East Asian Nations Tackle Air Pollution; Inadvertently Worsen Climate Change.

New pollution control laws in eastern Asian countries
have reduced the number of smoggy days like this
in the region substantially. But now the sun can
shine brighter, and that has done its part
to accelerate global climate change. 

Climate change has really picked up steam in the past 15 years or so.  Even more so in the past three.

The years 2023 and 2024 were by far the hottest years on record since reliable records started. This year will probably come in just under 2023's current second place finish, still well above what would end up being fourth-place 2016. 

A big question is bothering scientists: Why has the pace of the planet's warming increased? And will that pace continue to pick up?

We don't know for sure. But one ingredient pushing down on the planetary warming's gas pedal appears to be of all things, pollution control in eastern Asia.  Nations in that part of the world have really  stepped up to the plate and cleaned up air pollution in the past couple of decades. 

These efforts have scrubbed the atmosphere of the haze created by all those smokestacks and industry and formerly lax regulation. Which means the sun can shine more brightly and intensely than it could before.  

A brighter, hotter sun would logically heat the atmosphere more than a smoggy one.  

There's increasing evidence to bolster that claim. Earlier this year, the journal Nature reported that scientist ran a large set of simulations that conclusively points toward a reduction in sulfate emissions - known as aerosols -  being responsible for increased climate warming.

Or, more precisely, all that pollution was masking the climate change. 

The study, first published in Communications Earth & Environment, found that those east Asian aerosol reductions contributed to about 0.05 degrees Celsius per decade to global temperatures since 2010. reports the University of California/Riverside. Scientists from UC/Riverside were heavily involved in the research. 

That 0.05 degrees doesn't sound like much, but when taking into account temperatures all around the world, it's a big deal. 

The scientists corrected for other factors like El Nino and La Nina and still got these results. 

Study authors said the spike in global heat aligned nicely with the dramatic drop in pollution in China's air. 

As a release from University of California/Riverside notes:

"Lead author Bjorn Samset, ,a senior researcher at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Norway, and the answer became increasingly clear through multiple model simulations 'The spike in warming,' he said 'aligns with a dramatic drop in aerosol pollution from China's skies."

 Since 2010, China's aggressive air quality drive reduced sulfur dioxide emissions by about 75 percent. The pollution was killing a lot of people so this is a good thing. But also a double-edged sword. 

Heat waves in China and in nearby countries have been especially intense in the past few summers. China reportedly had its hottest summer on record this year. 

Also this summer, Japan reached had its all-time hottest temperature on record at 107 degrees. Japan also had its hottest June and July on record. 

The shipping industry has also cleaned up its act and sulfur emissions from ships are down, too. Some scientists say that improvement contributed to a recent spike in ocean temperatures. 

As one of my recent posts explained, there's growing buzz about injecting sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere to block some sunshine and temper the pace of climate change. But doing would create other hazards, like shifting some parts of the world into drought or creating other unpredictable weather patterns. 

And were you to stop pumping that sulfur dioxide into the air, climate change would come roaring back worse than it ever was.