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Which is fascinating because sulphur emissions counteract (mask might be a better term) global warming. Reduction in sulphur emissions is suspected to be one of
by IKantRead 3y ago
Which is fascinating because sulphur emissions counteract (mask might be a better term) global warming. Reduction in sulphur emissions is suspected to be one of the main culprits of this years sudden rise in Earth sea-surface/land temperature this year.
Wild when you see just how much emissions are still being released and still presumably cooling the Earth, meaning the effects of climate change we're seeing now are still likely a dampened version of the true long term impact.
- huytersd 3y agoSo another poisonous emission was partially offsetting the effects of other harmful emissions.
- dgellow 3y agoSulphur dioxide is also a threat to life (humans, animals, and plants) and can result in acid rains
- userbinator 3y agoIt also gets released naturally in copious amounts from volcanic eruptions.
- kridsdale1 3y agoI recall there was a major push against Acid Rain in the 70s-90s. If SO2 emissions were effectively regulated in that period (easy to do because “acid” is scary) then what magnitude of impact did that have on our post-90s warming?
- IKantRead 3y agoTo be clear, I'm absolutely not promoting increased sulphur emissions as a solution to our climate problems. Moreso pointing out that all those emissions are potentially masking the true severity of our current predicament.
- dgellow 3y agoI want to be sure people reading your comment understand why sulfur dioxide was problematic. Didn’t want to imply your comment was misleading
- magicalist 3y ago> Reduction in sulphur emissions is suspected to be one of the main culprits of this years sudden rise in Earth sea-surface/land temperature this year. Was there an outright study of the "main culprits" part of this? As I recall there was some evidence but then the main discourse was based on a lot of extrapolation by a viral tweet.
- IKantRead 3y agoNot to my knowledge, which is why I used the word "suspected" since I think this falls on the "makes intuitive sense, but would not surprise me in the least if it turned out to be completely incorrect" category of hypotheses. I consider "suspected" to be the least level of evidence while still taking something into consideration as a potential cause. A suspected murderer might not even have been arrested, let alone convicted. We do know that sulphur emissions have a global cooling effect, and we do know that sulphur emissions recently were reduced, so it's a reasonable hypothesis from first principles.
- truculent 3y agoThis is a good overview if you haven’t read it already: https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-low-sulphur-shipping-rules-are-affecting-global-warming/ https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-low-sulphur-shippin...