Editing Asian brown cloud (section)

===Global warming and dimming===
The 2008 report also addressed the global concern of [[global warming|warming]] and concluded that the brown clouds have masked 20 to 80 percent of [[greenhouse gas]] forcing in the past century. The report suggested that air pollution regulations can have large amplifying effects on global warming.{{clarify|date=November 2023}}

Another major impact is on the polar ice caps. [[Black carbon]] ([[soot]]) in the Asian Brown Cloud may be reflecting sunlight and dimming Earth below but it is warming other places by absorbing incoming radiation and warming the atmosphere and whatever it touches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Biello|first=David|title=Brown Haze from Cooking Fires Cooking EarthToo.The brown haze over Asia warms the atmosphere just as much as greenhouse gases.|journal= Scientific American|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brown-haze-from-cooking-fires-cooking-earth|date= August 1, 2007}}</ref> Black carbon is three times more effective than carbon dioxide—the most common greenhouse gas—at [[melting]] polar ice and snow.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Biello|first=David|title= Impure as the Driven Snow: Smut is a bigger problem than greenhouse gases in polar meltdown.|journal= Scientific American|url= http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=impure-as-the-driven-snow|date= June 8, 2007}}</ref> Black carbon in snow causes about three times the temperature change as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. On snow—even at concentrations below five parts per billion–dark carbon triggers melting, and may be responsible for as much as 94 percent of [[Arctic warming]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Boswell |first=Randy |title=Burning crops darken Arctic sky, speed polar melt. |journal=Canwest News Service |url=http://www.canada.com/technology/Burning+crops+darken+Arctic+speed+polar+melt/1635692/story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206215104/http://www.canada.com/technology/Burning%2Bcrops%2Bdarken%2BArctic%2Bspeed%2Bpolar%2Bmelt/1635692/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |date=October 19, 2009 }}</ref>