[TheClimate.Vote] February 4, 2021 - Daily Global Warming News Digest

[Richard Pauli]

/*February 4, 2021*/

[Associated Press]
*Study: Pandemic’s cleaner air added heat to warming planet*
BY SETH BORENSTEIN - Feb 3, 2021

Earth spiked a bit of a fever in 2020, partly because of cleaner air 
from the pandemic lockdown, a new study found.

For a short time, temperatures in some places in the eastern United 
States, Russia and China were as much as half to two-thirds of a degree 
(.3 to .37 degrees Celsius) warmer. That’s due to less soot and sulfate 
particles from car exhaust and burning coal, which normally cool the 
atmosphere temporarily by reflecting the sun’s heat, Tuesday’s study in 
the journal Geophysical Research Letters reported.
- -
This temporary warming effect from fewer particles was stronger in 2020 
than the effect of reduced heat-trapping carbon dioxide emissions, 
Gettelman said. That’s because carbon stays in the atmosphere for more 
than a century with long-term effects, while aerosols remain in the air 
about a week.

Even without the reduction in cooling aerosols, global temperatures in 
2020 already were flirting with breaking yearly heat record because of 
the burning of coal, oil and natural gas — and the aerosol effect may 
have been enough to help make this the hottest year in NASA’s measuring 
system, said top NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, who wasn’t part 
of this study but said it confirms other research.
https://apnews.com/article/pandemics-coronavirus-pandemic-china-asia-pacific-russia-0b61f1cf57eabd6b8c92ed47c4ca8451
- -
[Source matter]
*Geophysical Research Letters*
Climate Impacts of COVID-19 Induced Emission ChangesA. Gettelman1,2 , R. 
Lamboll3  , C. G. Bardeen1  , P. M. Forster4  , and D. Watson-Parris2 
1National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA,
*Abstract *

    The COVID-19 pandemic led to dramatic changes in economic activity
    in 2020. We use estimates of emission changes for 2020 in two Earth
    System Models (ESMs) to simulate the impacts of the COVID-19
    economic changes. Ensembles of nudged simulations are used to
    separate small signals from meteorological variability. Reductions
    in aerosol and precursor emissions, chiefly black carbon and sulfate
    (SO4), led to reductions in total anthropogenic aerosol cooling
    through aerosol-cloud interactions. The average overall Effective
    Radiative Forcing (ERF) peaks at +0.29±0.15Wm2 in spring 2020.
    Changes in cloud properties are smaller than observed changes during
    2020. Impacts of these changes on regional land surface temperature
    range up to +0.3K. The peak impact of these aerosol changes on
    global surface temperature is very small (+0.03K). However, the
    aerosol changes are the largest contribution to radiative forcing
    and temperature changes as a result of COVID-19 affected emissions,
    larger than ozone, CO2 and contrail effects.

*Plain Language Summary *

    The COVID-19 pandemic changed emissions of gases and particulates.
    These gases and particulates affect climate. In general, human
    emissions of particles cool the planet by scattering away sunlight
    in the clear sky and by making clouds brighter to reflect sunlight
    away from the earth. This paper focuses on understanding how changes
    to emissions of particulates (aerosols) affect climate. We use
    estimates of emissions changes for 2020 in two climate models to
    simulate the impacts of the COVID-19 induced emission changes. We
    tightly constrain the models by forcing the winds to match observed
    winds for 2020. COVID-19 induced lockdowns led to reductions in
    aerosol and precursor emissions, chiefly soot or black carbon and
    sulfate (SO4). This is found to reduce the human caused aerosol
    cooling: creating a small net warming effect on the earth in spring
    2020. Changes in cloud properties are smaller than observed changes
    during 2020. The impact of these changes on regional land surface
    temperature is small (maximum +0.3K). The impact of aerosol changes
    on global surface temperature is very small and lasts over several
    years. However, the aerosol changes are the largest contribution to
    COVID-19 affected emissions induced radiative forcing and
    temperature changes, larger than ozone, CO2 and contrail effects.

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1029/2020GL091805


[NYTimes Daily podcast - a must hear or read transcript]
*Assessing Biden’s Climate Plan*
by Michael Barbaro; et at.
The president has signed several executive orders for environmental 
policies since taking office. But the real work of reducing America’s 
emissions has just begun.
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2021
President Biden’s plans for curbing the most devastating impacts of a 
changing climate are ambitious.

His administration is not only planning a sharp U-turn from the approach 
of the Trump White House — former President Donald Trump openly mocked 
the science behind human-caused climate change — but those aims go even 
further than the Obama administration’s.

Policies will have to tackle three main sources of emissions in order to 
solve the problem: Pollution from cars, pollution from power plants, and 
methane leaks from oil and gas wells.

Today, we look at the Biden administration’s environmental plans, as 
well as the potential roadblocks and whether these changes can last.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/02/podcasts/the-daily/biden-climate-agenda.html



[video news - court
*French court rules France not doing enough on climate change*
Feb 3, 2021
FRANCE 24 English
#France​'s government must do more to combat #climate​ change, a French 
court said on Wednesday, in what environmental campaigners called a 
landmark ruling that could ramp up pressure on other countries to act on 
global warning. FRANCE 24's Environment Editor Mairead Dundas 
explains.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVnZMdqlIEw



[Time to Plan Ahead  ]
*A bad omen for 2021? There were 297 wildfires in California in January, 
nearly tripling five-year average.*
Damon Arthur - Redding Record Searchlight
It's not supposed to be wildfire season in California. Yet, a month into 
2021, the Golden State has more than doubled the number of wildfires 
from 2020 – a record-setting year with more than 9,600 blazes that 
blackened more than 4 million acres.

And the number of acres burned on nonfederal land last month was more 
than 20 times the state’s five-year average for January.

While the rain and snow of the past week may make last year’s fire 
season seem like a distant memory, those numbers are a reminder that 
wildfires have become a year-round concern in the nation's most populous 
state.

In January, there were 297 fires that burned 1,171 acres statewide on 
nonfederal lands, according to the California Department of Forestry and 
Fire Protection.

During the same period last year, there were 97 wildfires that burned 22 
acres. The five-year average for January is 108 fires, with 58 acres 
burned, according to Cal Fire...
more at - 
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/02/california-wildfires-january-cal-fire/4368052001/



[Digging back into the internet news archive]
*On this day in the history of global warming - February 4, 1992 *

February 4, 1992: In one of the worst examples of mainstream media 
false-balance in US history, Ted Koppel hosts a “debate” on ABC's 
"Nightline" between Sen. Al Gore (D-TN) and Rush Limbaugh on global 
warming and other environmental issues.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9rZKJt4ZC4 (Part 1)

http://youtu.be/WbC-yWycHfM (Part 2)


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