Global Warming Not Driven By The Sun...?

While aerosols in the atmosphere, such as carbon black or sulfate particles, can absorb heat from solar radiation that can lead to the warming of the Earth, they also have a net cooling effect by reflecting incoming sunlight. Thus, they add to the Earth's average albedo (reflection of incoming sunlight) and decrease the amount of solar radiation contributing to global warming. In this article, NASA researchers discuss how matching of solar radiation levels and Earth's average temperature levels have led to the support of the hypothesis that the sun is not the main contributor in global climate change. While it is an important factor, they argue that the cooling effect of aerosols in the atmosphere have been significantly underestimated, with respect to global climate change and global warming in particular.