Aircraft may have to fly higher as the atmosphere expands

Published: 22-11-2021 Aircraft may have to fly higher as the atmosphere expands

Nov 22, 2021 (newstodate): In the years ahead, airlines may have to gradually increase flight levels to avoid atmospheric turbulence.
   According to research, published in Science Advances, the top of the lowest level of the atmosphere is rising. The tropopause is thus pushing up the boundary with the stratosphere by about 50-60 meters per decade.
   The rising is caused by warming temperatures near the Earth's surface that are causing the lower atmosphere to expand.
    The location of the tropopause is of interest to commercial pilots who often fly in the lower stratosphere to avoid turbulence, and it also plays a role in severe thunderstorms, whose overshooting tops sometimes drive the tropopause higher and draw down air from the stratosphere.

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