Sunday, October 14, 2012

Global Dimming


“We are all seeing rather less of the Sun, according to scientists who have been looking at five decades of sunlight measurements.” The amount of sunlight reaching earth’s surface is gradually falling, strangely meaning that global warming is a bigger threat to earth than believed before. English scientist Gerry Stanhill, working in Israel, first spotted this effect.

Between 1950 to the present, sunlight has dropped 22% in Israel, 10% in America, 30% in the Soviet Union, and 16% drop in the British Isles. On average, sunlight has decreased 2% every decade. This data was backed by Australian scientists. “Dimming appears to be caused by air pollution.” Visible air pollution can be caused by burning wood, coal, and oil. These visible air pollutants reflect sunlight back to space, which keeps it from reaching the surface. It also changes clouds because the burned partials start the formation of water droplets, making polluted clouds bigger than unpolluted. Likewise, Polluted clouds are more reflective. The clouds keep the oceans from getting full influence from the sun, disrupting the world’s rainfall. This can affect monsoon season in Asia, killing thousands. “But it now appears the warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from dimming - in effect two of our pollutants have been cancelling each other out.” This means that “scientists have underestimated the true power of the green house effect.”


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4171591.stm

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I didn't know that we had lost sunlight due to air poluttion. I certainly don't want to lose any sunlight, I can only handle the cold for so long!

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  2. It's already hard enough for me to get a tan from the amount of sunlight we get. We totally need to make sure this problem gets more public attention, not just because of my tan but because the sun is the main source of energy for living. Its number one on many food chains. With less sun many living organisms would be affected.

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  3. We have too many problems on our hand. I dont think sunlight is a problem. 5 decades of study is not enough to make a statement like that. The sun has been bringing a lot of heat in the last decade. That counters the global warming theory. I don't know what to believe these days.

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