In this case it's purely technical even if the title can be misunderstood as if the cleanup is a bad thing. Instead the takeaway should be that it would be reassuring if the majority of the acceleration can be explained by a cleanup effort, because it implies that this is a limited process and the acceleration should go away after the cleanup is over.
Preprint Abstract: Global surface warming has accelerated since around 2010, relative to the preceding half century1-3. This has coincided with China’s efforts to reduce air pollution through restricted atmospheric aerosol and precursor emissions. A direct link between the two has, however, not yet been established. Here we show, using a large set of simulations from eight Earth System Models, how a time evolving 75% reduction in Chinese sulfate emissions partially unmasks greenhouse driven warming and influences the pattern of surface temperature change. We find a rapidly evolving global, annual-mean warming of 0.07 ± 0.05 ºC, sufficient to explain a majority of the uptick in global warming rate since 2010. We also find North-Pacific warming and a top-of-atmosphere radiative imbalance that are consistent with recent observations. China’s aerosol cleanup is thus likely a key contributor to recent global warming acceleration, and to Pacific warming trends.
Comments
- *China* Climate change: Planting new forests 'can do more harm than good' https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-53138178
- *non-China* Las Vegas is embracing a simple climate solution: More trees https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44231151
- *2022* China Is Burning More Coal, a Growing Climate Challenge https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/03/business/energy-environme...
- *2024* Yellen Warns China Against Flood of Cheap Green Energy Exports https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/27/business/yellen-china-gre...
Ridiculous double standards.
In this case it's purely technical even if the title can be misunderstood as if the cleanup is a bad thing. Instead the takeaway should be that it would be reassuring if the majority of the acceleration can be explained by a cleanup effort, because it implies that this is a limited process and the acceleration should go away after the cleanup is over.
Preprint Abstract: Global surface warming has accelerated since around 2010, relative to the preceding half century1-3. This has coincided with China’s efforts to reduce air pollution through restricted atmospheric aerosol and precursor emissions. A direct link between the two has, however, not yet been established. Here we show, using a large set of simulations from eight Earth System Models, how a time evolving 75% reduction in Chinese sulfate emissions partially unmasks greenhouse driven warming and influences the pattern of surface temperature change. We find a rapidly evolving global, annual-mean warming of 0.07 ± 0.05 ºC, sufficient to explain a majority of the uptick in global warming rate since 2010. We also find North-Pacific warming and a top-of-atmosphere radiative imbalance that are consistent with recent observations. China’s aerosol cleanup is thus likely a key contributor to recent global warming acceleration, and to Pacific warming trends.