{"id":260970,"date":"2023-06-06T18:02:22","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T16:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=260970"},"modified":"2023-06-06T18:02:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T16:02:25","slug":"thermosphere-is-cooling-bad-for-satellites-thermosphere-is-heating-bad-for-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=260970","title":{"rendered":"Thermosphere is Cooling, Bad for Satellites. Thermosphere is Heating, Bad for Satellites."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a long running joke about stories with the structure<\/a>: world will end tomorrow women and minorities hurt the most. Either that or heads I win tails you lose after reading the following two articles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going through emails today I received a tip about this story from Tom F<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an article in Yale 360<\/a> about a new study, Exceptional stratospheric contribution to human fingerprints on atmospheric temperature<\/a> by our old friend Ben Santer<\/a>, atmospheric scientist Martin Mlynczak<\/a>, an atmospheric physicist at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, amplifies Santer\u2019s concerns about the cooling, shrinking thermosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Santer just knows that these observations prove the accuracy of climate models. All emphasis mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

A new study<\/a> published in May in the journal PNAS<\/em> by veteran climate modeler Ben Santer of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution found that it increased the strength of the \u201csignal\u201d of the human fingerprint of climate change<\/strong> fivefold, by reducing the interference \u201cnoise\u201d from background natural variability. Santer says the finding is \u201cincontrovertible.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the new discoveries about the scale of cooling aloft<\/strong> are leaving atmospheric physicists with new worries \u2014 about the safety of orbiting satellites, about the fate of the ozone layer, and about the potential of these rapid changes aloft to visit sudden and unanticipated turmoil on our weather below.https:\/\/e360.yale.edu\/features\/climate-change-upper-atmosphere-cooling<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Santer has been searching for that fingerprint for close to three decades. He has a lot time invested in finding it, from 1996:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The observed spatial patterns of temperature change in the free atmosphere from 1963 to 1987 are similar to those predicted by state-of-the-art climate models incorporating various combinations of changes in carbon dioxide, anthropogenic sulphate aerosol and stratospheric ozone concentrations. The degree of pattern similarity between models and observations increases through this period. It is likely that this trend is partially due to human activities, although many uncertainties remain, particularly relating to estimates of natural variability.https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/382039a0<\/a> July 4th, 1996<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It is worth reading a takedown of Santer\u2019s 1996 paper by the now deceased John Daly.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mlynczak noted on May 18th in the Yale 360 article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Above the stratosphere, Mlynczak found that the mesosphere and lower thermosphere contracted by almost 4,400 feet between 2002 and 2019. Part of this shrinking was due to a short-term decline in solar activity that has since ended, but 1,120 feet of it was due to cooling caused by the extra CO2, he calculates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This contraction means the upper atmosphere is becoming less dense, which in turn reduces drag on satellites and other objects in low orbit \u2014 by around a third by 2070, calculates<\/a> Ingrid Cnossen, a research fellow at the British Antarctic Survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the face of it, this is good news for satellite operators. Their payloads should stay operational for longer before falling back to Earth. But the problem is the other objects that share these altitudes. The growing amount of space junk \u2014 bits of equipment of various sorts left behind in orbit \u2014 are also sticking around longer, increasing the risk of collisions with currently operational satellites.<\/strong>https:\/\/e360.yale.edu\/features\/climate-change-upper-atmosphere-cooling<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Continuing through my tip emails today reader yirgach alerted me to this story at spaceweather.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE THERMOSPHERE IS HEATING UP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n

If you\u2019re a satellite, this story is important. A series of geomagnetic storms in 2023 has pumped terawatts of energy into Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere, helping to push its temperature and height to a 20-year high. Air surrounding our planet is now touching satellites in Earth orbit and dragging them down.<\/strong>https:\/\/spaceweather.com\/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=06&year=2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Only three weeks after the previous article Mlynczak <\/strong>says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cBlame the sun,\u201d says Martin Mlynczak of NASA Langley<\/strong>. \u201cIncreasing solar activity is heating the top of the atmosphere. The extra heat has no effect on weather or climate at Earth\u2019s surface, but it\u2019s a big deal for satellites in low Earth orbit.\u201dhttps:\/\/spaceweather.com\/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=06&year=2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cRight now we\u2019re seeing some of the highest readings in the mission\u2019s 21.5 year history,\u201d he says.https:\/\/spaceweather.com\/archive.php?view=1&day=02&month=06&year=2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The story continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

