| Muck and Mystery Loitering With Intent |
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What's bad is good, and the reverse.
Reduced sulphur dioxide emissions from less burning coal and increased sea surface temperatures in the tropical north Atlantic, are causing a heightened risk of drought in the Amazon rainforest. . .No win, no draw, no escape. . . unless, you know, the engineers have a go.Sulphate aerosol particles arising from the burning of coal in power stations in the 1970s and 1980s have partially reduced global warming by reflecting sunlight and making clouds brighter. This pollution has been predominantly in the northern hemisphere and has acted to limit warming in the tropical north Atlantic, keeping the Amazon wetter than it would otherwise be. Chris Huntingford of CEH, another of the co-authors, explains: “Reduced sulphur emissions in North America and Europe will see tropical rain-bands move northwards as the north Atlantic warms, resulting in a sharp increase in the risk of Amazonian drought”.
A poetic fantasy would be for Amazonians to begin making terra preta again in large quantities, and in so doing simultaneously sequestering lots of carbon and making their land more drought resistant. We could do it too, just to be good sports.
It does seem odd, that the claim is that aerosols have reduced the warming in the northern hemisphere, and yet that hemisphere has warmed considerably more than the South. One would expect the North to be cooler than the South if his logic was correct, instead it is reversed.
The evidence for aerosol cooling, cooling that is by anthropogenic aerosols on a large scale, seems non-existent. Theory, yes, plenty of it, volcanic aerosols, OK, but neither of these has much relation to the actual evidence. Anthropogenic aerosols are a convenient fiction, introduced by modelers principally to add a further "fiddle factor" to their calculations.
Posted by: Ed Snack at May 11, 2008 12:22 AMYeah, it's a muddle. Everything is "consistent with", and nothing is falsifiable. It's all spin, hustle, grift and politics.
It seems like spewing all that gunk into the air must have some effects, but there is no clear analysis of what the effects are.
To be continued.
Posted by: back40 at May 11, 2008 04:51 AM