Stratosphere around at midlatitudes, and at about at the poles. Temperatures range from an average of near the tropopause to an average of near the mesosphere. Stratospheric temperatures also vary within the stratosphere as the seasons change, reaching particularly low temperatures in the polar night (winter). Winds in the stratosphere can far exceed those in the troposphere, reaching near in the Southern polar vortex. The mechanism describing the formation of the ozone layer was described by British mathematician Sydney Chapman in 1930. Molecular oxygen absorbs high energy sunlight in the UV-C region, at wavelengths shorter than about 240 nm. Radicals produced
Earth Radiation Budget Satellite Earth Radiation Budget Satellite The Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) was a NASA scientific research satellite within NASA's ERBE (Earth Radiation Budget Experiment) Research Program - a three-satellite mission, designed to investigate the Earth radiation budget It also carried an instrument that studied stratospheric aerosol and gases. ERBS was launched on October 5, 1984 by the Space Shuttle "Challenger" during the STS-41-G mission and deactivated on October 14, 2005. The ERBS spacecraft was deployed from Space Shuttle Challenger on October 5, 1984 (first day of flight) using the Canadian-built RMS (Remote Manipulator System), a mechanical arm of about 16 m