The effect, however, would be canceled out by the expected doubling of the CO2 level predicted for the future. The short life span of aerosols, generally two weeks, as compared to the long life span of greenhouse gases like CO2 and water, decreases their combative effect on global warming. Computer modeling of global climate change was also discussed in the article. Atmospheric and ocean models are used to produce climate features of the past and in turn predict future climate changes. The computer models show the amount of increase in temperature predicted a few years ago is slightly higher than current predictions due to the fact that previous models did not contain equations describing the effect of aerosols on global temperatures.
Aerosols have a cooling effect due to their ability to reflect incoming sunlight.
Computer models have indicated that warming in general will be greater over land and will be the greatest in high northern latitudes in the winter. The article was in agreement with the previous articles in the assumption that the Antarctic Ocean and the northern North Atlantic may actually experience a cooling effect due to changes in ocean currents caused by changes in global temperatures. The computer models also predict that nighttime temperatures will increase more than daytime temperatures during the warm season and more of the precipitation will come in heavy showers or thunderstorms instead of softer longer lasting rainfalls. It is predicted that eventually, after many decades, daytime warming will equal nighttime warming. Some of the drawbacks of computer modeling were discussed, such as the uncertainty of the effects greenhouse gases have on cloud cover in turn effecting whether or not the clouds reflect sunlight or trap heat based on elevation in the atmosphere.