I poked my nose in lowyat.net a few hours ago. To be exact, being the political animal that I am, I browsed their real world issues section. Interesting stuff is being discussed over there, especially about religion. Unfortunately, the discussion is massive and I simply lack the will to read all of it. A few skips and hops later, I ran across a topic on global dimming.

I’ve read about that phenomenon before in the papers and at realclimate.org but never quite understood it. So, I had put it at the back of mind so that I may check it out sometimes later for better comprehension. I never did that until I saw the posting at lowyat.net. So, I did a little online research on it. Soon, I started to wonder, is there a relationship between global dimming and the haze?

Hmm…

Global dimming got the attention it deserved after the September 11 attack. Almost all aircrafts were grounded for a few days and the sky was free from steel flies for the first time in decades. It was during this time that scientists observed a minor increase in daily temperature variation.

Now, after being four years in Michigan, I do think Kuala Lumpur is extremely hot. But, after I crashed into DAP’s little sedated protest that were full of police officers, I got engaged into a conversation with a stranger.

Like all people, when there is nothing to talk about, they talk about the weather. And goddamn, we did exactly that. He said that that day, Kuala Lumpur was less hot than usual. I didn’t agree with his statement but already dazed with the haze along with the fact that I didn't know him, I would rather be agreeable rather than starting an awkward moment by second guessing him.

Right now however, I think he was right. Yet, by eyeballing the data, it doesn’t seem like it.

I visited Weather Underground and went straight for Kuala Lumpur’s reading for August for every year beginning at 1998 and ending at 2005. If you do want to eyeball the data or even conduct a complete analysis, the data is at 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

If you did a complete analysis, do give me a howler. What you should be looking for is a decrease in temperature variation to link dimming to the haze (the idea is, the haze blocks the sunlight and hence, reduces the average temperature during the day and increases the average temperature during the night).

For warming, it’s a general rise in temperature, naturally but this should be a secondary objective.

I can’t see any change in variation or even a rise in temperature though the rain does give me a problem. I simply can’t observe the real effect by having the ceteris paribus rule being violated. I suppose I could do a difference-in-difference analysis but I’m far too lazy for real econometrics at the moment.

I have however sent an email about a possible link between the haze and global dimming. I extremely look forward for a reply from them.

For an introduction to global dimming, Wikipedia is an excellent choice.