Is global warming really casued by cleaner skies?

Question

http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926634.800-cleaner-skies-explain-surprise-rate-of-warming.html?feedId=online-news_rss20

Answer 1

No comment-- except to say that YES the skies are much clearer now than in the 1970s--

Answer 2

manda,

uhh, realclimate was responding to the newsbuster artilce, not the newscientist article. One of the authors of the AGU article had this to say:

"The decrease in aerosols probably accounts for at least half of the warming over Europe in the last 30 years"

So, Dr. Smith, the answer to your question is this: likely, to some extent. The study was just for Europe, but if more analysis is done with global data, then we should see "cleaner skies" playing a larger part in the recent warming than previously thought.

Answer 3

Here you go, read this:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/arc...

Answer 4

Global warming is caused by our addition of greenhouse gasses to the atmosphere, and by our land use changes which diminish the ablility of the biosphere to retake carbon.

Warming would be greater if not for aerosols.

Dirty skies have been masking the true impact of our actions.