 Despite advances in climate science, certain aspects of global warming are known only with low or medium confidence. Among some of the most important are the height of the troposphere, the part of the atmosphere where weather occurs, and the poleward movement and weakening of atmospheric circulation. These processes are closely linked to the bounce of stalled extreme weather increasingly observed at the mid-latitudes. Now, researchers have devised a way to track these patterns from the ground, thanks to the rare isotope beryllium-7. The resulting data could give climate researchers a better idea of how large-scale human-caused changes translate to extreme weather phenomena. The buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere is the primary driver of global warming. CO2 molecules absorb the heat given off by solar radiation emitted from the earth's surface, effectively trapping it in the troposphere. This drives temperatures at the surface up and pushes the upper boundary of the troposphere higher. Additionally, it decreases the difference in temperature between the hot equator and the cold poles, which is the main force that propels atmospheric circulation. Ultimately then, high CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are indirectly responsible for the tendency of weather throughout the mid-latitudes to stall. That means if it's hot and sunny, it stays hot and sunny, and if it's raining, it rains a lot, and probably in the same spot. Beryllium-7 serves as an incredibly useful proxy for monitoring these large-scale processes over time. Because you tend to find more of the isotope, the higher an altitude you go, a rise in the tropospheric ceiling, or tropopause, leads to higher beryllium-7 concentrations measured at the earth's surface. And since isotope uses the downward flux caused by large-scale flow divergence, like a highway into the troposphere, researchers can use beryllium-7 concentrations to chart circulation patterns, such as the case for the interface between the tropical Hadley cell and the mid-latitude Ferrell cell, for example, which strongly influences the formation of global jet streams. In linking atmospheric CO2 to extreme weather and explaining the forces behind unseasonably hot weather persisting not just regionally but worldwide, beryllium-7 tracking is revealing the effects and consequences of global warming. In contrast to popular theories, the phenomena we observe are neither the result of the solar cycle nor of a weakening of the earth's magnetic field, nor are they caused by a shift in the earth axis. These are visible as steady cycles in our data, while what we observe and measure is a clear anomaly. With ongoing refinements, this nuclear monitoring method should prove even more powerful. Beryllium-7 monitoring clearly shows how strongly global warming influences the global atmospheric circulation already today. This may lead to a warming trend that is even more severe than current predictions would indicate.