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Nature 409, 671-672 (8 February 2001) | doi:10.1038/35055640

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The dark side of aerosols

Meinrat O. Andreae

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According to new modelling calculations, black carbon in the atmosphere exerts a large warming influence on global climate. Curbing emissions of this pollutant may be advisable both on climate and on human health grounds.

For a while, it looked so simple: greenhouse gases warm the Earth and sulphate aerosols cool it down. Because aerosol particles in the atmosphere scatter sunlight back into space, they reduce the amount of energy that the planet absorbs, keeping it cooler in much the same way as a coat of light paint keeps a car cooler than does dark paint.