It’s too late to say we shouldn’t ignore the Climate Crisis because it’s not possible. We will have to deal with many irreversible problems in the coming years, including the current pandemic. Several independent studies highlight the climate crisis as the source of the problems.
According to the article published as a result of a 20-year study by US researchers, our planet is getting darker day by day. The biggest reason for this is thought to be the climate crisis. As the oceans warm, they produce less bright clouds, which causes less sunlight to reach Earth. The reduction in reflected light causes the Earth to darken.
Our world has darkened 0.5 percent in the last 3 years
Nearly 20 years of data, from 1998 to 2017, were collected by scientists to study the Earth’s ability to reflect light (albedo). As a result of the study, according to the article published in the Journal of Geophysical Research Letters, the Earth has started to get dark rapidly, especially in recent years. Our planet reflects back about 30 percent of the sunlight that reaches it under normal conditions. But the conditions are not normal, measurements made within the scope of this study showed that the Earth currently reflects about half a watt less light per square meter compared to 1998. This half-watt reduction corresponds to a 0.5 percent reduction in Earth’s reflectance of light. “The decline in reflectivity in the last 3 years has been particularly surprising to us in the research,” said physicist Philip Goode of the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Earth’s brightness depends on two factors. One of them is the amount of sunlight reaching the planet and the other is the reflectivity of the planet. This study showed that these two factors were not consistent, that something on Earth was causing the darkening. With satellite measurements, it was noticed that the clouds over the eastern Pacific Ocean were decreasing and increasing the ocean surface temperature. The main source of all this is pointed to the climate crisis. Earth’s albedo is the main determinant of climate. albedo; Changes in climate are driven by the simultaneous evolution of solar intensity and greenhouse insulation.
Let’s not forget that these small changes seen on our planet are the harbingers of future problems. For a better world, we have no choice but to initiate change first with individual and then with global movements.
You can find research on the subject here.
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