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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: Climate change shock: Burning fossil fuels 'COOLS planet', says NASA BURNING fossil fuels and cutting down trees causes global COOLING, a shock new NASA study has found. Fossil fuel burning gives of aerosols which reflect sunlight Major theories about what causes temperatures to rise have been thrown into doubt after NASA found the Earth has cooled in areas of heavy industrialisation where more trees have been lost and more fossil fuel burning takes place. Environmentalists have long argued the burning of fossil fuels in power stations and for other uses is responsible for global warming and predicted temperature increases because of the high levels of carbon dioxide produced - which causes the global greenhouse effect. While the findings did not dispute the effects of carbon dioxide on global warming, they found aerosols - also given off by burning fossil fuels - actually cool the local environment, at least temporarily. The research was carried out to see if current climate change models for calculating future temperatures were taking into account all factors and were accurate. A NASA spokesman said: "To quantify climate change, researchers need to know the Transient Climate Response (TCR) and Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS) of Earth. On December 7, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of eastern China being inundated by thick smogNASA On December 7, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of eastern China being inundated by smog RELATED ARTICLES REVEALED: England, New York and China - the MOST polluted places... Methane - the next climate crisis: World lakes 'heating up... "Both values are projected global mean surface temperature changes in response to doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations but on different timescales. "TCR is characteristic of short-term predictions, up to a century out, while ECS looks centuries further into the future, when the entire climate system has reached equilibrium and temperatures have stabilised." The spokesman said it was "well known" that aerosols such as those emitted in volcanic eruptions and power stations, act to cool Earth, at least temporarily, by reflecting solar radiation away from the planet. He added: "In a similar fashion, land use changes such as deforestation in northern latitudes result in bare land that increases reflected sunlight." Kate Marvel, a climatologist at GISS and the paper’s lead author, said the results showed the "complexity" of estimating future global temperatures. She said: “Take sulfate aerosols, which are created from burning fossil fuels and contribute to atmospheric cooling. “They are more or less confined to the northern hemisphere, where most of us live and emit pollution. NASA found a net cooling in the northern hemisphere due to industrial activityGETTY NASA found a net cooling in the northern hemisphere due to industrial activity RELATED ARTICLES Could global warming be good for us? Scientists find hotter... Earth’s thermostat found: ‘Iron dust’ made by global warming then... Take sulfate aerosols, which are created from burning fossil fuels and contribute to atmospheric cooling. They are more or less confined to the northern hemisphere, where most of us live and emit pollution Kate Marvel, a climatologist at GISS and the paper’s lead author "There’s more land in the northern hemisphere, and land reacts quicker than the ocean does to these atmospheric changes. "Because earlier studies do not account for what amounts to a net cooling effect for parts of the northern hemisphere, predictions for TCR and ECS have been lower than they should be." The study found existing models for climate change had been too simplistic and did not account for these factors. The spokesman said: "There have been many attempts to determine TCR and ECS values based on the history of temperature changes over the last 150 years and the measurements of important climate drivers, such as carbon dioxide. "As part of that calculation, researchers have relied on simplifying assumptions when accounting for the temperature impacts of climate drivers other than carbon dioxide, such as tiny particles in the atmosphere known as aerosols, for example. Climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, the director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York and a co-author on the study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, said: "The assumptions made to account for these drivers are too simplistic and result in incorrect estimates of TCR and ECS. “The problem with that approach is that it falls way short of capturing the individual regional impacts of each of those variables,” he said, adding that only within the last ten years has there been enough available data on aerosols to abandon the simple assumption and instead attempt detailed calculations. But, rather than being good news, NASA has concluded the lack of taking these factors into account means existing climate change models have underestimated at the future impact on global temperatures will be. NASA looked at climate changing activities across the globe for the studyGETTY NASA looked at climate changing activities across the globe for the study Climate change rally Sun, September 21, 2014 The worldwide march is part of an international day of action to fight climate change ahead of a United Nations summit in New York on 23 September, which calls for drastic political and economic changes to slow global warming, has been organised by a coalition of unions, activists, politicians and scientists from around the globe PLAY SLIDESHOW CLIMATE CHANGE RALLY MARCHEPA1 of 18 US actors Leonardo DiCaprio (C), Edward Norton (R) and Mark Ruffalo (L) participate in the People's Climate March in New York, New York USA [EPA] CLIMATE CHANGE RALLY MARCH CLIMATE CHANGE RALLY climate change rally march climate change climate change rally climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists climate change rally march worldwide activists RELATED ARTICLES WATCH: Is climate change real? NASA gives verdict on global... WATCH: Storm Desmond seen from space as NASA maps how much rain... NASA researchers at GISS accomplished a first ever feat by calculating the temperature impact of each of these variables—greenhouse gases, natural and manmade aerosols, ozone concentrations, and land use changes—based on historical observations from 1850 to 2005 using a massive ensemble of computer simulations. The spokesman said: "Analysis of the results showed that these climate drivers do not necessarily behave like carbon dioxide, which is uniformly spread throughout the globe and produces a consistent temperature response; rather, each climate driver has a particular set of conditions that affects the temperature response of Earth. "Because earlier studies do not account for what amounts to a net cooling effect for parts of the northern hemisphere, predictions for TCR and ECS have been lower than they should be. "This means that Earth's climate sensitivity to carbon dioxide—or atmospheric carbon dioxide’s capacity to affect temperature change—has been underestimated, according to the study." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which draws its TCR estimate from earlier research, places the future estimate rise at 1.8°F (1.0°C). But the new NASA study dovetails with a GISS study published last year that puts the TCR value at 3.0°F (1.7° C). Mr Schmidt said: “If you’ve got a systematic underestimate of what the greenhouse gas-driven change would be, then you’re systematically underestimating what’s going to happen in the future when greenhouse gases are by far the dominant climate driver.” Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
Please, a hundred and fifty years ago? “The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.” ~ H. L. Mencken
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