Global dimming

• Measurements of different climatic conditions carried out from 1960s to the early 1990s showed a substantial decrease in the amount of sun's energy (solar energy) reaching the surface of earth. Such a decrease in the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth is known as Global Dimming. 

• This phenomenon was first recognized in the year 1950. Since then, scientists believe that the sun's energy reaching the earth has dropped significantly in different parts of the world as 9% in Antartica, 10% in United States of America, 16% in parts of Europe, and 30% in Russia putting an overall drop to an enormous 22% causing high risk to our environment.

• Regions belonging to different hemispheres experience different levels of dimming. Northern hemisphere experienced more significant reductions (4-8%) as compared to the Southern hemisphere. 

• Regions such as parts of Europe and North America have recovered to a large extent from dimming. On the other hand, China and India observed a considerable rise in the dimming through years.