Section: News & Features
Published: February 19, 2021
Lockdowns intended to curb the spread of COVID-19 reduced human-made aerosol emissions in 2020, but the impact on Earth’s energy balance has been less clear. A new study finds that, over the East Asian Marginal Seas (between the coasts of China, Korea, and Japan) in March 2020, aerosol reductions contributed to a drastic drop in clear-sky reflection. Roughly a third of the drop can be attributed to reduced aerosols, and the rest can be attributed to weather variability and long-term emission trends.