Are China's pollution remediation efforts making the planet warmer?
China's efforts to combat aerosol pollution resulted in warming
throughout the northern latitudes

Date:
September 29, 2020
Source:
Carnegie Institution for Science
Summary:
A 10-year effort by China to improve air quality and reduce
pollution- related health risks has caused warming in areas across
the northern hemisphere, according to new work.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A 10-year effort by China to improve air quality and reduce
pollution-related health risks has caused warming in areas across the
northern hemisphere, according to new work published in Environmental
Research Letters.


========================================================================== Aerosols are tiny particles that are spewed into the atmosphere by human activities, such as burning coal and wood, or by geological phenomena,
like volcanos. Their negative effects on air quality can damage human
health and agricultural productivity.

Similar to how the aerosols emitted in a volcanic eruption can cause
global temperatures to drop, some aerosols from human activity also have
a cooling effect on the climate. Unlike greenhouse gases, which induce
global warming by trapping heat in the atmosphere, aerosol particles can
cause sunlight to be reflected away from the planet either directly or
by interacting with clouds.

"This means that some of the effects of global warming are being masked
by aerosol pollution," explained lead author, Carnegie's Yixuan Zheng.

Between 2006 and 2017, the Chinese government implemented clean-air
policies to reduce the public health risks of aerosol pollutants like
sulfate, a cooling agent. These efforts have possibly saved as many as
half a million lives a year.

Zheng, along with Carnegie colleague Ken Caldeira, UC Irvine's Dan Tong
and Steven Davis, and Qiang Zhang of Tsinghua University, set out to investigate how these aerosol reductions have affected the global climate.

They applied a sophisticated model based on atmospheric and
oceanic systems over a 100-year period, which revealed that China's pollution-reduction policies might have unmasked about 0.1 degrees Celsius
(0.2 degrees Fahrenheit) of greenhouse-gas-induced warming throughout
the northern hemisphere -- not just in China itself.

"The health risks associated with particulate pollution are very
serious and mitigation efforts are unquestionably a good thing,"
Caldeira said. "But it's also important to understand how ongoing and
future efforts to improve air quality will create additional challenges
in the international fight against climate change."

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Carnegie_Institution_for_Science. Note: Content may be edited for style
and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Yixuan Zheng, Qiang Zhang, Dan Tong, Steven J Davis, Ken Caldeira.

Climate effects of China's efforts to improve its air quality.

Environmental Research Letters, 2020; 15 (10): 104052 DOI:
10.1088/1748- 9326/ab9e21 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/09/200929123715.htm

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