Massive wildfires are driving smoke clouds to record heights in the stratosphere, U.S. and European scientists say. What they don’t know yet is just how damaging the effects might be.
From the Arctic to Australia, unusual storms powered by wildfires have spewed smoke to altitudes well above where commercial jets usually fly. In the stratosphere, which stretches from around 6 to 31 miles above the Earth, the smoke has affected the air across thousands of miles and blocked sunlight on a “planetary scale,” mimicking the effects…