Accounting for the Arctic Pollutants
Immediate action is needed to mitigate the pollutants contributing to the Arctic meltdown. SCS’ Arctic Climate Footprinting service focuses on the following pollutants in determining your organization’s impact on the Arctic and helping you effectively reduce it.
Black Carbon
When black carbon particles absorb heat in the atmosphere, they are 30,000 times more potent than CO2 on an annual time horizon basis. When these ultra-fine particles settle atop snow and ice, they turn it gray, lowering its ability to reflect sunlight and accelerating melting.
Black carbon pollution is caused by the incomplete combustion of fuel and the burning of biomass. Satellite imaging reveals distinct plumes of black carbon originating from central Asia and Russia that travel over the Arctic. The following black carbon data is from Science On a Sphere, a project of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). See their site for more information.
At the highest concentration, the brightest white, Black Carbon is 2.5 more intense compaired to background heat of CO2 since the dawn of the industral age (from 1850 until now.)
Tracking the location of black carbon plumes helps delineate sources and hot spots— regions that will be the most impacted by climate change. In addition to the Arctic, hot spots are found in Africa, South America, the Indian Sub-Continent and Asia. These hot spots are likely contributing to more violent storms and droughts in the receiving region.
Biogenic Arctic Methane
Rising concentrations of methane, a GHG 105 times more potent than CO2, have caused Arctic spring temperatures to increase by +10°C. Arctic concentrations of methane are 35-50 percent higher than those found in the tropics due to the powerful air current vortex that forms over the North Pole each winter. The surface and upper-atmospheric winds form a tight ring of air current that draws in winter tundra methane plumes. In the winter months, methane does not break down because of the lack of sunlight.
The increased Arctic temperatures are causing spring ice to thaw up to four weeks earlier than normal. This ice melt leads to earlier and more intense formation of biogenic methane, which in turn leads to more regional warming, creating a self-destructive virtual feedback loop.
Tropospheric Ozone (TO)
Tropospheric ozone is 20,000 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a GHG on an annual time horizon basis. The heating effects from these tropospheric ozone plumes have not been addressed by current climate change policies and mitigation efforts.
Ozone Pollution is a component of smog that rises up into the troposphere (up to 12 km high) and lasts for approximately 30 days. Tropospheric ozone is such a potent GHG, that even with its short life span, it markedly affects climate change.
The image shown below represents the South American tropospheric ozone plume that may be contributing to the rapid melting of western Antarctica. Tropospheric ozone plumes are also hitting the Arctic, increasing atmospheric heat by 40 percent and potentially contributing to the rapid disappearance of Arctic Ice Sheet.
Tropospheric Sulfate Aerosols (TSA)
Tropospheric sulfate aerosols have a cooling effect on the Arctic, but are being phased out due to their effects on human pulmonary health and regional acidification. TSAs present a trade-off between those effects and Arctic warming. The reduction in TSA will result in a +1°C increase in regional temperature.
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