Latest news with #CERES
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
3 days ago
- Science
- First Post
Does pollution keep Earth cool? New study says global warming may be linked to pollution cuts
A new study suggests that recent rapid global warming may be linked to falling sulphur dioxide pollution, which has dimmed cloud reflectivity and reduced Earth's albedo. While the warming is likely temporary, the findings highlight a hidden trade-off between cleaner air and climate regulation. read more A surprising new study has found that a major portion of recent global warming may not be due to rising carbon dioxide emissions alone but to the success of air pollution control efforts, particularly the reduction of sulphur dioxide (SO₂) in the atmosphere. According to preliminary findings presented by climate scientists Peter Cox and Margaux Marchant from the University of Exeter, nearly two-thirds of global warming since 2001 could be linked to reductions in SO₂ pollution rather than increases in carbon dioxide (CO₂). Their analysis, based on satellite observations from 2001 to 2019 shows that Earth's ability to reflect sunlight—its albedo has decreased, primarily due to changes in cloud brightness. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Clouds have become darker and less reflective as SO₂ levels have declined,' said Cox. 'That's making the planet absorb more sunlight, leading to more warming.' The study focuses on data from NASA's CERES satellite instruments, which track how much sunlight the Earth reflects versus how much it absorbs. These measurements have shown a noticeable fall in reflected sunlight over the past two decades, suggesting the planet is effectively becoming darker. While declining snow and sea ice, as well as reduced cloud cover, are known contributors to this effect, Cox and Marchant identified dimmer clouds as the most significant factor. This dimming is closely tied to falling SO₂ emissions. Sulphate particles from industrial pollution and shipping previously made clouds brighter by increasing droplet density, an effect known as cloud albedo. But as high-sulphur fuels such as coal have been phased out and pollution controls tightened, particularly in East Asia, this brightening effect has diminished. In essence, by cleaning the air, we have inadvertently turned down a natural form of solar reflectivity, leading to extra warming. Laura Wilcox, associate professor at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science (NCAS) in the University of Reading said the findings align with her own work, which also suggests that recent accelerated warming is linked to declining air pollution. However, she cautioned that other studies point to a different mechanism, reduced cloud cover rather than dimmer clouds as the primary driver of the trend. 'The causes of the recent darkening of the planet are still being debated,' she said. Despite some uncertainties, scientists say this explanation is reassuring. If the rapid warming were due to heightened climate sensitivity to CO₂, it would suggest a more alarming long-term trajectory. Instead, the pollution-linked warming effect is expected to be temporary. 'It's a double-edged sword,' Cox noted. 'Cleaner air is good for health and the environment, but we now need to adapt faster and double down on cutting greenhouse gases to offset the lost cooling effect of sulphate pollution.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The findings highlight a delicate climate trade-off: as efforts to reduce harmful air pollution succeed, the urgency to address CO₂ emissions becomes even more critical.
Hindustan Times
05-07-2025
- Science
- Hindustan Times
Can we hack our way through the sizzle?: Mridula Ramesh writes on heat
Summer is over and floods are in the air. But still, let's talk about heat. Paris is on red alert, with the top of the Eiffel Tower shut to visitors this week, amid a heat wave that has seen temperatures reach 41 degrees haze, incidentally, is from light reflecting off clouds of dust carried by strong winds. (AFP) Why? Because while India's summer heatwaves may be over, the planet's heat continues to speak through many tongues. Let's start at the source. The Sun is made up largely of hydrogen, and a little helium. Deep in its core, where temperatures reach 15 million degrees Celsius and pressures are immense, hydrogen nuclei fuse into helium. This helium nucleus has slightly less mass than the four hydrogen nuclei that formed it, and the difference in mass is released as energy. In just one second, the sun releases enough energy to meet humanity's needs for 612,900 years. Only a fraction of that energy reaches the top of the atmosphere above Earth. Then, nearly a third of this energy is either absorbed by the ozone layer or reflected, by the clouds, by aerosols and by shiny surfaces (think deserts and ice sheets). A sliver (with enough energy to last us 4,400 years) reaches the planet's surface, which the planet, in turn, releases as heat. Some of this heat radiates back into space, but a lot of it is trapped by greenhouse gases and clouds. Importantly, the outgoing heat does not quite balance out the incoming solar energy, resulting in a planetary energy imbalance. The gold standard data for checking energy flows at the top of our atmosphere comes from CERES (Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System; a project by the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA). Their instruments tell us that the energy imbalance has doubled, from 0.5 watt per square metre in the first decade of this millennium to 1.0 watt per square metre in 2013-22. And it's showing: 2024 was the hottest year on record, per NASA, beating 2023, which held the record before it. The planet is