Latest Stratospheric sulfur aerosols Stories
Many of the particles in the atmosphere are produced by the natural world, and it is possible that plants have in recent decades reduced the effects of the greenhouse gases to which human activity has given rise. One consequence of this is that the climate may be more sensitive to emissions caused by human activity than we have previously believed. Scientists at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) have collected new data that may lead to better climate models. "Emissions by plants to the...
A Yale study examining the impact of aviation on climate change found that removing sulfur from jet fuel cools the atmosphere. The study was published in the October 22 issue of Geophysical Research Letters. "Aviation is really important to the global economy. We better understand what it's doing to climate because it's the fastest growing fossil fuel-burning sector and there is no alternative to air travel in many circumstances. Emissions are projected to increase substantially in the...
Our understanding of how clouds form may need to be revised, according to new research published in the journal Nature. The study has found that one or more unidentified organic gases have a significant influence on the Earth's cloud cover. The research has implications for certain predictions about climate change because aerosol particles and the clouds they seed have a cooling effect on the Earth by reflecting radiation from the sun. Jasper Kirkby, head of the Cosmics Leaving...
Supercomputer simulations by University of Washington researchers outline the potential risks and benefits of geoengineering Scientists believe that our warming world may face catastrophic changes to its natural environment, including droughts, rising oceans and fiercer, more frequent hurricanes. Theoretically, it may be necessary to act globally to mitigate the damage. Initially, those efforts will probably take the form of limits on greenhouse gas emissions or forest preservation. But...
Scientists have known for decades that black carbon aerosols add to global warming. These airborne particles made of sooty carbon are believed to be among the largest man-made contributors to global warming because they absorb solar radiation and heat the atmosphere. New research from Carnegie's Long Cao and Ken Caldeira, along with colleagues George Ban-Weiss and Govindasamy Bala, quantifies how black carbon's impact on climate depends on its altitude in the atmosphere. Their work, published...
NASA is scheduled to launch its latest Earth-orbiting satellite -- Glory -- in the predawn hours early Wednesday in what is to be a $424 million mission to observe and analyze airborne particles emitted from volcanoes, forest fires, smokestacks and tailpipes. The satellite will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara County, California. It will be carried by a Taurus XL rocket into space about 440 miles above Earth, where it will join a fleet of satellites that has been...
Climatologists have known for decades that airborne particles called aerosols can have a powerful impact on the climate. However, pinpointing the magnitude of the effect has proven challenging because of difficulties associated with measuring the particles on a global scale.Soon a new NASA satellite -- Glory -- should help scientists collect the data needed to provide firmer answers about the important particles. In California, engineers and technicians at Vandenberg Air Force Base are...
Shipping, China top emissions growth in new analysis of 150 years of emissionsA new analysis of sulfur emissions appearing in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics shows that after declining for a decade, worldwide emissions rose again in 2000 due largely to international shipping and a growing Chinese economy. An accurate read on sulfur emissions will help researchers predict future changes in climate and determine present day effects on the atmosphere, health and the...
Could Dimming the Sun Change Teleconnections in Weather Patterns as we Know Them?Solar radiation management projects, also known as sun dimming, seek to reduce the amount of sunlight hitting the Earth to counteract the effects of climate change. Global dimming can occur as a side-effect of fossil fuels or as a result of volcanic eruptions, but the consequences of deliberate sun dimming as a geoengineering tool are unknown.A new study by Dr Peter Braesicke, from the Centre for Atmospheric...
Dozens of scientists descended on Sacramento, Calif., in June hoping for what most of us don't want to see during hot summer days: thick, sooty haze.The team of some sixty researchers from across the country and several universities and government agencies -- including NASA scientists and aircraft -- took to the skies to sort out one of the stickiest questions in climate science: What effects do tiny aerosol particles in that haze --particularly those containing carbon -- have on the Earth's...
