Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Chilly skies



Climate change could be partly responsible. That may seem counter-intuitive, but global warming occurs only at the bottom of the atmosphere. "Climate change warms the surface but cools the stratosphere," Harris explains.

In 2007 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded that "there has been global stratospheric cooling since 1979". "Whether that is because of climate change is speculation," Santee says.

More work must be done to find out if climate change is leading to stratospheric cooling – and encouraging the formation of ozone holes over the Arctic. Climate modellers are paying closer attention to the stratosphere than they did just a few years ago: it turns out to be crucial for many phenomena, including the subtle effects of the sun on regional climate.


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