Study: the upper atmosphere is shrinking in response to global warming

Combined data from three NASA satellites revealed that the mesosphere, the layer of the atmosphere on

altitude from 40-50 to 80-90 km above the surface,cools and contracts. Scientists have long predicted this effect of human-caused climate change, but have been unable to observe the phenomenon in real time.

“We need several decades tounderstand these trends and highlight what is happening due to greenhouse gas emissions, changes in the solar cycle and other effects, - said Scott Bailey of the Virginia Institute of Technology. "In the meantime, we have managed to collect data from three satellites to answer some of the questions."

Satellites have provided materials for about 30 yearsobservations. They showed that the summer mesosphere over the Earth's poles cools by 10 degrees Celsius and shrinks by 120 m per decade. The researchers expect these rates to continue unchanged by anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions.

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This cooling and squeezing came as no surprisefor scientists. They already assumed that phenomena exist and talked about them, since several AI-based models at once indicated their existence. "It would be weirder if our analysis of the data did not show this," the researchers note.

Although researchers have tried beforeto record the cooling, none of them used data of this duration and did not show the compression of the upper part of the atmosphere. The researchers say the new findings boost their confidence in their ability to simulate complex changes in the upper atmosphere.

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