Many are now well-known for the so-called Climate Stripes (climate bars) – a visual „bar code“ that makes the course of climate change immediately visible. This concept, originally proposed by Professor Ed Hawkins of the University of Reading, serves as a powerful tool for visualizing temperature variations. However, the latest data and visualizations show that this phenomenon is not limited to the Earth's surface. Scientists have extended this model "upwards" through the layers of the atmosphere and "downwards" deep into the oceans, gaining a comprehensive picture of the state of our planet.

What do colors tell us?

The principle of climate bands is simple but concise. Each band represents the deviation of monthly, seasonal or annual temperature from the reference period 1961–1990. Blue bars symbolize colder years, while red bars represent warmer ones.. The darker the color, the more significant the deviation from the long-term average. For Switzerland, this data is available for many measuring stations up to 1864, providing clear evidence of a gradual warming of the surface.

Atmosphere: Contrast between layers

New analyses confirm that warming is not uniform in the atmosphere. In troposphere (the lowest layer in which commercial aircraft fly) the stripes are strikingly similar to those on the Earth's surface. Satellite measurements using radiometers that monitor infrared radiation from air molecules have confirmed since 1979 that the warmest years have been concentrated in the last decade.

However, the situation changes dramatically when we look higher up, into stratosphere. Here, instead of the red bars, we see a cooling trend. This phenomenon is caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. While in the lower layers these gases act as a "blanket" that traps heat, in the thin air of the stratosphere they cause more heat to be radiated into space than is absorbed. The destruction of the ozone layer also contributes to this cooling.

This specific formula – warming in the lower part and cooling in the upper part of the atmosphere – is a clear „human signature“ on the climate system. Scientists predicted this development as early as the 1960s as a result of $CO_2$ emissions. It is important to emphasize that if solar activity were the main cause of warming, the entire atmosphere would warm evenly.

Oceans as a sponge for heat

Climate change is reaching below the sea level. Data shows that warming trend at different ocean depths It essentially follows the trend at the surface. Heat gradually penetrates from the surface into deeper layers, with the warmest years at depths of up to 2,000 meters again occurring mainly in the last decade.

The oceans play a key role in the climate system because absorb approximately 90 % of excess heat. Without this ability of the oceans, the air temperature at the surface would rise much more rapidly. However, the negative consequence is the rise in sea levels, caused by the thermal expansion of water and the melting of continental glaciers.

Clear evidence

Current knowledge, from the upper atmosphere to the ocean floor, creates a coherent and unquestionable picture. The physical principles that explain why the burning of fossil fuels and the increase in greenhouse gases lead to warming have been known since 1850. The visual evidence of climate bands across all spheres of the planet leaves no doubt: The dominant cause of global warming is greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity.. JRi&CO2AI