It’s all hands on deck in the world of environmental science these days, as researchers from every discipline do their best to come up with ways we can slow the devastating effects of climate change.

No one should be surprised to learn that fixing the problem is going to be more complicated than anyone might have guessed – and even some solutions seem to be having the opposite effect.

Like reducing shipping pollution, a major effort that resulted in more overall pollution, not less.

The International Maritime Organization passed a global standard in 2020, promising to cut down on the use of high-sulfur fuels for shipping.

But while NASA found a lot less pollution along shipping lanes last year, a recent study actually worsened climate change in the short term.

Researchers published their findings in Communications Earth & Environment, claiming the airborne aerosols were actually helping to block heat from the sun.

Once curtailed, more solar radiation stayed trapped in our atmosphere, perhaps helping to explain why 2023 was the hottest year on record. This is just one more unexpected complexity in understanding how to accurately model and combat climate change.

The researchers used satellite observations and a chemical transport model to calculate the change in energy in the Earth’s atmosphere after sulfur emissions we reduced. The reduction in aerosols in the atmosphere along shipping routes, as well as an average uptick of around 0.1 watts per square meter.

A global doubling of CO2 levels would cause about 4 watts per square meter, so this is a relatively big number, according to co-author Tianle Yuan.

“We will experience about double the warming rate compared to the long term average since 1880.”

Other scientists, like climate scientist Zeke Hausfather, say there are too many variables to be so sure that one thing directly caused the other.

“The pollution cut is certainly a contributing factor to the recent warmth, but it only goes a small way toward explaining the 0.3C, 0.4C, and 0.5C margins of monthly records set in the second half of 2023.”

Still, advocates of solar geoengineering techniques like marine cloud brightening should pause before moving forward – because even if they “work,” there could be unexpected consequences.

They also fear a “termination shock,” which means the moment we stop releasing aerosols, global temperatures could rise even faster and higher than before.

This is just one more piece of a very complicated puzzle. One we need to solve quickly, but that also can’t be solved too quickly.

If you thought that was interesting, you might like to read about a second giant hole has opened up on the sun’s surface. Here’s what it means.