A bit of a bombshell from the AGU IGBR: Black carbon is a larger cause of climate change than previously assessed
January 15, 2013 Leave a comment
From the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme via Eurekalert, some of the heat gets taken off CO2 as the 'big kahuna' of forcings, now there is another major player, one that we can easily do something about. I've often speculated that black carbon is a major forcing for Arctic sea ice, due to examples like this one. - Anthony
Reducing diesel engine emissions would reduce warming…
Black carbon is the second largest man-made contributor to global warming and its influence on climate has been greatly underestimated, according to the first quantitative and comprehensive analysis of this issue. The landmark study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres today says the direct influence of black carbon, or soot, on warming the climate could be about twice previous estimates. Accounting for all of the ways it can affect climate, black carbon is believed to have a warming effect of about 1.1 Watts per square meter (W/m2), approximately two thirds of the effect of the largest man made contributor to global warming, carbon dioxide.
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