A new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reports that the lockdowns and decrease in societal activity associated with the COVID-19 pandemic influenced emissions of pollutants such that the planet was slightly warmed for several months last year.
Emissions of airborne particles, or aerosols, tend to block incoming sunlight and cool temperatures. Image Credit: Analogicus from Pixabay.
The results of the study emphasize the impact of airborne particles, or aerosols, that block incoming sunlight. With the drop in aerosol emissions last spring, the planet received more of the Sun’s warmth, specifically in heavily industrialized countries, like the United States and Russia, which normally release higher amounts of aerosols into the atmosphere.
There was a big decline in emissions from the most polluting industries, and that had immediate, short-term effects on temperatures. Pollution cools the planet, so it makes sense that pollution reductions would warm the planet.
Andrew Gettelman, Study Lead Author and Scientist, NCAR
Last spring, temperatures over several regions of Earth’s land surface were around 0.2 °F to 0.5 °F (0.1°C to 0.3 °C) warmer compared to what would have been anticipated with prevalent weather conditions, the research discovered.
The effect was most evident in regions often associated with considerable amounts of aerosol emissions, where the warming reached nearly 0.7 °F (0.37 °C) over most parts of the United States and Russia.
The new research underscores the intricate and generally contradictory impacts of various types of emissions from industrial facilities, motor vehicles, power plants and other similar sources. Aerosols brighten clouds and reflect the solar heat back into space.
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By contrast, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have the reverse effect and capture heat near the planet’s surface and increasing temperatures.
Gettelman highlighted that, regardless of the short-term warming effects, the long-term influence of the pandemic might be a slight slowdown of climate change due to a decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide, which stays in the atmosphere for several decades and influences the climate very slowly.
On the other hand, aerosols—the focus of the new research—show an instantaneous effect that vanished in a few years.
The research was published in the Geophysical Research Letters journal. It was partially funded by the National Science Foundation, NCAR’s sponsor. As well as the NCAR researchers, the study was co-authored by researchers from Oxford University, Imperial College London and the University of Leeds.
Teasing Out the Impacts
Researchers have been able to measure the warming effects of carbon dioxide for a long time, but the climatic impact of aerosols of different types—such as nitrates, sulfates, dust and black carbon—has been challenging to define.
One of the major difficulties faced while predicting the extent of future climate change is to predict the extent to which society will continue to emit aerosols in the future, as well as the impact of the various types of aerosols on temperature and clouds.
Gettelman and his co-authors conducted the study by using two of the leading climate models in world: the NCAR-based Community Earth System Model and a model called ECHAM-HAMMOZ, developed by a consortium of European nations.
They performed simulations on both models by adjusting aerosol emissions and adding actual meteorological conditions in 2020, like winds.
Using this technique, they could find the effect of reduced emissions on changes in temperature that were too minuscule to identify as part of actual observations, where they could be hidden by the variability in atmospheric conditions.
The study findings demonstrated the warming effect to be strongest in the mid and upper latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. It was mixed in the tropics and relatively less in most parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where aerosol emissions are not so widespread.
According to Gettelman, the study will enable researchers to gain better insights into the effect of different types of aerosols under various atmospheric conditions, supporting attempts to mitigate climate change.
The study shows how aerosols tackle the warming effect of greenhouse gases, but Gettelman highlighted that emitting more aerosols into the lower atmosphere is not a feasible approach to slow down climate change.
Aerosol emissions have major health ramifications. Saying we should pollute is not practical.
Andrew Gettelman, Study Lead Author and Scientist, NCAR
Journal Reference:
Gettleman, A., et al. (2020) Climate Impacts of COVID‐19 Induced Emission Changes. Geophysical Research Letters. doi.org/10.1029/2020GL091805.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
