Soot Emerging As Main Driver Of Arctic Warming

By Ed Caryl

Pierre and I have both written about the effects of soot on Arctic and sub-Arctic ice and glaciers, read here Glaciers – The Dark Side and Half Of Arctic Warming Caused By Soot. Scientists are recognising that CO2 is becoming less of a factor and that black carbon soot instead is being recognised increasingly as the a driver of warming in the Arctic. Time to go back and revamp the models – again.

Source: http://atmoz.org/blog/2007/06/12/global-melting-big-thaw/

Researchers from the Arctic Council, representing the eight countries that border the Arctic, are now seriously studying the subject. See the Associated Press article here. The photo and caption from the article reads (emphasis added).

This undated handout photo provided by NOAA-STAD, Soot Transport and Deposition Study, shows Trish Quinn of NOAA in a first snow pit. An international research team is in the land of snow and ice in search of soot. Though the Arctic is often pictured as a vast white wasteland, that can be deceiving. And carbon deposited there as a result of activities elsewhere can have a long-term impact on climate (AP Photo/NOAA-STAD).

‘The Arctic serves as the air conditioner of the planet,’ explained Patricia Quinn of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, one of the research participants. Heat from other parts of the Earth moves to the Arctic in the circulating air and ocean water, and at least some of that warmth can radiate into space.”

At the same time, some of the incoming heat from the sun that tends to be absorbed in other locations is reflected by the ice and snow, allowing the polar regions to serve as cooling agents for the planet.”

Of course they need to insert the obligatory nod to CO2.

Cutting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is the backbone of any effort to combat warming, both globally and within the Arctic, Quinn said.”

The group has not published yet, as the research will not end until the end of May, and to have any hope of getting their paper or papers past “peer review” they need to get CO2 into the mix. But this study is a few steps in the right direction.

24 responses to “Soot Emerging As Main Driver Of Arctic Warming”

  1. DirkH

    Patricia Quinn: “Heat from other parts of the Earth moves to the Arctic in the circulating air and ocean water, and at least some of that warmth can radiate into space.”

    Psst, Patricia, don’t say that; you sound like a denier. 😉

  2. Jimbo

    Even Dr. James Hansen has known this for sometime now.

    Hansen et al. – 2003
    “Plausible estimates for the effect of soot on snow and ice albedos (1.5% in the Arctic and 3% in Northern Hemisphere land areas) yield a climate forcing of +0.3 W/m2 in the Northern Hemisphere. The “efficacy” of this forcing is ~2, i.e., for a given forcing it is twice as effective as CO2 in altering global surface air temperature. This indirect soot forcing may have contributed to global warming of the past century, including the trend toward early springs in the Northern Hemisphere, thinning Arctic sea ice, and melting land ice and permafrost.”
    Soot climate forcing via snow and ice albedos

    1. Jimbo

      After soot had done its evil deed it then the turn of wind and currents. Nothing to do with co2.

      Wind:
      “…..the combined effect of winter and summer wind forcing accounts for 50% of the variance of the change in September Arctic sea ice extent from one year to the next (^SIE) and it also explains roughly 1/3 of the downward linear trend of SIE over the past 31 years.”
      Geophysical Research Letters – [Full pdf paper]

  3. DirkH
  4. DirkH

    Pierre, you will *LOVE* this.
    1.) The Telegraph discovers its spine.
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8469883/Lobbyists-who-cleared-Climategate-academics-funded-by-taxpayers-and-the-BBC.html
    2.) Uncovers a nice bunch of secretive globalists; looks like you find masterplanning organisations under every rock these days.
    http://www.globeinternational.info/

  5. offshore company

    If you totally stop CO2 emissions today the Arctic will still be totally melted said Stanford University climate scientist Mark Jacobson. A study last year suggested that soot was of a 3.4-degree Fahrenheit rise in average Arctic temperatures since 1890 a greater rise than anywhere else on Earth..Soot also appears to be a culprit in drastic which provide water to much of South Asia and in on which the regions farmers rely.

    1. Edward

      ERrrrrrr what?

      Fromm your confused piece, I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt and say English may not be your first language…………. ?

      “which provide water to much of South Asia and in on which the regions farmers rely.”

      Ice melt in the Himalayas is doubtless affected by black soot, the dwellers of the Deccan have long used poor quality fuel [dung, lignite, scrub wood] to cook and heat their homes, these blackening deposits rise and are driven by seasonal/monsoon winds up off the plains and high into the mountains.
      It affects the ice, no doubt [the major concern is a weakened monsoon] but will not affect the over-all water cycle, ice will still be formed and melt and consequently run-off into the plains…that argument is a fatuous one to say the least but one oft’ used by the IPCC – merchants of yarn spinning, total BS and myriad hyperbole and as we all know – who have another agenda…………

      Redistribution of Western Nation’s taxes.

    2. DirkH

      From your website it seems there’s no carbon tax in Panama so introducing one in the US would mean business for you, right? 😉

  6. Edward

    Yes…From!…. indeed doh!

  7. R. de Haan

    Our climate from today is not different from the 1950 0r 1850.

    We had Arctic Melt events during these period as well.

    Therefore, stick the models where the sun don’t shines.

    As for soot:
    Volcanic eruptions, natural forrest fires, dust storms are from all times.

    Look at the Iceland region and Kamchatka where volcano’s dump large amounts of soot of the volcano glaciers and reduce melting during the summer because of isolation.

    Really, I regard the entire soot hypothesis as far fetched as the CO2 doctrine.

    We are watching a rebound of Arctic Ice Extent right now and if Joe Bastardi is right, we will be back at average and above average levels soon.

    If this is the case, CO2 and the soot story are dead.

  8. R. de Haan

    Besides that.
    Glaciers, grinding rock to dust produce their own soot.

    Have a look at this picture from Alaska where the wind blows this glacial dust in into the ocean.
    http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40973

    I really wonder how our most respected scientists work this into their models.

    I am really getting tired from the entire subject.

    This is the plat from earth, water, ice and fire.

    This is from all times.

  9. R. de Haan

    “This is the plat from earth, water, ice and fire”.

    We live on a planet ruled by water, earth fire and ice by the grace of our sun.

    I don’t deny humans influence local climates.
    Our cities cause the Heat Island effect = warming and our agricultural activities are causing cooling.

    All other claims are bogus.

  10. DirkH

    UNEP tries to knuckle-bend developing nations into abandoning DDT for Malaria control.
    http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/223191.php

  11. R. de Haan

    @DirkH,
    Population control and reduction is what they’re after.

    Brussels, Strasbourg, New York and Washington read UN, EU and the current US administration are behind this scheme. Our political establishment. We are the only ones who can stop them.

  12. Forest H

    When I lived in South Africa in the late ’80’s the amount of smoke and soot produced in areas where open outdoor cooking was predominant made LA look like a clear day in Colorado…

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