The game is up"Pollution decreases global warming"

[disorder2k8]

Climate change could speed up as pollution decreases

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5203366/Climate-change-could-speed-up-as-pollution-decreases.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5202877/Global-warming-slowed-by-pollution.html

The first study found that the hole in the ozone layer, caused by the use of CFCs, has prevented the melting of Antarctica even as the rest of the world warms.
A separate study found that plants absorb more carbon dioxide under polluted skies, therefore slowing global warming.

Scientists said the findings made it even more important to cut carbon emissions in the future as pollution from CFCs and other sources is expected to decrease.

The survey of Antarctica by the British Antarctic Survey and Nasa found sea ice in the South Pole has increased at a rate of 100,000 square kilometres (38,601 square miles) a decade over the last 40 years even as the ice cap in the North Pole melts.

The scientists said the reason was the hole in the ozone layer, caused by the use of CFCs. The ozone layer absorbs heat in the atmosphere, but the emergence of the hole – almost the size of North America – has cooled temperatures, resulting in more ice.

However following a ban on CFCs the hole in the ozone layer is expected to repair, causing temperatures in the South Pole to rise again.

The study of plants by scientists from across the UK, including the Met Office, found that "global dimming" caused by polluted skies over the last 40 years has increased the ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide by as much as a quarter. The study published in Nature said this is because the diffusion of sunlight means the land receives light from different directions rather than just directly from the sun. As a result, plants are able to convert more of the sunlight energy into growth, trapping carbon dioxide as they do so, because more leaves are in the sun.

The increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, may have helped to slow global warming. However as the world cuts pollution it will speed up again.

Both studies concluded that it was even more important to cut carbon emissions in the future as the reduction in pollution will mean global warming is speeding up.

Laugh at the big joke everybody !

:eek:

(I know I kinda broke my own rule but its funny more than negative :P)

[motleyhoo]

Particulate air pollution cools the Earth in general by blocking sunlight. It is the same thing that happens after the eruption of a large volcano. If we clean our air and fix our broken environemntal protection laws, the effects of CO2 would obviously be a lot greater as particulate pollution is masking the problem to some degree. Yeah I know, CO2doesn't really exist, it's all a hoax, yada, yada, yada. Whatever.

[jesuitsdidit]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/5203366/Climate-change-could-speed-up-as-pollution-decreases.html


Climate change could speed up as pollution decreases
Global warming could speed up as the world becomes cleaner, scientists have warned, after new research found plants absorb more greenhouse gases when the air is polluted.


By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:25PM BST 22 Apr 2009

The new research found that plants have been taking in more carbon dioxide over the last 40 years because pollution makes it easier for plants to convert sunlight to energy.

However as the world produces more electricity from renewables and transport is made cleaner, the skies will be clearer - slowing the ability of plants to absorb the greenhouse gas and therefore contributing to global warming.

The study, published in Nature, warned that the reduced ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide as the air becomes cleaner makes it even more important to cut emissions in the future.

Scientists have long known that the increase in pollution as a result of human activity reduced the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface from the 1950s to 1980s in a process known as "global dimming".

Now researchers from across the UK and Europe have found that the phenomenon also increased the ability of plants to absorb carbon dioxide. This is because the diffusion of sunlight caused by global dimming means the land receives light from different directions rather than just directly from the sun. As a result, plants are able to convert more of the sunlight energy into growth, trapping carbon dioxide as they do so, because more leaves are in the sun.

Dr Lina Mercado from the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology said: "Surprisingly, the effects of atmospheric pollution seem to have enhanced global plant productivity by as much as a quarter from 1960 to 1999.

"This resulted in a net 10 per cent increase in the amount of carbon stored by the land once other effects were taken into account."

The increase in the amount of carbon dioxide, which is a greenhouse gas, may have helped to slow global warming. However as the world cuts pollution it will speed up again.

Co-author Professor Peter Cox, of the University of Exeter, said: "As we continue to clean up the air in the lower atmosphere, which we must do for the sake of human health, the challenge of avoiding dangerous climate change through reductions in CO2 emissions will be even harder.

"Different climate changing pollutants have very different direct effects on plants, and these need to be taken into account if we are to make good decisions about how to deal with climate change."