The Sky’s Limit — CO2 Pollution Shrinking The Stratosphere

Humans’ combustion of fossil fuels is shrinking the stratosphere — the layer of air above the troposphere, in which we all live — illustrating the expansive nature of human impact on the planet and potentially affecting satellites and radio communications, new research shows.

The study, published in Environmental Research Letters, found increased carbon dioxide in the troposphere (0–20 km above sea level) has squeezed the stratosphere (20–60 km above sea level) by 400 meters, essentially 1%, since at least the 1980s when satellite data was first gathered.

Without major emissions cuts, the researchers found, the stratosphere could be reduced by an additional kilometer in just 60 years. “It is shocking,” Juan Añel, a member of the research team from the University of Vigo, Ourense in Spain, told the Guardian. “This proves we are messing with the atmosphere up to 60 kilometres.”

Source: The Guardian

Originally published by Nexus Media