Industrial pollution has caused Arctic warming since 1880s

About | Contact | Mongabay on Facebook | Mongabay on Twitter | Subscribe

SHARE:

Industrial pollution has caused Arctic warming since 1880s
mongabay.com
August 9, 2007

Industrial soot emissions have been warming the Arctic since at the least the 1880s, reports a new study that examined "black carbon" levels in the Greenland ice sheet over the past 215 years. The research is published in current issue of the journal Science.

Analyzing the chemical signatures of black carbon to determine its origin, scientists led by Joseph McConnell of the Desert Research Institute at the Nevada System of Higher Education in Reno report that the amount of soot from industrial emissions surpassed those from forest fires sometime in the 1880s. The trend lasted until the 1950s.

The findings are significant because black carbon "absorbs sunlight extremely efficiently and thus can have a considerable impact on climate," especially in areas where sunlight is usually reflected by snow and ice, according to Science Express.

"While enhanced radiative forcing from black carbon in snow results in warming and possibly summer melting on the permanently snow-covered Greenland ice sheet, potential impacts on seasonal snow covers are larger since additional warming leads to earlier exposure of underlying low albedo rock, soil, vegetation, and sea ice," the authors write.

Model simulations by the researchers "suggest that black carbon's impact on climate during the period from 1906 to 1910 was about eight times as strong as what was typical during pre-industrial times." The researchers say the warming effect was strongest in the winter.

CITATION: McConnell, J.R. et al (2007). 20th Century Industrial Black Carbon Emissions Altered Arctic Climate Forcing. 10 AUGUST 2007 VOL 317 SCIENCE.

Authors included J.R. McConnell, R. Edwards, J.R. Banta and D.R. Pasteris at Desert Research Institute, Nevada System of Higher Education in Reno, NV; G.L. Kok at Droplet Measurement Technologies in Boulder, CO; M.G. Flanner, C.S. Zender and E.S. Saltzman at University of California, Irvine in Irvine, CA; M.M. Carter and J.D.W. Kahl at University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee in Milwaukee, WI.

Comments?

News options

CITATION:
mongabay.com (August 09, 2007). Industrial pollution has caused Arctic warming since 1880s. http://news.mongabay.com/2007/0809-greenland.html

Tags:
pollution climate science climate change Greenland-Arctic fossil fuels environment green

print

News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home

Advertisements:

Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing

Mongabay Store
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt		Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog		Licking this frog may make you crazy

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SUPPORT
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com

Photos

Alaska	Argentina	Australia
Belize	Brazil	Cambodia
China	Colombia	Costa Rica
Deforestation	Frog	Gabon
Grand Canyon	Honduras	India
Indonesia	Kenya	Laos
Lemur	Madagascar	Malaysia
Monkey	New Zealand	Panama
Peru	Rainforest	Sunset
Suriname	Tanzania	Thailand
Uganda	United States	Venezuela

HIGH RESOLUTION PHOTOS / PRINTS

CALENDARS

Mount Kenya

East Africa Safari Wildlife

Kenya's Turkana People

Madagascar Chameleons

CANVAS BAGS

Hallucinogenic frog bag

Madagascar wildlife bag

Mongabay.com's Fan Page on Facebook

Copyright mongabay 2010

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions generated from mongabay.com operations (server, data transfer, travel) are mitigated through an association with Anthrotect,
an organization working with Afro-indigenous and Embera communities to protect forests in Colombia's Darien region.
Anthrotect is protecting the habitat of mongabay's mascot: the scale-crested pygmy tyrant.