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https://theconversation.com/cleaner-air-in-east-asia-may-have-driven-recent-acceleration-in-global-warming-our-new-study-indicates-260601>
"Global warming has picked up pace since around 2010, leading to the recent
string of record warm years. Why this is happening is still unclear, and among
the biggest questions in climate science today. Our new study reveals that
reductions in air pollution – particularly in China and east Asia – are a key
reason for this faster warming.
Cleanup of sulphur emissions from global shipping has been implicated in past
research. But that cleanup only began in 2020, so it’s considered too weak to
explain the full extent of this acceleration. Nasa researchers have suggested
that changes in clouds could play a role, either through reductions in cloud
cover in the tropics or over the North Pacific.
One factor that has not been well quantified, however, is the effect of
monumental efforts by countries in east Asia, notably China, to combat air
pollution and improve public health through strict air quality policies. There
has already been a 75% reduction in east Asian sulphur dioxide emissions since
around 2013, and that cleanup effort picked up pace just as global warming
began accelerating.
Our study addresses the link between east Asian air quality improvements and
global temperature, building on the efforts of eight teams of climate modellers
across the world.
We have found that polluted air may have been masking the full effects of
global warming. Cleaner air could now be revealing more of the human-induced
global warming from greenhouse gases.
In addition to causing millions of premature deaths, air pollution shields the
Earth from sunlight and therefore cools the surface. There has been so much air
pollution that it has held human-induced warming in check by up to 0.5°C over
the last century.
With the cleanup of air pollution, something that’s vital for human health,
this artificial sunshade is removed. Since greenhouse gas emissions have kept
on increasing, the result is that the Earth’s surface is warming faster than
ever before."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