If current trends continue, the thermosphere will warm even more in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Thermospheric cooling, it\u2019s CO2<\/sub> and climate models are proved again, bad for satellites.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thermospheric warming, it\u2019s that damn sun and its storms, bad for satellites.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All change is bad. Everything must remain exactly the same.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have no doubt that an expanding thermosphere is VERY bad for low altitude orbiting satellites. I just love the rationalization that a shrinking one was bad, cuz humans did it guvner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT\u2019s to yirgach and Tom F<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a long running joke about\u00a0stories with the structure: world will end tomorrow women and minorities hurt the most. Either that or heads I win tails you lose after reading the following two articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":260977,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691818056,691818153,691818076,691820010,691820009],"class_list":["post-260970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-models","tag-co2","tag-satellites","tag-thermosphere","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0timed.webp?fit=1200%2C786&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-15Tc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":370784,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370784","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":0},"title":"No, Smithsonian Magazine, Climate Change Is Not the Main Driver of Satellite Collision Risk\u2014The Sun Is","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"03\/18\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent article from\u00a0Smithsonian Magazine\u00a0(SM) titled\u00a0\u201cClimate Change Might Increase Satellite Collisions, Limiting How Many Can Safely Orbit Earth, Study Finds\u201d\u00a0claims that human-induced climate change is causing the upper atmosphere to contract, reducing drag on satellites and space debris, which could lead to more collisions. This is misleading if not outright\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0space-satellite-orbiting-the-earth-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa_nyxocevvyx_thumbnail-1080_01.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0space-satellite-orbiting-the-earth-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa_nyxocevvyx_thumbnail-1080_01.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0space-satellite-orbiting-the-earth-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa_nyxocevvyx_thumbnail-1080_01.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0space-satellite-orbiting-the-earth-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa_nyxocevvyx_thumbnail-1080_01.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/0space-satellite-orbiting-the-earth-elements-of-this-image-furnished-by-nasa_nyxocevvyx_thumbnail-1080_01.png?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":260236,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=260236","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":1},"title":"Geomagnetic Storms Pump Terawatts into the\u00a0Thermosphere","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"06\/02\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"A series of geomagnetic storms in 2023 has pumped terawatts of energy into Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere, helping to push the temperature and height of Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere to a 20-year high. Air surrounding our planet is touching satellites in low Earth orbit and dragging them down.","rel":"","context":"In \"Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere\"","block_context":{"text":"Earth\u2019s upper atmosphere","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=earths-upper-atmosphere"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0yellowstone-1.webp?fit=1024%2C580&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0yellowstone-1.webp?fit=1024%2C580&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0yellowstone-1.webp?fit=1024%2C580&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/0yellowstone-1.webp?fit=1024%2C580&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":442854,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=442854","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":2},"title":"Solar Peaks Accelerate Space Junk Fallout: New Threshold Reshapes Orbital Decay Forecasts","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/07\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Increased solar activity during the peak of the Sun's ~11-year cycle causes space junk (and satellites) in low Earth orbit (LEO) to lose altitude and re-enter Earth's atmosphere faster.","rel":"","context":"In \"atmospheric drag\"","block_context":{"text":"atmospheric drag","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=atmospheric-drag"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-Solar-Peaks-Accelerate-Space-Junk-Fallout-New-Threshold-Reshapes-Orbital-Decay-Forecasts.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-Solar-Peaks-Accelerate-Space-Junk-Fallout-New-Threshold-Reshapes-Orbital-Decay-Forecasts.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-Solar-Peaks-Accelerate-Space-Junk-Fallout-New-Threshold-Reshapes-Orbital-Decay-Forecasts.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-Solar-Peaks-Accelerate-Space-Junk-Fallout-New-Threshold-Reshapes-Orbital-Decay-Forecasts.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-Solar-Peaks-Accelerate-Space-Junk-Fallout-New-Threshold-Reshapes-Orbital-Decay-Forecasts.jpg?fit=1168%2C784&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":445860,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=445860","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":3},"title":"NASA’s AWE Unveils First High-Resolution Images of Gravity Waves Driving Space Weather from Earth’s Atmosphere","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/22\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The mission collected valuable data over thousands of orbits, with initial datasets released earlier (e.g., after 3,000 orbits in 2025). It surpassed expectations and was deactivated to free up the ISS mounting point for the next experiment. The instrument will eventually be deorbited and burn up on re-entry.","rel":"","context":"In \"atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs)\"","block_context":{"text":"atmospheric gravity waves (AGWs)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=atmospheric-gravity-waves-agws"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-NASAs-AWE-Unveils-First-High-Resolution-Images-of-Gravity-Waves-Driving-Space-Weather-from-Earths-Atmosphere.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-NASAs-AWE-Unveils-First-High-Resolution-Images-of-Gravity-Waves-Driving-Space-Weather-from-Earths-Atmosphere.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-NASAs-AWE-Unveils-First-High-Resolution-Images-of-Gravity-Waves-Driving-Space-Weather-from-Earths-Atmosphere.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-NASAs-AWE-Unveils-First-High-Resolution-Images-of-Gravity-Waves-Driving-Space-Weather-from-Earths-Atmosphere.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0-ChatGPT-NASAs-AWE-Unveils-First-High-Resolution-Images-of-Gravity-Waves-Driving-Space-Weather-from-Earths-Atmosphere.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":272864,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=272864","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":4},"title":"Climate Fact-Check July 2023 Edition","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"08\/11\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The media is calling July 2023 the \u201chottest month on record\u201d and even the \u201chottest month in the history of civilization.\u201d Keeping in mind that July is typically the warmest month of every year, NASA satellite data indicate that July 2023 was the warmest July in the satellite record. But\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"climate alarmism\"","block_context":{"text":"climate alarmism","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-alarmism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-456.png?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-456.png?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-456.png?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-456.png?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/image-456.png?fit=1200%2C672&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":298252,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=298252","url_meta":{"origin":260970,"position":5},"title":"Maine Sea Level Panic","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/23\/2024","format":false,"excerpt":"So I open my electronic window onto the world this morning, and I find lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth about a projected sea level rise in the US state of Maine.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate alarmism\"","block_context":{"text":"climate alarmism","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-alarmism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0PortlandHeadLight.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0PortlandHeadLight.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0PortlandHeadLight.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0PortlandHeadLight.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/0PortlandHeadLight.jpg?fit=1200%2C748&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=260970"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":260980,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260970\/revisions\/260980"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/260977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=260970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=260970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=260970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}