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Letter

Nature Geoscience 2, 28–31 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/ngeo388

Age of stratospheric air unchanged within uncertainties over the past|[nbsp]|30|[thinsp]|years

A. Engel , T. M|[ouml]|bius , H. B|[ouml]|nisch , U. Schmidt , R. Heinz , I. Levin , E. Atlas , S. Aoki , T. Nakazawa , S. Sugawara , F. Moore , D. Hurst , J. Elkins , S. Schauffler , A. Andrews & K. Boering

The rising abundances of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is associated with an increase in radiative forcing that leads to warming of the troposphere, the lower portion of the Earth|[rsquo]|s atmosphere, and cooling of the stratosphere above. A secondary effect of increasing levels of greenhouse gases is a possible change in the stratospheric circulation, which could significantly affect chlorofluorocarbon lifetimes, ozone levels and the climate system more generally.