Professor blames the ‘pause’ in global warming on ‘the massive burning of coal in China and India’
Professor Jesse Thé from the University of Waterloo: 'All my views in this interview are based on our hypothesis that the pause in the temperature increase is caused by aerosol formation form the massive burning of coal in China (50% of global consumption of coal) and India.'
ENN: Please explain to our readers why the burning of coal in China and India is reducing the growth in temperature globally. Isn’t this burning injecting more CO2 in the atmosphere?
Prof. Thé: 'The additional burning of coal in China injects sulfur in the atmosphere (SO2), which turns into reflective aerosols. This causes higher reflectivity of solar radiation back to space. This is a cooling effect that more than counter balances the additional CO2 emitted from the burning of coal.'
http://www.enn.com/climate/article/47570