cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/20209592
The rate at which the planet is warming has sped up since 2010, and now researchers say that China’s efforts to clean up air pollution are inadvertently responsible for the majority of this extra warming
It is important to note that China’s action has not caused additional warming, Samset stresses. Rather, it has “unmasked” what was already there. “The warming was always there, we just had some artificial cooling from pollution, and in removing the pollution we are now seeing the full effect of the greenhouse gas driven warming,” he says.
New international limits on air pollution from cargo ships (in effect as of January 2020) have also had the same effect. The warming potential of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide has historically been underestimated by climate models which underestimated the cooling effect of aerosol pollution. The climate “tipping points” may be closer in time than previously thought.