Combining data from the commercial aircraft with that of research flights, the researchers found that there are four types of layers that occur in the troposphere, the lowest 10 to 18 kilometers of the atmosphere, depending on the season and the latitude. The atmosphere is divided into four major layers related to differences in the temperature gradient. The thick troposphere, closest to Earth, where the temperature decreases with increasing altitude, is thought to be well-mixed.
Weather happens and planes fly in the troposphere.
Above is the stratosphere, where the ozone layer absorbs harmful solar rays. The mesosphere, between 50 and 80 kilometers altitude, is where meteors burn up. The thermosphere is where the space shuttle orbits. The layers described in the study are within the troposphere, between a half and 1.3 kilometers thick and at an average altitude between 5.5 and 6.6 kilometers. One can classify the layers into types by whether a layer has an excess or deficit of the trace gases, which also then gives clues about the origin of the layers, Newell said.