Asian Dust And Warming? Or Cooling?

A new research project using a specially equipped Gulfstream jet is getting underway to measure massive amounts of dust that always have blown from Asia eastward, impacting weather around the Earth. Now it's a particularly interesting area of study because no one has a clue.

It's known the dust causes global dimming, which reduces warming. It's known it can seed rain, allaying Warmie hysteria-babble about drought. And it's also know that in recent years the dust has been picking up more and more greenhouse gas and industrial aerosols.

So what's the impact of all this on global warming? Who knows? That's why the National Science Foundation issued this release (via Brightsurf):

Scientists using one of the nation’s newest and most capable research aircraft are launching a far-reaching field project this month to study plumes of airborne dust and pollutants that originate in Asia and journey to North America.

The plumes are among the largest such events on Earth, so great in scope that scientists believe they might affect clouds and weather across thousands of miles while interacting with the Sun’s radiation and playing a role in global climate. ...

While many particles in the plumes, such as sulfates, cool the planet by blocking solar radiation from reaching Earth, some particles such as black carbon absorb sunlight as well and therefore may amplify the effects of global warming. [The study] will help scientists refine computer models of greenhouse gas emissions and improve forecasts of future climate change, both for the entire globe and for specific regions that are especially affected by dust and pollutants. ...

As Asia’s economies boom, scientists are increasingly turning their attention to the plumes, which pack a combination of industrial emissions (such as soot, smog, and trace metals) and dust from storms in regions such as Central Asia’s Gobi Desert.

The plumes can alter global temperatures by interacting with large-scale, mid-latitude cloud systems over the Pacific that reflect enormous amounts of sunlight and help regulate global climate.

The plumes also may affect regional precipitation patterns because water vapor molecules adhere to microscopic particles of dust and pollutants to form water droplets or ice particles that eventually grow and fall out of the clouds as rain or snow.

In addition, the dust and pollutants reduce the amount of light reaching Earth, contributing to a phenomenon known as global dimming that can affect both temperatures and precipitation.

So, let me get this right. All the models that all the Warmies are using to crank out their predictions of imminent doom cannot factor for "the largest such events on Earth, so great in scope that scientists believe they might affect clouds and weather across thousands of miles while interacting with the Sun’s radiation and playing a role in global climate."

And we're supposed to believe the models? And the global warming debate is supposed to be over?