NASA Explains the Cold Zone High Above the Tropics
ARC · 2014-05-29
Senior Scientist Paul Newman with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland explains that a cold zone exists in the tropopause region of the Earth’s atmosphere between the troposphere and the stratosphere. Ultraviolet solar radiation is absorbed in the stratosphere and visible solar radiation is absorbed in the troposphere cause heating to occur. Since almost no solar radiation is absorbed in the tropopause, the zone near the equator can get as cold as -110º F.