It's aerosols

It's aerosols

Is a Thinning Haze Unveiling the Real Global Warming? (Kerr 2007) points out that the sunlight-reflecting haze that cools much of the planet seems to have thinned over the past decade or so. If real, the thinning would not explain away a century of global warming but it might explain the unexpectedly strong global warming of late, the accelerating loss of glacial ice and much of rising sea levels.

Comments 1 to 3:

1. Robert S at 14:35 PM on 13 May, 2008
   "...That's not just semantics - take aerosols out of the equation and in the absence of any other forcings, global temperatures would remain steady."
   
   This doesn't make any sense--when you "take aerosols out of the equation" doesn't that mean more EM radiation is reaching Earth, warming it?
2. Mizimi at 02:12 AM on 1 February, 2009
   Which aerosols are you referring to? Man-made presumably?
   Aerosols are also produced by the biosphere and the atmospheric concentrations vary considerably. For example, many plant species produce aromatic oils (terpenes) which generally persist for a few minutes to a couple of days. Species include pines,eucalypts, beech,citrus, as well as the 'herbs'... rosemary, thyme,
   sage etc. These oils degrade in the atmosphere and form aerosols. A recent study indicates that plant aerosols can affect cloud cover :
   "The team found the terpenes react in the air to form tiny particles called aerosols. The particles help turn water vapour in the atmosphere into clouds.
   
   Spracklen said the team's computer models showed that the pine particles doubled the thickness of clouds some 1,000m above the forests, and would reflect an extra 5% sunlight back into space.
   
   He said: "It might not sound a lot, but that is quite a strong cooling effect. The climate is such a finely balanced system that we think this effect is large enough to reduce temperatures over quite large areas. It gives us another reason to preserve forests."
   
   The research, which will be published in a special edition of the Royal Society journal Philosophical Transactions A, is the first to quantify the cooling effect of the released chemicals. The scientists say the findings "must be included in climate models in order to make realistic predictions".
   
   Because trees release more terpenes in warmer weather, the discovery suggests that forests could act as a negative feedback on climate, to dampen future temperature rise. The team looked at forests of mainly pine and spruce trees, but Spracklen said other trees also produce terpenes so the cooling effect should be found in other regions, including tropical rainforests."
   
   http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/oct/31/forests-climatechange
3. hans at 02:20 AM on 14 September, 2009
   Here is a NASA study about aerosols affecting the Arctic:
   
   http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/warming_aerosols.html
   
   "Clean air regulations passed in the 1970s, for example, have likely accelerated warming by diminishing the cooling effect of sulfates"
   
   So without our pollution in the sixties global warming would have started much earlier.

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