According to a new study published on Tuesday, Earth had a fever in 2020, in part due to cleaner air as a result of blockages implemented by the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
For a short time, temperatures in some parts of the eastern United States, Russia and China were 0.3 to 0.7 degrees Celsius (one-half and two-thirds degrees Fahrenheit) warmer. This is due to fewer particles of soot and sulphate from car exhaust and coal burning, which normally cool the atmosphere temporarily by reflecting the heat of the sun, according to the study published in the journal.
In total, the planet was warmer by 0.03 ° C (0.05 ° F) in 2020, because the air had fewer aerosols, which unlike carbon dioxide is a type of pollution that can be seen, he found The study.
“Cleaning the air can actually warm the planet, because pollution (with soot and sulfates) causes cooling,” something climate scientists have known for a long time, said Andrew Gettelman, lead author of the study and an atmospheric scientist at the National Center. for Atmosphere Research. Their calculations come from comparing the 2020 climate with computer models that simulated 2020 without reducing the pollution caused by landfills.
This temporary warming effect caused by fewer particles was stronger in 2020 than the effect of reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Gettelman said. That’s because carbon stays in the atmosphere for more than a century with long-term effects, while aerosols stay in the air for about a week.
Even without the reduction of aerosols, global temperatures in 2020 were already close to reaching the annual heat record from burning coal, oil and natural gas, and the effect of aerosols could have been enough to help that year be the hottest in the NASA’s chief climate scientist, Gavin Schmidt, said he was not involved in the study, but said he was confirming other research.