2011 Science News of the Year: Earth

NASA

Warming slowdown

The planet’s overall temperature has been climbing upward, but that trend stalled during the early 2000s — and now scientists think they can explain why. Several studies suggest that tiny sulfur-rich particles called aerosols, which shield the Earth from the sun’s incoming rays, are to blame.

Some of those particles come from volcanic eruptions, such as the Soufrière Hills volcano in Montserrat that has been puttering along since 1995.