Climate change is expanding the earth's lower atmosphere and it's not a good sign

• According to a new study, tropopause has been witnessing an increase in expansion over the past few decades.
• It’s expanding at a higher rate than before and this is due to climate change.
• The tropopause is defined as the upper limit of the troposphere which is the lowest layer of the atmosphere.

A new study shows the earth’s atmosphere is expanding due to climate change. The study revealed that the tropopause which sits on top of the troposphere has been expanding upward at around 164 feet every decade since 1980. The study also found that the troposphere has expanded at a faster rate after the year 2000.

The findings of the study published in the journal Science Advances detail how climate change is causing these changes in the lowest layer of the earth’s atmosphere. The tropopause is defined as the upper limit of the troposphere which is the lowest layer of the atmosphere. It also constitutes the boundary between the troposphere and the stratosphere. This is also where most of the atmospheric weather occurs, and the tropopause also expands and shrinks according to changing seasons.

But scientists discovered that this expansion rate is happening at an alarming rate. Scientists analysed data from 1980 to 2020 to examine how climate change is affecting tropopause. It analysed atmospheric data such as pressure, temperature and humidity along with GPS data. The results showed that due to the increasing quantities of greenhouse gases trapping more heat in the atmosphere, the tropopause is expanding even further.

Specifically, there was an increase of around 164 feet per decade between 1980 and 200. This later increased to an average of 174 feet between 2001 and 2020. The study also revealed that 80% of the total increase in temperature was due to human activities.

Although there is an increase in the expansion of the tropopause, there’s no conclusion yet on how exactly this would affect the climate or weather. But the study suggests this could lead to planes flying higher in the atmosphere to avoid turbulence.

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