Co-emission of aerosols and greenhouse gases is highly attributed to man-made activities, while the corresponding radiative forcing appears very differently. The global radiative forcing from the greenhouse gases (positive) has increased substantially since 1980, while relatively small changes are found in the radiative forcing (negative) from the aerosols. The large differences in the atmospheric lifetime of the climate drivers in combination with regulation and improved air quality means even larger regional differences. Until around 1980, atmospheric short-lived aerosols have temporarily masked parts of rapid greenhouse warming in Europe. A warming of about one degree for clear-sky conditions and somewhat more for all-sky conditions, due to increases in solar radiation, have been estimated for Central and Eastern Europe. Other regions on earth with today high anthropogenic aerosol loadings will thus experience significant effects on the warming if aerosol concentrations are to decrease in the future. The total warming observed for large parts of Europe during the latest four decades of the summer half year (April – September) is double the change in global annual mean temperature of about 1.1 °C. The rapid warming is in line with IPCC (2021), presenting a faster warming over land, 1.6 °C, compared to ocean, 0.9 °C, during Anthropocene. In addition, Europe is the continent that has exposed the fastest warming. A positive feedback associated with drier surface conditions, caused by the enhanced greenhouse effect, is found particularly for southern Europe. Decline in evaporation and water vapour have likely contributed to decreases in the clouds over large parts of Europe. To mitigate climate change CO2 from fossil fuels is of particularly serious concern, since it can continue to affect the climate for thousands of years. Alongside outcomes from the study by Glantz et al. (2022), results from the latest IPCC (2021), AR6, report will be presented.
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