NYT: Earth Has Become Brighter, but No One Sure Why (accelerates warming?)

[DeepModem Mom]

Earth Has Become Brighter, but No One Is Sure Why
By KENNETH CHANG
Published: May 6, 2005


Reversing a decades-long trend toward "global dimming," Earth's surface has become brighter since 1990, scientists are reporting today.

The brightening means that more sunlight - and thus more heat - is reaching the ground. That could partly explain the record-high global temperatures reported in the late 1990's, and it could accelerate the planet's warming trend.

"We see the dimming is no longer there," said Dr. Martin Wild, a climatologist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and the lead author of one of three papers analyzing sunlight that appear in today's issue of the journal Science. "If anything, there is a brightening."...

***

In some places, the brightening of the 1990's has more than offset the dimming, Dr. Wild said. In other places, like Hong Kong, which lost more than a third of its sunlight, the dimming has leveled off, but skies remain darker than in the past. In a few places, like India, the dimming trend continues, he said.

The new papers also call attention to a major gap in the understanding of climate. Scientists do not exactly know what caused the dimming and the brightening, or how they affect the rest of the climate system....


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/06/science/06bright.html

[LongTomH]

1. Bush Administration cancelling Earth Science research:

Note the last paragraphs:

Dr. Robert J. Charlson, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington and an author of a commentary that accompanied the three papers, said, "This set of papers, taken together, calls attention for more emphasis on research in these topics."

But he added, "Unfortunately, impediments have come up." Four years' worth of data from the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite is unanalyzed, he said, because there is no money for scientists to work with it.

Another satellite, the Deep Space Climate Observatory, which was scheduled to be launched on a space shuttle, awaits in storage. Proposed budget cuts in earth science research at NASA could limit the analysis of data from other satellites, Dr. Charlson said.

Sounds like business as usual for BushCo!

[Brooklyn Michael]

19. Why does science hate America?

:tinfoilhat:

[valis]

2. I'm confused

If the earth is "brighter" it means it's reflecting more light... Instead of absorbing it... So, how would that lead to a hotter earth?...

[HereSince1628]

7. Me too.

I think it's gonna take a while for me to get my head around this.

[Frederik]

11. No, it means

more light, and thus more heat, comes through the atmosphere and reaches Earth.

[TahitiNut]

3. Quick! Everyone paint their roofs black.

Plant dark grass. Switch from concrete to asphalt. Fire up those soot-emitting furnaces. :eyes:

[moggie]

4. It's all the tinfoil hats

They're quite bright:tinfoilhat:

[DeepModem Mom]

5. Good one!

[valis]

6. I have an explanation

As the world population ages, there are more bald people. That should explain it, I think...

[Daphne08]

9. Bwahahahahaha!!!

:rofl:

[Trish1168]

23. Fundie's will read into this....

Its the END TIMES. EEEEEK!

The sky will open up and Jesus will fly around the world. All the good people will be snatched up in the rapture.

Won't they be surprised when its mostly the republicans that are 'left behind'.

O8)

[0007]

8. Could it be all those new shiny Euro's?

[Speck Tater]

10. As with so many populartizations

in the process of simplifying this for the average moron they get stuff wrong. It's the SKY that is brighter, not the surface of the earth. More sunlight is REACHING earth's surface, but the same percentage is being reflected off earth's surface. The atmosphere, which had been getting less transparent is again becoming more transparent letting more light through.

Thus, the surface is more brightly lit, yet it still reflects the same percentage of light as always. So the surface is both receiving AND reflecting more light.

[Itsthetruth]

13. Thank You

Thanks for the clear explanation. I'm brighter than a light bulb. I get it!

[halobeam]

14. So, whats getting hotter......

the sun?:crazy:

[Terran]

20. Thank you

It's kinda dumb to say the "the earth is brighter". Only way I could see that as accurate would be if the earth had developed more cloud cover and more light was being reflected back. Which would mean a cooling at the surface, not warming.

So what this means, I guess, is that the atmosphere is clearer--either because there is less cloud cover (which seems consistent with global warming and all the droughts), or less particulate pollution in the air (which I doubt is true).

[Skidmore]

12. It's all those little "on" lights and digital clocks they

build into everything these days.

[slackmaster]

22. And wall pads

So many people leave the wall pads for their cell phones, laptops, and other goodies plugged in all the time without realizing they consume power even when the gadget isn't being charged.

[KansDem]

15. Bush's halos...

Bush has brightened the planet with unbridled optimism and messages of hope unseen since the 1980s. There can be no other explanation!

I'm surprised you didn't know this already!

[DeepModem Mom]

16. LOL!

Of course, it's the glowing bright light of His Holiness, Our Leader, George Bush --

[donsu]

17. several mos. ago I posted article saying light was dimming

so now here is an article saying it's getting brighter.

one of them is wrong.

[RussBLib]

18. Seems very much brighter to me

Anecdotally, I've been noticed for a few years now that the sun has seemed a lot brighter than usual, than I remember from years past. It actually hurts now to be outside with no sunglasses (on bright days). And even with sunglasses, I find myself squinting.

Just something I've noticed. Interesting to have it (somewhat) confirmed by research.

[alfredo]

21. Venus is very bright.

It is very hot too.

I think that is a different process than what is happening here.

Is this the result of bush "Clear Skies Imitative"?

[billbuckhead]

24. It's a warning to other planets

:evilfrown:

[alfredo]

28. Yeah, this is global warming run amoke.

[JCMach1]

25. This sounds like a junk article about some inconclusive

findings... Of course there will be oscillations in brightness (natural and/or unnatural).

Climate trends take a long view, not a short... so take this article for what you will.

[dbt]

26. First, Global Dimming. Now, Global Brightening?

The contradictions are MOST interesting. Perhaps this new report is disinformation, designed to counteract the recent spate of articles which hold that cloud cover is both obstructing incoming sunlight and hindering re-radiation of heat.

It is quite telling that no studies have yet been done (of which I am aware) which take into account the CHEMTRAILS that are being generated 24/7/365 in our skies. Of course, such a study would require the admission that this atmospheric muck is not water vapor/ice crystals as we are supposed to believe.

And in the end, it does not matter whether this stuff in the sky is Contrail or Chemtrail. These artificial clouds, which everyone can see, are, in fact, diffusing incoming sunlight. This has to be having some effect on global weather patterns--yet no agencies will touch the subject.

dbt
Committee On Noticing Spray Programs Involving Real Aircraft Calculated Yearly

[bobthedrummer]

27. I have been noticing chemtrails over Green Bay since 1999.

There's a NOAA sat photo taken in October 1998 on the Internet showing them being formed over Green Bay.

Whatever they are they sure do reduce the sunlight.

Chemtrails
http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/Chemtrails.html

[pie]

29. I think you might be right

This story sounds like pure fabrication;
contrary to all data I have seen over the past six months.

As to those chemtrails, who knows?
I get more cynical by the day.

[kenny blankenship]

30. It's brighter because...

of all the lily white Republicans mooning God by trashing the environment. Lardy, white, Repo assflesh reflects all components of the visible spectra with an efficiency rated at 80% of a household mirror.

[bobthedrummer]

31. There are weather modification operations to consider too.

The USAF has plans to own the weather in twenty more years.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/2025/

We have a space weapon empire in place.
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/VAL206A.html

Some folks don't respect mother Earth nor mother nature.