{"id":34234,"date":"2025-03-01T07:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-01T06:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/?p=34234"},"modified":"2025-03-01T07:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-01T06:45:45","slug":"monitoring-climate-changes-in-the-middle-and-upper-atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/2025\/03\/01\/monitoring-climate-changes-in-the-middle-and-upper-atmosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Monitoring climate change in the middle and upper atmosphere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdfdirect\/10.1029\/2024AV001465?download=true\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Document<\/span><\/a> stresses the need for better monitoring of climate change in the middle and upper atmosphere. <strong>Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have a significant impact on the middle and upper atmosphere, causing cooling, shrinkage, and affecting the structure of the atmosphere.<\/strong>This shrinkage affects the lifespan of objects in low Earth orbit, radio communications and GPS signals, as well as the altitude of meteoroids entering the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Key points:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Further research is needed on the impact of climate change and anthropogenic emissions on the middle and upper atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of observational skills prevents better understanding and monitoring of long-term trends.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The accumulation of space debris is a problem that anthropogenic emissions are exacerbating<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Impacts of climate change on the upper atmosphere:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Changes in the thickness of the layers of the atmosphere, including the expansion of the troposphere.<\/li>\n<li>Changes in energy modes and baroclinicity of the middle atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Cooling and shrinkage of the stratosphere, mesosphere and thermosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Decrease in thermosphere density.<\/li>\n<li>The complex role of ozone, where its concentration can be affected by falling temperatures, and changes in ozone concentration affect temperature trends.<\/li>\n<li>Changes in the Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC) are related to the expansion of the troposphere and the contraction of the stratosphere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Long-term changes in the middle and upper atmosphere have practical consequences, such as <strong>impact on global positioning systems (GPS) and radio communications<\/strong>. Increasing water vapor and ice crystal content in the mesosphere causes a positive trend in polar mesospheric summer echoes, which can interfere with radar and military operations. Decreasing atmospheric density may lead to greater penetration of meteoroids into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The most significant problem caused by climate change in the middle and upper atmosphere is the impact on space debris.<\/strong>. Increasing cooling and shrinkage leads to a decrease in density in the thermosphere, which prolongs the lifetime of satellites in orbit and increases the risk of collisions. Collisions can cause disruption to global satellite services and produce additional debris, which can lead to Kessler syndrome, a cascading effect of collisions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Observation and data limitations:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Lack of knowledge about the connections between atmospheric layers and how climate changes in the middle and upper atmosphere affect the troposphere.<\/li>\n<li>Missing information on global long-term changes in the upper atmosphere, such as composition, dynamical variables, winds, and gravity waves.<\/li>\n<li>The loss of some satellite missions designed to monitor this region of the atmosphere, such as ICON, AIM, and the potential loss of AURA and TIMED.<\/li>\n<li>Many existing satellite missions are already beyond their expected lifetimes, and new missions may not allow for long-term and homogeneous measurements.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of missions to monitor dynamic variables in the upper atmosphere.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Addressing knowledge gaps and challenges:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The need to expand and maintain existing observational capabilities to ensure long-term and homogeneous data.<\/li>\n<li>Focus on stability, calibration, and implementation of cross-calibration within the observation system.<\/li>\n<li>Design new observations specifically to measure trends in temperature, density, and other parameters.<\/li>\n<li>Support the development of geospatial data records (GDRs) to determine variability and changes in geospace.<\/li>\n<li>Improved monitoring can contribute to reducing uncertainty in estimates of aerosol loading from volcanic eruptions and allow monitoring of the testing or deployment of climate intervention techniques.<\/li>\n<li>Improved monitoring would provide a better understanding of polar mesospheric clouds and their relationship to CH4, increasing water vapor concentrations, and decreasing mesospheric temperatures.<\/li>\n<li>It is essential to better predict the potential impacts on the future environment of space debris in low Earth orbit (LEO) and to predict the impacts on the probability of Kessler syndrome.<\/li>\n<li>Satellites release various materials directly into the middle and upper atmosphere during reentry, which can affect O3 concentrations and temperature trends.<\/li>\n<li>The planned increase in the number of satellites in low Earth orbit could cause up to half of stratospheric sulfuric acid particles to contain metals from reentry.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The document emphasizes that <strong>Data shortages and declining observational capabilities pose a serious challenge to understanding and monitoring changes in the middle and upper atmosphere.<\/strong>, which has potentially far-reaching implications for space activities, communications and future climate change. <em><strong>Spring<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The paper was published in AGU Advances<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Key Terms \u2013 Glossary<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Baroclinicity:<\/strong> A state of the atmosphere in which isobars (lines of equal pressure) are not parallel to isotherms (lines of equal temperature).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermosphere:<\/strong> The layer of the atmosphere above the mesosphere, characterized by increasing temperature with height.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ionosphere:<\/strong> A layer of the atmosphere that contains ions and free electrons.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gravitational waves:<\/strong> Waves in the atmosphere that transfer energy and momentum.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Space debris:<\/strong> Artificially created objects in Earth orbit that are no longer functional.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stratopause:<\/strong> The boundary between the stratosphere and the mesosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reanalysis:<\/strong> Combining model and observational data to create a comprehensive picture of the state of the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate intervention:<\/strong> the deliberate and large-scale manipulation of the Earth&#039;s climate system to mitigate the effects of climate change.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions:<\/strong> Greenhouse gas emissions from human activity.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Middle and upper atmosphere:<\/strong> The part of the atmosphere above the troposphere, including the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere, and ionosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermal shrinkage:<\/strong> Reduction in the volume of the atmosphere due to cooling.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stratopause:<\/strong> The boundary between the stratosphere and the mesosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ionosphere:<\/strong> A layer of the atmosphere that contains ions and free electrons.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Thermosphere density:<\/strong> The number of particles in the thermosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Low Earth Orbit (LEO):<\/strong> Orbits that are relatively close to Earth (usually less than 2000 km above the surface).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Space debris:<\/strong> Artificially created objects in Earth orbit that are no longer functional.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Global Positioning Systems (GPS):<\/strong> Satellite navigation systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Scintillation:<\/strong> Rapid changes in the intensity of radio signals caused by ionospheric irregularities.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Maximum usable frequencies:<\/strong> The highest radio wave frequencies that can be used for communication between two points through the ionosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Brewer-Dobson circulation (BDC):<\/strong> Global air circulation in the stratosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO):<\/strong> Periodic change in wind direction in the stratosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Gravitational waves:<\/strong> Waves in the atmosphere that transfer energy and momentum.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Polar mesospheric summer echoes:<\/strong> Radio reflections from ice crystals in the mesosphere during polar summer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Kessler syndrome:<\/strong> A theoretical scenario in which the density of space debris in low Earth orbit would become so high that collisions between objects would create more debris, leading to more collisions, and so on.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reanalysis:<\/strong> Combining model and observational data to create a comprehensive picture of the state of the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Geospatial data records (GDR):<\/strong> Time series of measurements with sufficient length, consistency, and continuity to determine variability and changes in geospace.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ozone depleting substances:<\/strong> substances that damage the ozone layer.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate intervention:<\/strong> the deliberate and large-scale manipulation of the Earth&#039;s climate system to mitigate the effects of climate change.<\/li>\n<\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The document highlights the need for better monitoring of climate change in the middle and upper atmosphere. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions have a significant impact on the middle and upper atmosphere, causing cooling, shrinkage and affecting the structure of the atmosphere. This shrinkage affects the lifetime of objects in low Earth orbit, radio communications and GPS signals, as well as the altitude of meteoroids entering the atmosphere. Key points: [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-klimaticka-zmena"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34234\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.co2news.sk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}