Ironic Connection: Cleaner air makes global warming worse

[LouisvilleDem]

Apparently we make things worse with everything we do, even the things we think will make things better. Makes me a little more sympathetic to GliderGuider's way of thinking...

Clean-air policies in developing countries have resulted in reduced levels of anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol pollution. Reductions in aerosol pollution is thought to result in a reduction in haze and cloud layers, leading to an increase in the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface, and ultimately, an increase in surface temperatures. There have been many studies illustrating coherent relationships between surface solar radiation and temperature however, a direct link between aerosol emissions, concentrations, and surface radiation has not been demonstrated to date. Here, we illustrate a coherence between the trends of reducing anthropogenic aerosol emissions and concentrations, at the interface between the North-East Atlantic and western-Europe, leading to a staggering increase in surface solar radiation of the order of ∼20% over the last decade.

http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/proceeding/aipcp/10.1063/1.4803337

[truebluegreen]

1. A decrease of particles in the air is apparent in ice cores

after the Clean Air Act of 1972 and, if I remember correctly, particulates helped block sunlight between the 40s and the 70s and thereby masked or slowed the effects of carbon dioxide. When we cleaned up the air....

An old professor of mine is of the opinion that intelligence--in this case the ability to do things that alter our environment--is not a survival characteristic.