Global Dimming

Why the Sun seems to be 'dimming'

We are all seeing rather less of the Sun, according to scientists who have been looking at five decades of sunlight measurements.

They have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling.

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"There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me." Intrigued, he searched records from all around the world, and found the same story almost everywhere he looked.

Sunlight was falling by 10% over the USA, nearly 30% in parts of the former Soviet Union, and even by 16% in parts of the British Isles.

Although the effect varied greatly from place to place, overall the decline amounted to one to two per cent globally every decade between the 1950s and the 1990s.

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But it now appears the warming from greenhouse gases has been offset by a strong cooling effect from dimming - in effect two of our pollutants have been cancelling each other out.

This means that the climate may in fact be more sensitive to the greenhouse effect than previously thought.

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Is this news old hat? JB help me out here, you're The Logan Scribe's official tree hugger (I just appointed you). Your Gaia spirit name shall be Persephone, and you shall don only the sheerest of gossamer strands. You will have the special power of talking with trees, or cavorting with dolphins, your choice.

But seriously, this is very interesting information. Why does dimming seem to be localized? Over 30% in parts of the former Soviet Union? That suggets human tinkering. Pollution is the obvious culprit, but there are others who think it may be deliberate (I thought this guy was full of shit until I saw this, honestly most of his pictures just look like clouds to me but this is obviously a manmade effect).

I trust an environmentalist's science about as much as I do the oil industry's (slightly more, if it matters). That's what 20+ years of exaggerations and outright lies will do to your credibility (I'm still pissed about being lied to as a kid). But this dimming, that's something easily quantified. And if what Scott Stevens says about a covert mission to dim the sun with contrails is true, then things are much worse than I thought.

Your thoughts?