Study Reveals Little-Known Climate Cooler: Atmospheric Dust
New research finds that global temperatures would be about 0.1°F higher, had it not been for an increase in atmospheric dust.
Increased dust in the air poses a serious threat to human health, but a new study suggests it has also kept global temperatures from climbing even higher.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergDust tends to get a bad rap: It’s been known to turn skies orange in Europe, and routinely chokes millions with air pollution. But all that dust has an unexpected positive impact, too: It is helping keep the planet just a little bit cooler.
Global temperatures are currently around 2.2°F (1.2°C) higher than 1850 levels, and heading toward 2.7°F of warming, which scientists consider catastrophic. But that 2.2° increase would be roughly 0.1°F higher were it not for an increase in global atmospheric dust, according to a peer-reviewed study published this week in Nature Reviews Earth and Environment.