More on Global Dimming

dtolman writes "According to the New York Times (registration required) if the world seemed brighter to our grandparents 50 years ago, they were right. While the sun's output hasn't dropped, the amount of sunshine reaching the Earth's surface has dropped an average of 10% since the 1950's. In Hong Kong, the sunlight reaching the surface has decreased even more - 37%! Scientists are theorizing that this is mainly due to air pollution - so this trend might reverse if air pollution clears up." We had a another story on global dimming last year.

Comments

Less light - more heat?

[drizst 'n drat]

Ok ... so less light is reaching the surface than did 50 years ago though the energy output has remained relatively the same. Is it safe to assume that the energy is being absorted by pollution and thus heating the planet?

Headlines We Should be Wary Of

[basking2]

So, after the ice age coming back, global warming destroying us, acid rain eating us and the oil supply being exhausted by 2010 I take science headlines with a grain of salt. The fact that this is from the NY Times just furthers my suspicion. That paper has destroyed its reputation over the years.

One thing that folks have to realize is that scientists are people. They get happy and sad, they are humble and proud, and they lie, steal, cheat and grab for headlines as reagularly as any normal person would.

This is not to discredit the publishers of this work, but to remind us all that headlines like this pop up often amount to a new natural trend or in the very rare case, us acctually damaging the environment in a way that it isn't designed to cope with.

I mention this because our geek culture has a way of worshiping the words of scientists and as a result some amusing lies have drifted in and out of school text books and around our little digital communities. Trust no one. The truth is out there. Now will I get sued by Fox or the aliens over Mexico??? Hmmm...

Re:Let's just get this out of the way...

[hak1du]

Just because it's "dimmer" doesn't mean it isn't getting warmer.

Actually, it may be getting warmer because it is getting dimmer: if visible light is absorbed by something in the atmosphere, it would end up heating up the atmosphere. Think of a black solar collector used for water heating.

Obviously not

[BESTouff]

so this trend might reverse if air pollution clears up

This single utopic sentence should have told you it's only unrealistic babble.

Re:Let's just get this out of the way...

[M1FCJ]

Well, let's put it this way:

On Venus, it is around 400C degrees. On Venus, you can't see the sun because of the clouds.

Now, if we removed the clouds, would Venus get warmer or colder?