Stratosphere Stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is stratified in temperature, with warmer layers higher and cooler layers closer to the Earth; this increase of temperature with altitude is a result of the absorption of the Sun's ultraviolet radiation by the ozone layer. This is in contrast to the troposphere, near the Earth's surface, where temperature decreases with altitude. The border between the troposphere and stratosphere, the tropopause, marks where this temperature inversion begins. Near the equator, the stratosphere starts at as high as ,
The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth are all the languages in "The Lord of the Rings", except for Entish (of which no real examples are given; the closest we get is Elvish words strung together in an Entish manner, a sort of Ent pidgin). The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth is a book on the languages of Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The first edition, entitled "The Languages of Middle-earth", was published in 1974 by Mirage Press, Baltimore. The revised version was published in 1980 by Houghton Mifflin. Ruth S. Noel, also known as Atanielle Annyn Noel, is the author of "The