On the other hand, by those particulates blocking sunlight, the particles themselves would be warmed which would, in turn, warm the atmosphere. (While I haven't seen any published data on this, I'd suspect that the two effects would offset each other, at least to some extent.)
.........It’s a well known fact that particulates in the atmosphere prevent some sunlight from hitting the earth, thereby reducing temperatures.
On the other hand, by those particulates blocking sunlight, the particles themselves would be warmed which would, in turn, warm the atmosphere. (While I haven’t seen any published data on this, I’d suspect that the two effects would offset each other, at least to some extent.)...................
However, remember the 1800’s yearless summer, after
Krakatoa (sp) blasted off, spewing billions of pounds of particulates in the air, creating a year of winter for the entire planet for 16 months.
Western mankind’s technology has greatly reduced the particulates in the air. I believe that this enables more sun energy to hit the surface, creating warmth.
Not carbon dioxide problems, as all the pre-historic to last century charts indicate that carbon dioxide builds in the atmosphere - after - an increase in surface temperature.
A cause and effect, not an effect and cause!
I think, in that case, the high level particles would just radiate the heat back out to space. I’ve never seen particulate matter proposed as a means of holding heat in the atmosphere.
Every theory dealing with atmospheric particles assigns them a cooling effect. One of the widely accepted theories of the extinction of the dinosaurs, for instance, posits that an asteroid hitting the earth kicked up a huge cloud of dust, which went high into the atmosphere, blocking enough sunlight that it was too cold for plants to grow and the dinosaurs starved. Back in the 80s, the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo put dust high in the atmosphere, resulting in an unusually cool summer. In the 1800s, atmospheric dust from volcanic eruptions cooled the planet so much that there was summertime snow in New England, and people could not grow food.
According to NASA, almost 50 percent of all warming in the arctic is due to clean air regulations :-P
NASA GISS suggests aerosols play a large role in Arctic warming