Asian Smog Cloud Has A Silver Lining — It Slows Warming

A vast cloud of soot and other pollutants that is nearly two miles thick and stretches from the Arabian Peninsula to the Pacific Ocean is killing thousands of people and harming crops, but the brown pall prevents so much sun from hitting the earth that it is significantly masking global warming, according to a report by the United Nations Environmental Programme. A long-term study of so-called ABCs — atmospheric brown clouds — in Asia has concluded that the sun-blocking effect is the only remotely positive aspect of the veil of soot, as it is creating significant health problems among Asians and is even changing monsoon and weather patterns. And though the pollution layer is in some areas keeping temperatures from rising as much as 3.6° F (2° C), it is hastening the melting of swiftly retreating glaciers in the Himalayas as the soot deposits on the ice’s surface actually absorb heat. UN scientists did offer one bit of encouraging news: If the pollution from coal-fired power plants, cars, and burning of firewood and farm fields were to stop or diminish significantly, the pall of smog would disappear in a matter of weeks.