Global warming has slowed because of pollution

Lord Beria3 · Post by **Lord Beria3** » 26 Nov 2010, 13:15

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/enviro ... ution.html

The latest figures from more than 20 scientific institutions around the world show that global temperatures are higher than ever.

However the gradual rise in temperatures over the last 30 years is slowing slightly. Global warming since the 1970s has been 0.16C (0.3F) but the rise in the last decade was just 0.05C (0.09F), according to the Met Office.

Sceptics claim this as evidence man made global warming is a myth

But in a new report the Met Office said the reduced rate of warming can be easily explained by a number of factors. And indeed the true rate of warming caused by man made greenhouse gases could be greater than ever.

One of the major factors is pollution over Asia, where the huge growth in coal-fired power stations mean aerosols like sulphur are being pumped into the air. This reflects sunlight, cooling the land surface temperature.

Dr Vicky Pope, Head of Climate Change Advice, said pollution may be causing a cooling effect.

“A possible increase in aerosol emissions from Asia in the last decade may have contributed to substantially to the recent slowdown,” she said. “Aerosols cool the climate by reflecting the sunlight.”

Another factor that has reduced the rate of warming is a prolonged minimum in the solar cycle, meaning the Earth is receiving slightly less heat from the sun.

Interesting stuff.. still a fair amount of known unknowns.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 26 Nov 2010, 16:14

This has been going on for ages...sulphur plus soot in the air explained the mid-century cooling over Europe and went on to contribute to the Ethiopean droughts in the 1980s (can't remember the details of the link) before being removed by a combination of European countries' Clean Air Acts and the moving of most of the manufacturing economy to Asia.

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 26 Nov 2010, 23:38

In that case the climate change problem and the energy problem can be solved together by burning lots of dirty coal. Yippee! Alarm over.

JohnB · Post by **JohnB** » 26 Nov 2010, 23:56

UndercoverElephant wrote:In that case the climate change problem and the energy problem can be solved together by burning lots of dirty coal. Yippee! Alarm over.

Yup. Then we get the being poisoned by pollution problem instead

.

RenewableCandy · Post by **RenewableCandy** » 27 Nov 2010, 13:50

UndercoverElephant wrote:In that case the climate change problem and the energy problem can be solved together by burning lots of dirty coal. Yippee! Alarm over.

Except that there was a recent article by Richard Party's-Over saying basically that we're running out of gettable coal in short order an'all.

Bandidoz · Post by **Bandidoz** » 27 Nov 2010, 15:27

Yep - known as "Global Dimming", there was a Horizon programme about it a few years ago (North Americans noticed higher temperatures for the few days after 9/11 when the airspace was closed)

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 27 Nov 2010, 17:04

RenewableCandy wrote:
UndercoverElephant wrote:In that case the climate change problem and the energy problem can be solved together by burning lots of dirty coal. Yippee! Alarm over.
Except that there was a recent article by Richard Party's-Over saying basically that we're running out of gettable coal in short order an'all.

I don't believe that. There's a LOT of coal left.