currently absorbing as much extra energy as if eight Hiroshima bombs were detonating on its surface every second. That's 'a lot. A lot, a lot', as Rosamund Pike's character puts it, in the 2014 movie Gone Girl. This is not a one-time thing, like the actual Hiroshima bomb was. No, we've been absorbing energy for decades, slowly, invisibly, day and night, everywhere. We are literally sitting in an oven, and ratcheting up the thermostat. Crowds throng a beach in Sale, Morocco, during a heatwave. (AFP) Eight Hiroshima bombs a second. Every second. For the past decade. Let that thought sink in on this pleasant Sunday morning. *** Perhaps we don't register this heating because the oceans have been shielding us by taking up about 90% of it. The rest goes into warming land and air, and melting ice. Periodically, during an El Nino, the ocean belches some of that heat, making the planet hotter, as in 2023. Meanwhile, data from disparate realms — ocean temperatures, ice extent, global air temperatures — all point to the same thing: rising invisible heat. The impacts run deeper than heat exhaustion for humans and rising wet-bulb temperatures. Crops wilt. Wheat, grown today in parts of India it was never suited to, suffers when March feels like May; the grains do not fill out, and shrivel instead. Other botanical immigrants from cooler climes, such as tomatoes, suffer. Monsoons grow fiercer, as warmer air holds more moisture, fuelling intense downpours. Hotter seas supercharge cyclones, battering coastal cities. Human productivity drops. India suffers. The planet suffers. *** This has been going on for a while. Between 1750 and 2019, global surface air temperatures rose by about 1.29 degrees Celsius. According to the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, heat trapped by carbon-dioxide (CO2) has driven about 1 degree Celsius of that warming, while other greenhouse gases have added 0.58 degrees Celsius. Offsetting this, the effect of land-use changes and aerosols — think pollution and their effect on clouds — have lowered temperatures by roughly 0.30 degrees Celsius. Given this breakdown, the overarching theme in climate action has been reducing CO2 levels by reducing fossil-fuel use. We have not done too well on that front. *** A rare "roll cloud", a huge horizontal bank, advances from the horizon towards the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean during a heatwave in southwestern Portugal, in June. (AFP) Meanwhile… Over the past decade, CERES data shows that incoming solar energy has not changed, the outgoing heat from Earth has risen a bit, but a lot more of the incoming solar radiation is being absorbed. Why? Simply put, the planet appears to be becoming less shiny. While there is a lot of uncertainty over what is causing this change, an early hypothesis is that shifts in cloud patterns could be at play. Clouds act as both umbrellas, by reflecting sunlight and cooling the planet, and as coats, by absorbing heat and warming the surface. The loss of low-level clouds above the ocean, the umbrellas, could have many causes, ranging from warmer oceans and higher greenhouse-gas levels to less sulphur in ship's exhausts and changes in ocean circulation. If cloud patterns are changing in response to warmer oceans, we can expect the heating to intensify. So, what can we do about it? We circle back to reduced carbon emissions. This is already happening in many places. My own textile factory, for instance, now runs largely on renewable energy, made possible by innovation and policies that have driven costs down. In homes, the LED revolution means we enjoy the same brightness at a fraction of the carbon footprint. Developed country emissions are falling, and India, which is still building much of its infrastructure, is seeing the carbon intensity of its economy falling too. But some, ignoring their own historical emissions, ask: 'When China and India are emitting so much, why should we tighten our belts?' India is not China, whose 2023 emissions were nearly four times that of India. But that nuance is missed by many reeling under the heat – temperatures in Spain touched 47 degrees Celsius last week — and clamouring for change. As a result, an idea once considered taboo in climate circles is gaining traction. A decade ago, a start-up purporting to sell cooling credits by injecting sulphur-dioxide particles into the atmosphere over Mexico would have been unthinkable. While the start-up did draw widespread criticism, within a year, the UK government set up its Advanced Research and Innovation Agency (ARIA), which this year began funnelling nearly £60 million into several real-world geoengineering experiments. Proponents of geoengineering support real-world trials because they say data from these are needed to shape global governance. But, going by recent events, 'global governance' may be an oxymoron. Sometimes I wonder what lies beneath the hubris of geoengineers. It's not as though the last human-wrought geoengineering experiments — largescale deforestation and rising greenhouse-gas emissions — have gone so well. And yet, they persist. One experiment involves brightening the clouds over the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Coral reefs, reeling under the combined onslaught of marine heatwaves and acidifying oceans, are the proverbial canary in the coal mine. So, some are trying to cool the reef by brightening clouds above it. But data from small-scale experiments can miss the bigger picture. For one thing, the mechanism of brightening clouds has some cooling and some warming effects, and the net effect is far from certain, as even proponents admit. Second, meaningful cooling may occur only when such efforts are scaled up, and there we run into a problem. Studies