Researchers are exploring whether these ubiquitous fluorinated molecules might worsen infections or hamper vaccine effectiveness.
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Contributed by V. Ramanathan, October 31, 2006 (received for review August 9, 2006)
Abstract
Previous studies have found that atmospheric brown clouds partially offset the warming effects of greenhouse gases. This finding suggests a tradeoff between the impacts of reducing emissions of aerosols and greenhouse gases. Results from a statistical model of historical rice harvests in India, coupled with regional climate scenarios from a parallel climate model, indicate that joint reductions in brown clouds and greenhouse gases would in fact have complementary, positive impacts on harvests. The results also imply that adverse climate changes due to brown clouds and greenhouse gases contributed to the slowdown in harvest growth that occurred during the past two decades.
Footnotes
- ‡To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: vramanathan{at}ucsd.edu
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Author contributions: M.A., V.R., and J.R.V. contributed equally to this work; M.A., V.R., and J.R.V. designed research; M.A., V.R., and J.R.V. performed research; V.R. contributed new reagents/analytic tools; M.A. analyzed data; and J.R.V. wrote the paper.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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See Commentary on page 19609.
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This article contains supporting information (SI) online at www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0609584104/DC1.
- Abbreviations:
- ABC,
- atmospheric brown cloud;
- GHG,
- greenhouse gas;
- PCM,
- parallel climate model.
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Freely available online through the PNAS open access option.
- © 2006 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA
Integrated model shows that atmospheric brown clouds and greenhouse gases have reduced rice harvests in India
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