For the past few years, scientists have debated a tantalizing question about Earth’s climate. Could reducing air pollution from ships be driving global temperatures skyward?
A new study says it’s happening. Published last week, the research suggests that new environmental regulations for shipping have effectively ended a decadeslong accidental geoengineering experiment that had artificially dampened the effects of global warming.
Now that pollution is down, it argues, temperatures are suddenly rising at faster rates.
“It’s a big kind of a shock to the system, instead of gradually increasing with time,” said lead study author Tianle Yuan, a senior research scientist at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
