Global Warming = Warmer Troposphere & Colder Stratosphere

We already know that from a) basics physics, b) climate models, and c) observations. Here's the short version: In the troposphere, the energy received at the Earth's surface is dispersed by convection, storms, and wind = weather. In contrast, there is no 'weather' in the stratosphere - there is just no enough air up there to create convection and air pressure differences.

Instead, the temperature of the stratosphere & its vertical gradient is determined by a) UV radiation absorption by ozone = warming and infrared radiation emission from the CO2.

Now it gets interesting:

• More CO2 in the troposphere means more trapping of heat near the surfacce & thus warming.
• More CO2 in the stratosphere does the opposite: it emits more radition into space & thus causes cooling.

Furthermore, this cooling effect of CO2 in the stratosphere increases with altitude from basically zero at the tropopause to more and more as you go higher & higher. Why is that? Well, turns out that the ozone layer is relatively low in the stratosphere & its effect dimishes the higher you go in the stratosphere while at the same time the influence of CO2 gets stronger.

Yes, it gets warmer in the stratosphere due to the presence of ozone. This is not impacted by global warming. Global warming does mean that there is more CO2 in the stratosphere & that overall cools the stratosphere = shifts the vertical gradient to the left.

All that is basic physics!

Not something weird created by climate models!

More here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-01951-0

The Reuters Climate Monitor

Pretty cool data viz: The Reuters Climate Monitor

The interactive globe is cool, but the chart below is more interesting & shows just how much the New Normal is above the Old Normal.

The AMOC!

Excellent arcticle & visuals about the AMOC: Shifting currents - After decades of warnings, new data suggest the Atlantic’s vital circulation may withstand climate warming better than feared

Also available as a PDF here.

El Nino: Good Summary!

 

Ozone Pollution From Space

Air Pollution’s Daily Pulse Over the Northeast is a cool example of how we can now monitor air pollutions from space & how it changes over the course of the day! You start with the NO2 plumes from car exhaust & how they dissipate over the course of the day. Then you can look at the plumes of ground-level ozone created from the NO2 & their spatial patterns which are impacted by wind patters.

How the Iran War Spiked Oil Prices

Recent Land Use Changes: USA

This is interesting: A Shift in What’s Shaping U.S. Landscapes

The three main types of land use changes are urban sprawl, logging, and agriculture & here the New England has remained pretty stable over the last 40+ years or so. Why? The main land use changes had already occurred by 1988.