Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 30 October 2009:
Vol. 326. no. 5953, pp. 716 - 718
DOI: 10.1126/science.1174760
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions

Drew T. Shindell,* Greg Faluvegi, Dorothy M. Koch, Gavin A. Schmidt, Nadine Unger, Susanne E. Bauer

Evaluating multicomponent climate change mitigation strategies requires knowledge of the diverse direct and indirect effects of emissions. Methane, ozone, and aerosols are linked through atmospheric chemistry so that emissions of a single pollutant can affect several species. We calculated atmospheric composition changes, historical radiative forcing, and forcing per unit of emission due to aerosol and tropospheric ozone precursor emissions in a coupled composition-climate model. We found that gas-aerosol interactions substantially alter the relative importance of the various emissions. In particular, methane emissions have a larger impact than that used in current carbon-trading schemes or in the Kyoto Protocol. Thus, assessments of multigas mitigation policies, as well as any separate efforts to mitigate warming from short-lived pollutants, should include gas-aerosol interactions.

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, New York, NY 10025, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: drew.t.shindell{at}nasa.gov

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Clean the Air, Heat the Planet?.
A. Arneth, N. Unger, M. Kulmala, and M. O. Andreae (2009)
Science 326, 672-673
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Clean Air for Megacities.
D. D. Parrish and T. Zhu (2009)
Science 326, 674-675
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)