Can Earth take the heat of 'global brightening'? Break out the
Ray-Bans. The amount of sunlight reaching Earth's surface
appears to be growing.Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to
the Monitor The phenomenon, which some dub "global brightening,"
presents scientists with a puzzle. If the trend is real and
global, how long will it last and what are the consequences for
climate change, the planet's water cycle, and other processes
that draw energy from sunlight? At first glance, the answer
might seem obvious: More sunlight reaching the ground in a
warming world means that temperatures will get warmer still. Not
so fast, some researchers say. Additional warming would be
certain only if nothing else in the climate system changes. And
the climate system is anything but static. Some combinations of
changes could reinforce the heating; others could offset it.
Unraveling these interactions and forecasting their course
require an accurate accounting of the sunlight reaching the
surface and the radiation the surface