A frequent condition in which the tropopause appears not as a continuous single “surface” of discontinuity between the troposphere and stratosphere but as a series of quasi-horizontal “leaves” that are partly overlapping in steplike arrangement. The multiple tropopause is most common above regions of large horizontal temperature contrast in the troposphere. In the more extreme conditions the components of the multiple tropopause are not distinct, and the tropopause is then just a deep zone of transition between troposphere and stratosphere.