“Warmer waters have less ability to absorb carbon dioxide, meaning more of that planet-warming gas will stay in the atmosphere. And it can also accelerate the melting of glaciers that flow into the ocean, leading to more sea level rise.”
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This may be part of what Jim Hansen called the Faustian Bargain.
A policy introduced in 2020 to cut the amount of sulphur emitted by ships resulted in an 80 per cent reduction of the element in the Earth’s atmosphere.
The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) demanded that the sulphur content in fuel be cut from 3.5 per cent to 0.5 per cent for all vessels operating worldwide. The policy resulted in fewer build-ups of the element in clouds and less cloud coverage overall.
But this has increased the warming effect of carbon emissions by 50%, partly because the sun heats the seas more effectively when the skies are clearer.
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Doubling Down on Our Faustian Bargain
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