It actually ends 55 miles above the surface of the earth.
Smithsonian
Snowflakes, we learn, journey some 10,000 feet, sometimes for as long as three days to reach the surface of the earth.
The Times Literary Supplement
If one looks carefully at muddy patches in the woods, or beside ditches, one can find the tiny leaves of several wild flowers just breaking the surface of the earth.
Times, Sunday Times
The sun was going down and the lights of the city were coming out far below, like a luminous lichen floating on the surface of the earth.
Times, Sunday Times
He had 'a sort of belly-to-earth attitude' and believed in 'the surface of the earth'.
The Times Literary Supplement