Posted on 03/15/2007 10:05:41 PM PDT by Islander7
A new NASA study has found that an important counter-balance to the warming of our planet by greenhouse gases – sunlight blocked by dust, pollution and other aerosol particles – appears to have lost ground.
The thinning of Earth’s “sunscreen” of aerosols since the early 1990s could have given an extra push to the rise in global surface temperatures. The finding, published in the March 16 issue of Science, may lead to an improved understanding of recent climate change. In a related study published last week, scientists found that the opposing forces of global warming and the cooling from aerosol-induced "global dimming" can occur at the same time.
"When more sunlight can get through the atmosphere and warm Earth's surface, you're going to have an effect on climate and temperature," said lead author Michael Mishchenko of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), New York. "Knowing what aerosols are doing globally gives us an important missing piece of the big picture of the forces at work on climate."
(Excerpt) Read more at earthobservatory.nasa.gov ...
I'm sooooo confused!! Where is AlGoracle to explain all of this to me when I need him?!?!?!
I don't understand....HELP ME AL GORE!!! YOU WANTED ME ONCE!
And .. the left can always blame it on Bush!
This is one of the fascinating aspects of the whole global climate situation.
Apparently, this phenomenon was discovered during the 3 days that airplanes did not fly after 9/11. In the midwest agricultural researchers use large flat pans to measure evaporation to help farmers with their water needs. It is the photons in the light which affect the heating of the water and the resulting evaporation. Less airplane pollution particles, more photons, more evaporation.
Last year there was drought and a lot of dust coming off of Africa and covering the spawning ground of hurricanes in the Equatorial Atlantic. Thus we ended up with lower sea surface temperatures (SST) than the previous year and thus a milder hurricane season.
On the other hand 30 years ago when there was more air pollution in Europe, this had an effect on the northern African climate that led to the severe Sahel drought. Now that Europe has been cleaning up its air, the droughts have been less severe.
It is all very complicated which is why the predicting is so difficult and it bears watching and our attention.
Poudly announcing the First Annual CFC Drive!
Do your part to help save Mother Earth! Bring us your old appliances, Air Conditioning Units or perhaps that forlorn case of Rustoleum that has been sitting in your garage since 1981, and we'll gladly release your CFC's for you!
Only $29.99, and you get the "I Saved the World By the Profligate Release of Freon" T-shirt absolutely FREE!
Let Mother Earth know you care! Sign up today!
Got the spinmeisters spinning. It is going to get so booorrringg.
Gorebal warning!
OK--
I pledge to do all I can for algore the idiot
I will haul out the big ol big block V8 powered water separator and race around the lake as often as I can, and make a couple additional long full throttle loops to honor al. I further pledge to burn rubber in the ol suv guzzler all the way home.
I support the gwot and global warming.
Must suck to pull stuff out of thin air for one's bread and butter.
I've been blaming GW on the Clean Air Act for year.
Global Sunscreen? Don't these scientificky types know about coppertone? SPF 9000? Sheesh. Do I have to do everything around here?
WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!!!!
So, if we drill a big nuke into the base of a volcano and let her rip then we can counter the global warming caused by clean air and cool the earth a few degrees. I can't wait until someone actually proposes this for real...
A half dozen nukes detonated in Iran, and the 'dust, pollution and other aerosol particles' will return to protect us all.
All things work together for global warming, to those who are called by the elite for their purpose.
But, but, but, ....
The global warmers have been telling us that solar heating has "negligible" effects on temperatures ....
The Chinese are working hard to reverse those pollution gains. We'll have our sunscreen back in no time!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
