Atmosphere of Earth However, polar stratospheric or nacreous clouds are occasionally seen in the lower part of this layer of the atmosphere where the air is coldest. The stratosphere is the highest layer that can be accessed by jet-powered aircraft. The troposphere is the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere. It extends from Earth's surface to an average height of about , although this altitude varies from about at the geographic poles to at the Equator, with some variation due to weather. The troposphere is bounded above by the tropopause, a boundary marked in most places by a temperature inversion (i.e. a layer of
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