images

Sunset in earth atmosphere 10/1992

by

Nasa/Novapix

Reference

t-nua10-00007

Date

2006-09-25

This cross section of the Earth's atmosphere at sunset and earth limb displays an unusual layering believed to be caused by temperature inversions which effectively concentrate smoke, dust and aerosols into narrow layers. The top of the stratosphere can be seen as the top of the white layer thought to contain volcanic debris. The purple layer is the troposphere containing smoke from landclearing biomass burning.