Partial photo: Matt Palmer
The full magnitude of the impact on climate change from smoke created by seasonal fires in Central Africa has been underestimated by some climate models. It matters because some of the models were used to inform the Paris Agreement decisions around limiting global warming to 1.5C. Suspended in the atmosphere, black carbon aerosols are microscopic particulates generated by human-made and natural fires. They absorb a significant amount of sunlight. Moreover, heating from these aerosols has unique impacts on clouds and regional rainfall patterns. I wonder if the impact of unprecedented fires in the US west and elsewhere might also be either unknown or underestimated. In 2020 from Australia and South America’s Amazon and Pantanal regions, to Siberia and the U.S. West, wildfires set new records and made news year-round.
Story Source: University of Exeter.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/10/211008160448.htm