Also warming the troposphere

2008/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Klima

Researchers at Yale University have shown that the high area of the troposphere is warming as fast as the terrestrial surface. This layer of atmosphere is 10-12 km from the Earth's surface and to date they hardly had data to know if it was heating up. On the one hand, meteorological study balloons contained data collected at the bottom of the troposphere and, on the other, satellites at the top of the troposphere. Both claim that in recent decades the temperature did not suffer great alterations. However, climate models offer other results.

Wind measurements have now been used for temperature monitoring. In fact, there is a relationship between winds and temperatures: the wind rises vertically as the temperature increases. Although they are not direct measurements, they are very reliable, since wind measurements are made from two places, from land and satellites.

The period between 1970 and 2005 is analyzed and it is observed that the warmest place is the top layer of the tropics. In fact, it has warmed about half a degree, which corresponds to what is expected in climate models. According to researchers at Yale University, the result obtained is the most reliable so far.