According to new research out today in Science Advances, sea ice and wildfires may be related.
Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the National Center for Atmospheric Research found that soot from wildfires in Colorado and elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere can eventually make their way to the northern part of the planet. It can affect how much sea ice lasts.
The feedback loop between the two systems can be strengthened in a way that hasn't been seen before.
The lead author of the paper said that the research found that particles emitted from wildfires where people live can really impact what happens in the northern part of the world.
The fact that there's this back-and-forth of what happens here with the wildfires can affect the sea ice.
Climate models, which are simulations of how different parts of the climate interact, have been used by governments around the world to guide future policies related to climate change Science has become more advanced and so have these models.
In a recent model, the NCAR-based Community Earth System Model version 2 (CESM2), there was an accelerated loss of sea ice towards the end of the 20th century that wasn't seen in the previous models. They decided to get to the bottom of why.
When they compared the different ways a climate model can be influenced, such as carbon dioxide or methane emissions or solar radiation, they found that burning calories had the biggest effect on sea ice.
The main difference is due to the non- linear cloud effects that can arise when aerosols, small particles or liquid droplets are released by fires. When there are a lot of aerosols released during a heavy fire year, it can lead to more and thicker clouds, whereas those clouds are thinner on lighter fire years.
By showing that smoke from wildfires can help protect the ice, this new research suggests that this variability may be creating more of a feedback loop.
The Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado Boulder has an associate professor who is an author on this paper.
Climate processes are a global problem and can't be studied in isolation. We have to look at the global picture to understand everything.
The researchers caution that this research only looked at one climate model, but that their experiments provide a great start for future research. If there's a dry year, the model could do simulations where it can generate the fires, and if there's a specific fire, it could be pinpointed so that it doesn't spread.
The goal is to have these climate simulations be more reliable and give us projections that can inform policy makers and societal choices.
Other authors include Marika M. Holland, John Fasullo, Jean-Franois Lamarque, Cécile Hannay, David A. Bailey, Simone Tilmes, and Andrew P.
More information: Patricia DeRepentigny et al, Enhanced simulated early 21st century Arctic sea ice loss due to CMIP6 biomass burning emissions, Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo2405 Journal information: Science Advances
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