Guest Post by Willis Eschenbach

Image: NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center

A recent study by Shindell et. al, entitled Improved Attribution of Climate Forcing to Emissions, (Science Magazine, 30 October 2009, Vol. 326) reports on interactions between aerosols and methane and other greenhouse gases. It has been discussed on Watts Up With That here <http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/31/an-idea-i-can-get-behind-regulate-methane-first/>, as well as on other blogs. The Shindell study gives new values for the “radiative forcing” of various greenhouse gases. The “radiative forcing” is the increase in greenhouse radiation which is due to the increases in greenhouse gases since 1750.

UPDATE: The remainder of this article has been removed at the request of the guest author, Willis Eschenbach. During discussion, an error was discovered (see comments) and rather than leave this article with that error in place which may possibly mislead somebody in the future (if they didn’t read through comments) I’m honoring Willis’ request for removal. The comments remain intact. – Anthony