In 1985, researcher Atsumu Ohmura discovered that it's too
dark. When he checked the levels of sunlight recorded in
Europe and compared them to similar measurements made in
the 1960s, he found that levels of solar radiation hitting the
Earth had declined by more than 10%.
David Adam writes in The Guardian that this is happening
despite the fact that the planet is getting hotter. Ohmura
says, "I was shocked. The difference was so big that I just
could not believe it." Scientists now refer to this as "global
dimming." Over the past 50 years, the amount of sunlight
reaching the Earth has decreased by about 3% a decade.
"It's an extraordinary thing that for some reason this hasn't
penetrated even into the thinking of the people looking at
global climate change," says climatologist Graham
Farquhar. "It's actually quite a big deal and I think you'll see a
lot more people referring to it."
It doesn't mean the sun is sending out less radiation, it
means that less of it is reaching the Earth, due to pollution.
Tiny particles of soot reflect sunlight and cause bigger, longer
lasting clouds to form.
This will cause solar power to work less effectively and also
affect agriculture?especially in northern areas. Researcher
Shabtai Cohen says, "In the northern climate?a reduction in
solar radiation becomes a reduction in productivity. In
greenhouses in Holland, the rule of thumb is that a 1%
decrease in solar radiation equals a 1% drop in productivity.
Because they're light limited, they're always very busy
cleaning the tops of their greenhouses."
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