Climate change: Wildfire smoke linked to Arctic melting

Image source, DIMITAR DILKOFF

Scientists say that the dense smoke seen in recent years is contributing to the warming of the northern part of the planet.

Their study says that brown carbon particles in the smoke are attracting heat to the polar region.

The growing number of fires helps explain why the planet is warming faster than in the north.

They are concerned that this effect will increase.

Smoke from raging wildfires in Australia, Portugal, Siberia and the US have changed the color of the skies over the past decade. The amount of carbon released by the burning has helped push emissions to record levels.

Scientists say that the burning has contributed to the loss of sea ice.

Black carbon is the sooty particles that are emitted from diesel engines, coal burning, cooking stove and other sources.

The second largest contributor to global warming is aerosols, which absorb sunlight and turn it into heat.

The impact of these particles on the environment has been documented.

Image source, PATRICK T. FALLON

Brown carbon can be created from fossil fuels, but it can also come from burning trees and vegetation. The warming effect of this less dense substance has either been ignored or estimated.

In order to better understand the impacts of climate change, researchers traveled around the ocean on a Chinese ship.

The scientists found that brown carbon is doing more damage than black carbon in the region, and that it is only 3% of the warming effect.

Senior author Pingqing Fu, an atmospheric chemist at Tianjin University in China, says that observational analyses and numerical simulations show that the warming effect of brown carbon aerosols over the Arctic is up to 30% of that of black carbon.

The study found that wildfires were the main source of this brown material and that they contributed twice as much to the warming effect of brown carbon in the Arctic than was coming from fossil fuels.

The authors believe that brown carbon had a hand in the exceptional warming being felt in the region in recent decades.

Image source, Anadolu Agency

The north has been warming at three times the rate of the rest of the planet over the last 50 years.

The main factor driving this difference is amplification.

As the ice and snow on the surface of the Arctic waters melt, the dark waters absorb more heat, which in turn causes the ice to melt quicker.

As the world warms, brown carbon from this source is having an increasing impact in the north.

Scientists say this is a feedback loop, where the warmer world causes more fires, which in turn leads to less ice and more heat.

Image source, ALEXANDER NEMENOV

The increase in brown carbon aerosols will lead to global or regional warming, which increases the probability and frequency of wildfires, according to Dr Fu.

Increased wildfire events will emit more brown carbon aerosols, which will further heating the earth.

The authors of the UN study believe that the brown carbon trend will likely increase due to the fact that wildfires are likely to increase by 50% by the middle of this century.

According to the scientists involved in the study, the importance of managing vegetation fires is more than just saving lives and limiting damage done by burning - it also has a role in limiting the warming of the planet.

The study was published in a journal.

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