Unmasking the climate change menace of black carbon
Geologists are thinking about naming the current climate era the Anthropocene, to highlight mankind’s influence on the planet. Not a bad idea.
For many committed environmentalists, the outstanding climate issue is what they consider the obscene accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that act to trap heat and increase global temperatures.
But there is another climate-change culprit, estimated to be responsible for up to 40 percent of all global warming to date, and largely responsible for thawing the Arctic, contributing to what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is a six- to eight-inch increase in coastal sea levels since 1960.
The culprit is soot, otherwise known as black carbon, a form of particulate matter created by human action that is suspended in the atmosphere. Soot gets blown around the world by prevailing winds and is deposited on Arctic ice and Himalayan glaciers, where it causes the snow to melt because it absorbs heat from the sun.
Ricky Leong