suggest that large-scale marine cloud-brightening efforts may impact ozone levels. Talk about borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. Another form of geoengineering involves mimicking volcanic eruptions. It is well-known that global temperatures fall after a giant volcano eruption. Indeed, Indonesia's great Mount Tambora explosion in 1815 saw temperatures dip below 0 degrees Celsius in Chennai. But such cooling has collateral damage, the most important, from India's point of view, being its effect on the monsoon. A recent study of 145 years of data found that medium and large tropical volcanic eruptions were followed by two years of poor monsoons, especially in El Nino periods. That is very bad news. The second casualty, multiple studies suggest, is the ozone layer. Now for the third casualty of such action. Innovation and policy that spur carbon action are possible only because there is a strong, consistent signal across governments and corporate leaders that such action is crucial to planet safety. If this signal is short-circuited or diluted, by geoengineering for example, innovation and entire industries will be cut down. Since these often do good things for the environment and human health, those will suffer as well. Indeed, there are already whispers that the climate-tech industry in the US is feeling the pinch. My sense is that some form of geoengineering will be pushed through. Given that the monsoon may be affected, India should get real about its water. There are thousands of waterbodies scattered across the length and breadth of Indian cities (hundreds in Delhi alone; have you visited the Anang Tal Baoli in Mehrauli?). Many are not in great shape. Rejuvenating them and greening the spaces around them would be highly effective in countering heat and making our cities climate-resilient. Whether or not we whiten the skies. (Mridula Ramesh is a climate-tech investor and author of The Climate Solution and Watershed. She can be reached on tradeoffs@
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
NASA Empowers Energy Projects by Providing Global Earth Observation Data
NASA strives to understand the universe, whether that be the stars above us or Earth around us. One way NASA focuses on the Earth is through satellite, ground, and airborne Earth observations and modeling. NASA's Earth Science projects work to further understand the Earth and its systems to better help humanity now and in the future. One such component is energy, which is a vital resource that impacts daily life for millions of people across the world. NASA's Prediction of Worldwide Energy Resources (POWER) project support efforts toward energy resilience and efficiency by providing value-added global solar and meteorological data parameters. Since 1988, the data POWER provides has been leveraged for numerous projects concerning solar, wind, and hydroelectric energy. Since 2018, POWER has answered 764.5 million data requests to more than 1.4 million unique users. The project offers more than 1,000 different parameters that can help companies, researchers, and agencies make actionable decisions, accelerate learning, and improve outcomes in energy, buildings, and agroclimatology sectors. The breadth and no-cost accessibility of POWER's analysis-ready data allows for a wide range of application areas to achieve organizational goals in energy independence and resilience. The project leverages NASA's Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) mission and the NASA Langley Research Center's Surface Radiation Budget (SRB) in association with the Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) program, which: Provides solar data in hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly temporal and long-term averages. Dates back to 1984. Supports projects like solar panel sizing, power generation forecasting, and solar thermal systems for buildings. POWER uses Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) data products, which: Provides meteorological parameters such as temperature, wind, and humidity in hourly, daily, monthly, and yearly temporal and long-term averages. Dates back to 1981. Supports efforts such as wind turbine analysis, hydropower studies, and building energy efficiency. [caption id="attachment_236477" align="aligncenter" width="740"] Global visualization of surface shortwave downward irradiance annually for 2023 expressed in watts per meter squared. Source: Christopher Higham, NASA POWER[/caption] The POWER project prides itself on providing accessible pathways to leveraging Earth observation data for its users. Tools such as the Data Access Viewer (DAV) and PaRameter Uncertainty ViEwer (PRUVE) allow users to easily access and compare data. Along with these tools, POWER also offers geospatial services, allowing users to not only visualize POWER data, but also work efficiently with geographic information systems (GIS) applications. In addition, NASA's partnership with Amazon Web Services allows free access to the full POWER data catalog. The POWER DAV is a web application tool that allows direct access to the project's application programming interface (API) and visualization plots. Data from the DAV can be either downloaded or integrated into software and applications for easy and efficient data acquisition. Users can also subset the data by selecting the user community, location, time period, parameters, and file type so they are only acquiring the data they need. Users can also generate integrated reports to support heating and cooling system implementation to assist in building design. HUBER SE, a wastewater company in Germany, accesses POWER data through the DAV to plan and implement drying systems that maximize efficiency. HUBER SE specializes in treating