Journal article summary

This article describes a series of experiments run using the Hadley Centre Slab Ocean Model (HadSM3) to determine whether the global sulfate burden would ultimately increase or decrease with an increase—specifically, a doubling—of CO2 concentrations. The experiment analyzed the effects of CO2 concentrations (due to global climate change) in potential scenarios of both fixed and increased anthropogenic sulfur emissions. The article explained the sources of sulfur emissions and that the amount of sulfur produced by anthropogenic means is greater than that from biogenic processes—and comes mostly from the Northern Hemisphere. It also traced the chemical processes by which DMS or SO2 emissions became sulfuric acid and later, the sulfate aerosol, the measurement of which determines the global sulfate burden. Precipitation and cloud cover play a role in this process, although the correlation between amount of precipitation and amount of sulfate is unclear; both direct and inverse correlations have been demonstrated. The study found that global climate change may induce an increase in the sulfate burden regardless of whether or not anthropogenic sulfur emissions increase. In the case of anthropogenic emissions increasing, the effect would be greater. The study also concluded that in future research on the topic, changes in greenhouse gases would need to be considered.