What is it about?
Global warming experienced a slowdown between the late 1990s and 2010, triggering much research and discussion on its causes. A new study carried out at the University of Reading now shows that slowing trends in the concentrations of different greenhouse gases including methane and chlorofluorocarbons substantially contributed to this slowdown.
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Why is it important?
Understanding the role of external forcings on the climate change together with the internal generated climate variability is one of the most important questions today on Earth's climate science. The study ascertains that a substantial part of the temporal slowdown in global warming was due to a temporal slowing in the concentration trends.
Perspectives
Our findings are excellent news for the Nations who signed the Montreal Protocol. Their efforts to control ozone-depleting substances (which are also strong greenhouse gases) have not only protected the ozone layer but also led to a discernable contribution to the recent slowdown in global warming. This shows that it is possible to take action against climate change. The bad news is that if we want the slowing trend in global warming to continue, rigorous climate action will have to be taken to also control the most prominent greenhouse gas CO2.
Ramiro Checa-Garcia
University of Reading
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The contribution of greenhouse gases to the recent slowdown in global-mean temperature trends, Environmental Research Letters, September 2016, Institute of Physics Publishing,
DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/11/9/094018.
You can read the full text:
Resources
The contribution of greenhouse gases to the recent slowdown in global mean temperature trends
M15 session has an invited presentation for the authors of "The contribution of greenhouse gases to the recent slowdown in global-mean temperature trends". It was presented by M.I. Hegglin.
How do individual greenhouse gases affect global temperature trends?
Press release on Environmental-Research-Web: Many studies of greenhouse gases either single out carbon dioxide as the main contributor to climate change or consider all of the chemical species involved together. But to guide policy decisions and better understand the physics of climate change – particularly the recent slowdown in the rate of increase of global-mean surface temperature – it’s necessary to take a more granular view.
Contributors
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