Black carbon contribution to global warming
Conference
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OSTI ID:470971
Before the onset of industrial revolution the only important source of black carbon in the atmosphere was biomass burning. Today, black carbon production is divided between the biomass and fossil fuel burning. Black carbon is a major agent responsible for absorption of solar radiation by atmospheric aerosols. Thus black carbon makes other aerosols less efficient in their role of reflecting solar radiation and cooling the earth-atmosphere system. Black carbon also contributes to the absorption of solar radiation by clouds and snow cover. The authors present the results of black carbon concentrations measurements in the atmosphere, in cloud water, in rain and snow melt water collected during the 1992--1996 time period over the southern Nova Scotia. Their results are put into the global and historical perspective by comparing them with the compilation of past measurements at diverse locations and with their measurements of black carbon concentrations in the Greenland and Antarctic ice cores. Black carbon contribution to the global warming is estimated, and compared to the carbon dioxide warming, using the radiative forcing caused by the black carbon at the top of the atmosphere.
- OSTI ID:
- 470971
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960420--; ISBN 0-884736-02-5
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Modeled Response of Greenland Snowmelt to the Presence of Biomass Burning-Based Absorbing Aerosols in the Atmosphere and Snow
Journal Article
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Sat May 19 20:00:00 EDT 2018
· Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
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OSTI ID:1539729