Increased solar radiation requires additional CO2 reduction of 50 million tonnes, analysis finds
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 10:42
in Earth & Climate
The recently observed reduction in air pollution implies that more solar radiation reaches Earth’s surface. This could lead to a far more rapid increase in Earth’s temperature in the coming decades than has previously been expected. In order to successfully combat global warming, it is crucial that scientists incorporate increases in CO2 emissions reductions as well as reductions in air pollution in the calculations, according to a new analysis based on unique solar radiation data collected from weather stations between 1959 and 2002.