Cleaner Air Doesn't Necessarily Help Global Warming (moved from ATSNN), page 1

Recent studies of the earth's atmosphere suggest that more light is reaching the surface and that the earth is, in fact, becoming a brighter place. The brightening, however, even if it is due to reduced worldwide industrial emissions, does not necessarily mean an end to global warming concerns.

www.nature.com
Our planet's air has cleared up in the past decade or two, allowing more sunshine to reach the ground, say two studies in Science this week.

Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more transparent.

That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and this may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature that are difficult to predict.

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*Sigh* I guess you just can't win sometimes. We strive to reduce industrial emissions because we're worried about global warming. Now they tell us that clear skies aren't necessarily in our best interests either. I guess time will tell...

If you are a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, you can read the papers referenced in the Nature article. See the link below.

Related News Links:
www.sciencemag.org