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Local Pollutants Play Bigger Role in Climate Change Than Once Believed

Short-lived gases and particle pollutants — which stay in the atmosphere for just days or weeks — have a greater influence on Earth’s climate than previously thought, according to a new NOAA-led report released today as part of the series of Synthesis and Assessment Reports coordinated by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The report also says that while these pollutants are generated locally they will have global climate implications.

These short-lived pollutants include black carbon (soot), low-altitude ozone, nitrates and sulfates. Each type of pollution influences surface temperatures differently — from the cooling influence of sulfate particles, which tend to reflect sunlight, to the warming characteristics of heat-absorbing black carbon.