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US Air Force
Bombing of a factory in Marienburg, Germany, October 9, 1943.
The bombs used by Allied forces during the Second World War were so large that they weakened the Earth's upper atmosphere.
Air raids have turned cities into rubble and ash, but now new research shows that shockwaves could be felt up to 1,000 km above the United Kingdom.
Chris Scott, from the University of Reading, said: "I was absolutely amazed [when I found out].
"Each raid released energy of at least 300 lightning strikes."
It is now hoped that research will enable us to better understand how natural forces such as lightning, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can affect the Earth's upper atmosphere.
How do we know it happened?
The researchers studied daily records held at the Radio Research Center in Slough, UK.
They examined how the concentration of electrons in the upper atmosphere was changing around 152 Allied air raids in Europe, including raids on Berlin and those in favor of landing in Normandy.
Author's right of the image
National Museum / PA Wire
The Allied bombing that began in 1942 caused unprecedented havoc on the ground, while cities such as Dresden and Hamburg were reduced to rubble and ashes.
The data showed that the concentration of electrons dropped dramatically when a bomb exploded, which heated the upper atmosphere.
This caused a small but significant depletion of the ionosphere over Slough, even though the bombs were deployed hundreds of kilometers away.
But Chris Scott admits that "these are very temporary effects that have warmed the atmosphere slightly."
"The effects on the ionosphere would only have lasted until the heat dissipated."
Why do we need to know the ionosphere?
It is a layer of the Earth's atmosphere that can affect radio communications, GPS systems, radio telescopes and even some understanding of weather systems.
Chris Scott said, "This [research] is really important if we want to understand the ionosphere as a whole.
"We know that the ionosphere is controlled by solar activity, but it varies much more than can be explained today."
The results are published in the journal of the European Union of Geosciences, Annales Geophysicae.