sewage sludge through solar drying, a process sensitive to climate variability. The company uses the POWER DAV to acquire surface shortwave downward irradiance, temperature, and relative humidity to optimally adapt its systems for each site. '[POWER] enables us to develop tailor-made solutions that maximize the efficiency of the systems and at the same time ensure their long-term profitability. This gives us a divisive and competitive advantage on the market,' said Moritz Marschall, a representative from HUBER SE. PRUVE, a new tool being developed by the POWER team, will serve as an online data validation application using statistical analysis and visualization to compare in situ surface site data. Data validation is important to ensure consistency and accuracy. The comparison data will be sourced from the GEWEX program and Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) Baseline Surface Radiation Network (BSRN) for solar data. The meteorological comparison data will be acquired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). One of POWER's other service offerings is geospatial services, which provides the GIS community friendly formats to integrate data into developing their own tools. The DAV and PRUVE tools are examples of how users can leverage geospatial services in the back end of development. [caption id="attachment_236479" align="aligncenter" width="740"] Global visualization using POWER's image services showing average wind speed in 2023 at 10 meters above the surface, expressed in meters per second. Source: Christopher Higham, NASA POWER[/caption] A large focus area of the NASA POWER project is user engagement to capture current and emerging requirements, use cases, and feedback. User driven feedback helps identify new parameters, tools, and areas of support. Through events like the project's annual Global Community Summit, users can engage directly with POWER project leadership and developers to voice their opinions and needs for future improvements to help further their work. For example, users said they wanted better control of parameter searches with enhanced filter features on the POWER website, so the team created the Parameter Manager and Search Tool. Saildrone is a U.S.-based manufacturer of unmanned surface vehicles that are powered by wind and solar energy. The company uses POWER's hourly solar data to estimate the amount of power that will be generated by the solar panels on the drones. The drones collect meteorological and oceanographic data as well as provide maritime domain awareness for the U.S. military. Saildrone has adjusted mission timelines and instrument payloads based on analyses that use POWER data, saving both time and money on objectives. Another company, Alpha 311, uses POWER's wind speed and wind direction parameters to retrofit vertical axis wind turbines to new and existing infrastructure. To date, POWER data has been applied in Alpha 311 project proposals in 68 countries to help a range of organizations from schools and hospitals to commercial manufacturing plants and sports stadiums deploy renewable energy technology around the globe. POWER also supports other types of projects like Produced Water Ecoservices (PWES), based in Colombia. The ability to treat wastewater from oil and gas plants, also known as produced water, onsite saves on transport costs, shortens the water treatment cycle, and reduces risks of environmental spillage. PWES treats produced water from industrial facilities through mechanical evaporation. The process is sensitive to climatological factors, so PWES uses the POWER DAV to acquire meteorological data to return produced water to a clean state. To date, PWES has treated over one million barrels of produced water with the help of POWER data. Recently, the POWER project released new hydrological parameters from NASA's Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) that can be used in research and commercial applications. NASA's IMERG precipitation data provides a higher resolution than the previous MERRA-2 version. Precipitation data has been used in studies to understand the correlation between meteorological factors and water inflow to hydropower plants. The researchers used POWER data in forecasting models to conclude that temperature and precipitation were the greatest factors affecting inflow. Another group studied the inflow for a hydroelectric power plant reservoir using NASA POWER meteorological parameters to establish the precedent at which data parameters should be used in future machine learning models concerning water inflow. NASA POWER hopes to reach new users and support more energy-focused missions. If you would like to learn more about the data tools and services the project offers, please email the POWER project at larc-power-project@ Be on the lookout for information about the virtual 2025 Global Community Summit, which will be held this fall and check out the POWER website for updates and a date to be released soon. is a scientific and technical writer for the NASA POWER project team. Paul Stackhouse Jr., PhD is a senior research scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia and leads the POWER team. He also leads the NASA Langley Research Center SRB project, and is a science team member of the CERES project and co-leads the FLASHFlux (Fast Longwave and Shortwave radiative Fluxes) working group. Both projects produce radiative fluxes using satellite analysis, and the latter produces low latency estimates of top-of-atmosphere and surface radiation data products from CERES. Both data sets are key inputs to the POWER web suite. Falguni Patadia, PhD is a research physical scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia and serves as the deputy lead for the POWER project.
