14 DAY TRIAL // Though numerous science groups and climatologists are working very hard on determining exactly how human-produced greenhouse gases (GHG) will influence global warming in the future, the exact nature of these influences is still far from certain.
The conclusion belongs to a new study conducted by researchers in Israel, the United States and Australia.
In a paper published in the latest issue of the top journal Science, the group says that a lot of progress has been made in our understanding of GHG and their influence on our planet's natural cycles. However, much more work is needed before we can produce accurate predictive models.
The team emphasizes that, while the effects of human on their environment is vast – primarily through the emission of greenhouse gases – more data is needed to fully realize the exact extent to which these effects will occur. What needs to be studied in more detail are the interactions between greenhouse gases and Earth's cloud cover.
The Science article was authored by professor Daniel Rosenfeld, who holds an appointment with the Fredy and Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Experts from the University of New South Wales in Sidney, the University of Washington in Seattle and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) were also a part of the research effort.
One of the mechanisms the team says needs more study is the way in which suspended particles in the atmosphere, called aerosols, react to increasing amounts of GHG in the atmosphere by blocking out a larger portion of incoming sunlight.
This mitigates the greenhouse effect somewhat, and more data are needed before a definitive value can be given.
While increased aerosol concentrations may seem like something positive for the environment, it is important to note here that these microscopic particles can influence cloud covers, in turn throwing the planetary hydrological cycle off-balance.
The new Science paper demonstrates much more complex aerosol-cloud interactions than previously suspected, highlighting yet again the need for more information in this extremely complex field of science. More adequate observational tools and models are needed to fully gage these reactions.
The group concluded the work by calling for more assets capable of keeping track of these very complicated interactions that occur both on land and in the air, PhysOrg reports.