The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns
Scientists are worried about the effect this change could have on orbiting satellites, the ozone layer, and Earth’s weather.
THIS STORY ORIGINALLY appeared on Yale Environment 360 and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
There is a paradox at the heart of our changing climate. While the blanket of air close to the Earth’s surface is warming, most of the atmosphere above is becoming dramatically colder. The same gases that are warming the bottom few miles of air are cooling the much greater expanses above that stretch to the edge of space.
This paradox has long been predicted by climate modelers, but it has only recently been quantified in detail by satellite sensors. The new findings are providing a definitive confirmation on one important issue, but at the same time they are raising other questions.
Climate Scientist Answers Earth Questions From Twitter
The good news for climate scientists is that the data on cooling aloft confirm the accuracy of models that identify surface warming as human-made. A new study published in May in the journal PNAS by veteran climate modeler Ben Santer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that it increased the strength of the “signal” of the human fingerprint of climate change fivefold, by reducing the interference “noise” from background natural variability. Santer says the finding is “incontrovertible.”
https://www.wired.com/story/the-upper-atmosphere-is-cooling-prompting-new-climate-concerns/
