As part of the international CLOUD project at the nuclear research center CERN, researchers at PSI have identified so-called sesquiterpenes—gaseous hydrocarbons that are released by plants—as being a major factor in cloud formation. This finding could reduce uncertainties in climate models and help make more accurate predictions. The study has now been published in the journal Science Advances.
According to the latest projections of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the global climate will be 1.5 to 4.4 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels by 2100. This figure is based on various scenarios describing how anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions may develop in the future. So in the best case, if we manage to curb emissions quickly and radically, we can still meet the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Agreement.
In the worst case, we will end up far above that. However, such projections are also subject to some uncertainty. In the worst-case
— source phys.org | Jan Berndorff | Sep 8, 2023