upper atmosphere

See synonyms for upper atmosphere on Thesaurus.com

nounMeteorology.

the portion of the atmosphere above the troposphere.

Origin of upper atmosphere

First recorded in 1890–95

Compare upper air.

Words Nearby upper atmosphere

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use upper atmosphere in a sentence

Well, my company has come up with some very practical and cost-effective ways of deliberately putting particles into the upper atmosphere.
Two (Totally Opposite) Ways to Save the Planet (Ep. 346 Rebroadcast) | Stephen J. Dubner | July 29, 2021 | Freakonomics
In the upper atmosphere, a trough or dip in the jet stream, is approaching, increasing the dynamic uplift over the Mid-Atlantic.
Risk of severe storms decreases with drier air pushing into region | Jason Samenow, Jeffrey Halverson | July 21, 2021 | Washington Post
Figuring out the overall effect of rocket launches on the atmosphere will require detailed modelling, to account for these complex processes and the persistence of these pollutants in the upper atmosphere.
The cost of the billionaire space race will be paid in carbon emissions | Purbita Saha | July 21, 2021 | Popular-Science
Over the last year or so, a colossal facility high in the mountains of southwest China picked up two showers of particles each produced by a single high-energy beam of light—a gamma ray—slamming into the upper atmosphere.
The Crab Nebula’s electron launcher is so powerful, it almost shouldn’t exist | Monroe Hammond | July 9, 2021 | Popular-Science
This high above the Earth, it was still susceptible to drag from the thin wisps of our planet's upper atmosphere.
A Falcon 9 rocket making an uncontrolled re-entry looked like an alien armada | Eric Berger | March 26, 2021 | Ars Technica

Second, the upper atmosphere of Eisberg was pretty much pure hydrogen, which is somewhat easier to ionize than oxygen or nitrogen.
Unwise Child | Gordon Randall Garrett
Clear and dry though the air is, the blue of the skies is pale owing to a light dust haze in the upper atmosphere.
The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir | Sir James McCrone Douie
Or had the Throgs tried to blast the Terran ship in the upper atmosphere, crippling it, making this a forced landing?
Storm Over Warlock | Andre Norton
As the cooling progressed, however, the steam that was in the upper atmosphere began to condense and to fall in rain.
Soliloquies in England | George Santayana
The mists had rolled away from the ground, and only the upper atmosphere remained fog-charged.
A Voyage to Arcturus | David Lindsay

British Dictionary definitions for upper atmosphere

upper atmosphere

noun

meteorol that part of the atmosphere above the troposphere

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for upper atmosphere

upper atmosphere

The part of the atmosphere above the troposphere. The upper atmosphere includes the mesosphere, the ionosphere, the thermosphere, and the exosphere. Temperatures in the upper atmosphere decrease with increasing altitude except in the thermosphere, where temperatures increase significantly with altitude, because the few molecules present receive intense solar radiation.

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