Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2025

Constraining the origins of terrestrial stratospheric solid aerosols over the 1981-2020 period

Résumé

The injection of materials into the Earth's atmosphere has both a natural and an anthropogenic component. Natural solid aerosols that reach the stratosphere can come from Earth—like ash from volcanic eruptions and biomass fires, pollens, spores, etc. —or from space, such as interplanetary dust, asteroids and comets. Anthropogenic stratospheric solid aerosols exclusively come from space activities, including rocket launches (alumina and black-carbon during propellant combustion) and the re-entry of space objects (rocket bodies, payloads and associated debris) into the atmosphere. Since 2000, the number of rocket launches has increased by a factor of 3 and the number of satellites launched into orbit has increased by a factor of 30 (Lasue et al., 2024). Over the same period, the mass of alumina ejected by Solid Rocket Motors is estimated to have decreased by a factor 2 without accounting for black-carbon emissions (Fig. 1). At the same time, the total mass re-entered into the atmosphere from payloads (excluding manned space flight capsules), rocket bodies, boosters and their debris has increased by more than a factor 2 (Fig. 2). Space debris accounts for only 1% of the total mass re-entered into the atmosphere, while payloads and rocket bodies (and upper stages) account for 7% and 9% respectively. Most of the re-entered mass (83%) comes from boosters and core stages in suborbital flight. Overall, an average of 3.4 kt/year of anthropogenic materials enters Earth’s atmosphere. Whereas the estimated total re-entered mass from cosmic particles ranges between 8.4 and 33.4 kt/year (Schulz et al., 2021, Fig. 1 and Tab. A.7).

Dates et versions

hal-05281559 , version 1 (24-09-2025)

Identifiants

Citer

Quentin Taupin, Jérémie Lasue, Anni Määttänen, Michael Zolensky. Constraining the origins of terrestrial stratospheric solid aerosols over the 1981-2020 period. EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2025, Sep 2025, Helsinki, Finland. ⟨10.5194/epsc-dps2025-1899⟩. ⟨hal-05281559⟩
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