Ozone layer an altitude of 100 kilometers from the planet's surface. The photochemical mechanisms that give rise to the ozone layer were discovered by the British physicist Sydney Chapman in 1930. Ozone in the Earth's stratosphere is created by ultraviolet light striking ordinary oxygen molecules containing two oxygen atoms (O), splitting them into individual oxygen atoms (atomic oxygen); the atomic oxygen then combines with unbroken O to create ozone, O. The ozone molecule is unstable (although, in the stratosphere, long-lived) and when ultraviolet light hits ozone it splits into a molecule of O and an individual atom of oxygen, a continuing process
Free convective layer Free convective layer In atmospheric sciences, the free convective layer (FCL) is the layer of conditional or potential instability in the troposphere. It is a layer of positive buoyancy (PBE) and is the layer where deep, moist convection (DMC) can occur. On an atmospheric sounding, it is the layer between the level of free convection (LFC) and the equilibrium level (EL). The FCL is important to a variety of convective processes and to severe thunderstorm forecasting. It is the layer of instability, the "positive area" on thermodynamic diagrams where an ascending air parcel is warmer than its environment. Integrating buoyant