UCLA-led research finds human-generated greenhouse gases are responsible for the troubling changes in upper atmosphere.
UCLA-led research finds human-generated greenhouse gases are responsible for the troubling changes in upper atmosphere.
Human-driven climate change has caused large and concerning temperature decreases in the stratosphere since at least 1986, according to a UCLA-led study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
That sustained stratospheric cooling, the authors report, is evidence that the warming of Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere is not a natural occurrence.
In particular, the study confirms the effects of human causes on the overall climate: The temperature changes in the stratosphere were 12 to 15 times greater than what could have been caused by nature.
Read more at University of California - Los Angeles
Image: A view from the International Space Station of Earth’s atmosphere. Above the darkened surface of Earth, the sequence of colors roughly denotes the layers of the atmosphere: Deep oranges and yellows are visible in the troposphere and the pink-and-white band is the stratosphere. (Credit: NASA)
