A Puzzling Collapse of Earth's Upper Atmosphere

"This is the biggest contraction of the thermosphere in at least 43 years," says John Emmert of the Naval Research Lab, lead author of a paper announcing the finding in the June 19th issue of the Geophysical Research Letters (GRL). "It's a Space Age record."

The collapse happened during the deep solar minimum of 2008-2009—a fact which comes as little surprise to researchers. The thermosphere always cools and contracts when solar activity is low. In this case, however, the magnitude of the collapse was two to three times greater than low solar activity could explain.

"Something is going on that we do not understand," says Emmert.

Lorne Gunter: Don’t forget Climategate just yet | Full Comment | National Post

During his tenure at British Shell in the mid-2000s, Lord Oxburgh told the BBC he saw “little hope for the world” unless carbon dioxide emissions could be “dealt with.” Climate change, he admitted, made him “very worried for the planet.”

Not for a second do I doubt that Lord Oxburgh is one of the world’s leading geologists, as claimed. Still his past stance on climate change (and the very real, current possibility of him personally profiting from it) make him an odd choice as chairman of a supposedly objective review into a scandal that threatens to shatter the scientific basis for concern about global warming.