The Industrial Revolution brought about many things: the steam engine, the factory system, mass production.
The Industrial Revolution brought about many things: the steam engine, the factory system, mass production.
But not, apparently, more wildfires. Actually, the opposite.
A new study, “Reassessment of Pre-Industrial Fire Emissions Strongly Affects Anthropogenic Aerosol Forcing,” by a Cornell postdoctoral researcher, published in August in Nature Communications, finds that emissions from fire activity were significantly greater in the preindustrial era, which began around 1750, than previously thought. As a result, scientists have underestimated the cooling effect the aerosol particles produced by these fires had on the past climate.
As fire burns, tiny particles – aerosols – are released into the atmosphere, where they can increase the brightness of clouds and reflect sunlight back into space, cooling the planet in the process (also known as indirect radiative forcing). This cooling can help offset increased warming caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide.
Read more at Cornell University
Image: This graphic shows the decline of black carbon emissions from fire activity from 1700 to the present, contrasted with the rise in global population. (Credit: Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future)
