Earth System Dynamics
Earth System Dynamics
ESD
Articles | Volume 7, issue 3
Articles | Volume 7, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-697-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-7-697-2016
© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Articles | Volume 7, issue 3
Research article
 | Highlight paper
 | 
29 Aug 2016
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 29 Aug 2016

Why CO2 cools the middle atmosphere – a consolidating model perspective

Helge F. Goessling and Sebastian Bathiany

Viewed

Total article views: 14,325 (including HTML, PDF, and XML)
HTML PDF XML Total BibTeX EndNote
7,571 6,388 366 14,325 275 314
  • HTML: 7,571
  • PDF: 6,388
  • XML: 366
  • Total: 14,325
  • BibTeX: 275
  • EndNote: 314
Views and downloads (calculated since 18 Mar 2016)
Cumulative views and downloads (calculated since 18 Mar 2016)
Latest update: 05 Apr 2026
Download
Short summary
Carbon dioxide, while warming the Earth's surface, cools the atmosphere beyond about 15 km (the middle atmosphere). This cooling is considered a fingerprint of anthropogenic global warming, yet the physical reason behind it remains prone to misconceptions. Here we use a simple radiation model to illustrate the physical essence of stratospheric cooling, and a complex climate model to quantify how strongly different mechanisms contribute.
Read more
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint