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Plastic aerosols in the atmosphere could affect the climate

Physics World

Tiny particles of plastic in the atmosphere can affect Earth’s climate, according to Laura Revell at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand and colleagues. Yet even as airborne microplastics become an ever-larger part of the mix of atmospheric aerosols, their radiative influence is still virtually unknown. Altitude matters.

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60 Scientists Call for Accelerated Research Into ‘Solar Radiation Management’ That Could Temporarily Mask Global Warming

Inside Climate News

By Bob Berwyn A scientific showdown over whether dispersing massive amounts of reflective particles high into the atmosphere could temporarily and safely mask global warming intensified this week, as a group of more than 60 researchers published a letter Monday calling for accelerated research and small-scale field experiments into what is called solar (..)

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Carbon nanotubes help space-bound electronics resist radiation damage

Physics World

As space missions venture ever further afield, spacecraft will inevitably be exposed to greater amounts of cosmic radiation that can damage or even destroy their onboard electronics. Cosmic radiation is ionizing radiation made up of a mixture of heavy ions and cosmic rays (high-energy protons, electron and atomic nuclei).

Radiation 119
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The CO2 problem in six easy steps (2022 Update)

Real Climate

The fact that there is a natural greenhouse effect (that the atmosphere restricts the passage of infra-red (IR) radiation from the Earth’s surface to space) is easily deducible from; i) the mean temperature of the surface (around 15ºC) and, ii) knowing that the planet is normally close to radiative equilibrium.

Radiation 288
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CMIP6: Not-so-sudden stratospheric cooling

Real Climate

So SSU me Like MSU trends, these records reflected a weighted average of atmospheric temperatures, and the three SSU channels progressively weight higher levels in the stratosphere, roughly centered on 30km, 40km and 45km above the surface but with quite a bit of overlap. The effect is larger the further up you go. References B.D. Casas, G.A.

Cooling 246
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The definitive CO2/CH4 comparison post

Real Climate

But methane’s role in atmospheric chemistry and as a source of stratospheric water vapour means that it has a bigger effect on climate than just the direct effect of its concentration. Before we go any further though, we need to understand that the effective perturbation time for CO 2 and CH 4 in the atmosphere are very different.

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New misguided interpretations of the greenhouse effect from William Kininmonth

Real Climate

He made some rather strange claims, such as that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) allegedly should have forgotten that the earth is a sphere because “ most absorption of solar radiation takes place over the tropics, while there is excess emission of longwave radiation to space over higher latitudes ”. References.