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Saturday, March 1st, 2014

Smell of Forest Pine Can Limit Climate Change – Researchers

Author:     MATT MCGRATH
Source:     BBC News (U.K.)
Publication Date:     26 February 2014 Last updated at 15:42 ET
 Link: Smell of Forest Pine Can Limit Climate Change – Researchers
Stephan:   This is a fascinating story about the interconnected nature of the Earth's biosphere. There is so much we don't know, but one thing becomes clearer and clearer: The only way we are going to save ourselves is by working with nature, not trying to dominate nature. Frankly, though, I think the greed and stupidity greed creates are still too powerful to allow us to save ourselves. From everything I can see the rest of this century is going to be a debacle with hundreds of millions of people dying. All completely unnecessary but, when profit is the only social priority, inevitable.

New research suggests a strong link between the powerful smell of pine trees and climate change.

Scientists say they’ve found a mechanism by which these scented vapours turn into aerosols above boreal forests.

These particles promote cooling by reflecting sunlight back into space and helping clouds to form.

The research, published in the journal Nature, fills in a major gap in our understanding, researchers say.

One of the biggest holes in scientific knowledge about climate change relates to the scale of the impact of atmospheric aerosols on temperatures.

Perfumed air

These particles form clouds that block sunlight as well as reflecting rays back into space.

They can be formed in a number of ways, including volcanic activity and by humans, through the burning of coal and oil.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), they “continue to contribute the largest uncertainty to estimates and interpretations of the Earth’s changing energy budget.”
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If you go into a pine forest and notice that pine forest smell, that could be the smell that actually limits climate change”

Dr Mikael Ehn University of Helsinki

One of the most significant but least understood sources of aerosols are the sweet-smelling vapours found in pine […]

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