The atmosphere, the part that gives us the weather extends up to about 12 kilometers. This is about 7 miles upwards! It is not so thick is it? Just think from Goleta to Santa Barbara it is about 15 kilometers!! Much great length than the depth of the atmosphere. This is why even small amount of pollution have such a big impact.

We think the atmosphere goes on for ever and ever but it does not, it is just a little fishbowl and when we dump toxic materials and CO₂ we are affecting it easily.

Anyway above the troposphere lies the stratosphere. This is a very low pressure region and this is where ozone is concentrated, Ozone is O₃. The oxygen we breathe is O₂, but way above most of the air in the stratosphere, photons from the sun cause reactions that make O₃ from O₂.

So, the ozone layer is this region of the stratosphere where ozone is concentrated.

The ozone layer, also called the stratosphere, is composed of the ozone gas (90% of the total ozone in the atmosphere). The ozone has three oxygen atoms, and it is the result of the action of Ultra Violet (UV) radiation on oxygen molecules, composed of two oxygen atoms.

In the upper regions of the atmosphere, UV light breaks apart oxygen molecules into two oxygen atoms, one of which then combines with a second oxygen molecule to form ozone. The stratosphere is about 15-30 kilometers above the Earths surface.