of instrumented balloon soundings, the temperature behavior provides a useful metric to distinguish atmospheric layers. In this way, Earth's atmosphere can be divided (called atmospheric stratification) into five main layers. Excluding the exosphere, the atmosphere has four primary layers, which are the troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. From highest to lowest, the five main layers are: The exosphere is the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere (i.e. the upper limit of the atmosphere). It extends from the exobase, which is located at
Lowest temperature recorded on Earth Lowest temperature recorded on Earth The lowest natural temperature ever directly recorded at ground level on Earth is at the Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica on July 21, 1983 by ground measurements. On August 10, 2010, satellite observations showed a surface temperature of at , along a ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, at elevation. The result was reported at the 46th annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in December 2013; it is a provisional figure, and may be subject to revision. The value is not listed as the record lowest temperature as it was