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 ,
Lauriston S. Taylor Lauriston S. Taylor Lauriston S. Taylor (1 June 1902 – 26 November 2004) was an American physicist known for his work in the field of radiation protection and measurement. He established standards for X-ray radiation exposure for the first time in the 1920s, which eventually led to a group of government organizations that set the standards over the next 50 years. Taylor remained active in debates about radiation exposure into his 80s, often advocating the viewpoint that small doses of radiation were not important. He served as president of the Health Physics Society (HPS) from 1958 to 1959. He was