Increasing aerosols may have induced cooling in China

David L. Hagen writes about a new study:

Increasing aerosols, decreasing insolation, decreasing temperature, and decreasing precipitable water over 18 years in China.

A satellite image shows pollution over eastern China in February 2004. The pollution, consisting mostly of soot and sulfate particles, was created from coal and wood burning and persisted throughout the winter.

“Evaluation of Atmospheric Precipitable Water Characteristics and Trends in Mainland China from 1995 to 2012″ Wang 2017

. . .”Moreover, the increasing aerosol loading because of frequent human activities has resulted in decreasing solar radiation in the past few decades (Cheng et al. 2005; Norris and Wild 2009; Tie and Cao 2009; Tang et al. 2011). The decreasing solar radiation could be the potential reason for the downward temperature trends at most stations in mainland China, which is consistent with previous studies that revealed a warming hiatus since the late 1990s (Li et al. 2015; Xian and Fu 2017; Xie et al. 2017). According to Clausius–Clapeyron equation, the downward temperature trends result in decreasing saturation vapor pressure, which gives rise to decreasing atmospheric water-holding capacity. Consequently, APW shows downward trends in four regions of mainland China in the recent 18-yr period analyzed.”