Skip Navigation

You can't make this shit up

uk.news.yahoo.com Pacific heatwaves linked to lower factory emissions from China

Reductions in emissions of aerosols could be contributing to 'warm blob' events in the Pacific, a new study has shown.

Pacific heatwaves linked to lower factory emissions from China
32

You're viewing a single thread.

32 comments
  • Read the fucking article before complaining about it. I swear it feels like we're still on reddit-logo sometimes. The article links the study, where 9 of the 12 authors (including the first 4) are from Chinese universities. This isn't "Western research" making up a reason to blame China. Reading the article several times I can't find anything in it that's actually critical of China, unless you count the use of "blame" in "Reductions in emissions of aerosols from Chinese factories may be partly to blame for recent heatwaves in the Pacific, a new study has said." To me it just looks like a quick summary of the study (or at least the abstract, scihub doesn't have it so idk). Can anyone point to anything actually untrue or unfair from the article?

    The free bits of the study for reference:

    Significance

    The period of 2010 to 2020 has witnessed the warmest Northeast Pacific (NEP) sea surface temperatures ever recorded, with several prolonged extreme ocean warming events. Though year-to-year internal climate variability may partially explain the appearance of these events, why they occurred dramatically more frequent remains elusive. We find that the rapid aerosol abatement in China triggers atmospheric circulation anomalies beyond its source region, driving a substantial mean surface warming in the NEP, which provides a favorable condition for extreme ocean warming events. Our findings provide an important insight into the mechanisms of the North Pacific ocean-atmosphere changes, highlighting the need to consider the exacerbated risks arising from a reduction in anthropogenic aerosol emissions in assessment of climate change impacts.

    Abstract

    During 2010 to 2020, Northeast Pacific (NEP) sea surface temperature (SST) experienced the warmest decade ever recorded, manifested in several extreme marine heatwaves, referred to as “warm blob” events, which severely affect marine ecosystems and extreme weather along the west coast of North America. While year-to-year internal climate variability has been suggested as a cause of individual events, the causes of the continuous dramatic NEP SST warming remain elusive. Here, we show that other than the greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing, rapid aerosol abatement in China over the period likely plays an important role. Anomalous tropospheric warming induced by declining aerosols in China generated atmospheric teleconnections from East Asia to the NEP, featuring an intensified and southward-shifted Aleutian Low. The associated atmospheric circulation anomaly weakens the climatological westerlies in the NEP and warms the SST there by suppressing the evaporative cooling. The aerosol-induced mean warming of the NEP SST, along with internal climate variability and the GHG-induced warming, made the warm blob events more frequent and intense during 2010 to 2020. As anthropogenic aerosol emissions continue to decrease, there is likely to be an increase in NEP warm blob events, disproportionately large beyond the direct radiative effects.

You've viewed 32 comments.