Major wildfires are producing increased amounts of smoke in the stratosphere

An alarming trend of wildfires in the western United States and smoke rising into the atmosphere is likely to get worse. As fires spread due to climate change, storm clouds that carry smoke into the stratosphere are more likely to form.

“The heights that these very large wildfire plumes rise to are where they're burning the most area and probably producing the most smoke,” he says. Derek Maria from the University of Utah presented their research at the American Geophysical Society meeting.