Reconciling the carbon 'soot'-print in global warming

摘要

In addition to greenhouse gases, combusting organic matter produces a subset of carbonaceous aerosols called "black carbon" that absorbs solar radiation and warms the atmosphere. Previous studies have examined black carbon's contribution to global warming, but estimates have varied considerably due to uncertainties about the underlying physical process and differences in modeling strategies. Robert Kopp and Denise Mauzerall (pp. 11703-11708) reconciled and standardized the results from four highly cited sets of modeling studies into a common global metric. Based on a theoretical scenario that has approximately a 50% chance of limiting the average long-term global temperature increase to 2.5 ℃, the authors report that failing to account for black carbon could necessitate cutting carbon dioxide emissions 8 years earlier (±7 years) than if these cuts are made with aggressive concomitant reductions to black carbon from sources such as diesel engines and inefficient coal combustion.