Block too much of the sun and life on earth is over.
The Arctic sea ice is like a giant mirror that reflects much of the sun's energy, helping to keep our planet cool.
The Arctic ice cap helps to cool sea and air temperatures, by reflecting much of the sun's radiation back into space, and acting as a global cooler when winds and ocean currents swirl over and under it.
Sea ice is known to play a critical role in regulating climate, acting as a giant mirror that reflects much of the sun's energy, helping to cool the Earth.
According to many scientists, the sea ice plays a critical role in regulating climate, acting as a giant mirror that reflects much of the sun's energy, helping to cool the Earth.
A cliché about Aberdeen is that it is the sunniest city in Britain, the only catch being that much of this sun is to be had at four in the morning.
They would rather understand where the missing heat has gone, and why and thus whether the pause can be expected to continue.The most likely explanation is that it is hiding in the oceans, which store nine times as much of the sun's heat as do the atmosphere and land combined.
The team, which reported its findings this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found that the burning of fossil fuels, although substantially raising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, also produces a pall of particle haze that reflects as much of the sun's energy back into space as the release of carbon dioxide has trapped in the air, Dr. Hansen said.
Planets reflect much of the sun's rays, which radiate back into space unless bounced toward the surface again by atmospheric molecules such as water or carbon dioxide.
But in the dirty air model, the dark veil over the plain soaked up much of the sun's warmth high in the atmosphere, while simultaneously cooling the streets and fields below.
