The tropopause is a powerful retaining layer that prevents the vertical transport of aerosols and water vapor. The height of the tropopause is increasing due to climate change.
Canadian scientists have discovered that due to climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions, the lower layers of the atmosphere have been rising since the mid-1980s, reports the journal Science.
Over the past 40 years, the troposphere, the lower, most studied layer of the atmosphere, has thickened at a constant rate, mechanically advancing the separation boundary with the stratosphere. More than 80% of the total mass of atmospheric air is concentrated in the troposphere, turbulence and convection are highly developed, the predominant part of water vapor is concentrated, clouds arise, atmospheric fronts form, cyclones and anticyclones develop, as well as other processes that determine weather and climate. The processes occurring in the troposphere are caused primarily by convection.
Tropopause is an intermediate layer between the troposphere and stratosphere. Openings in the tropopause allow ozone present in the stratosphere and the rest of the dry air to enter the troposphere. The tropopause prevents the transfer of water and the loss of light hydrogen into space from the troposphere.
The height of the tropopause depends on the level of heat received, minimum at the poles and maximum at the equator. The height of the tropopause above the Earth’s poles is the lowest, 8–10 km, in the middle latitudes it rises to 12–13 km and reaches 16–18 km in the equator zone. These figures are currently increasing.