Cut Soot Emissions to Stop Sea Ice Melting, Says Expert

The quickest, best and surefire way to slow the rapid melting of Arctic sea ice is to reduce soot emissions from the burning of fossil fuel, wood and dung, a new research explains.

According to Stanford researcher Mark Z. Jacobson analysis, soot is second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to global warming. But, he said, climate models to date have mischaracterized the effects of soot in the atmosphere.

Health Effects of Global Warming
Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health.

Because of that, soot's contribution to global warming has been ignored in national and international global warming policy legislation, he said.

"Controlling soot may be the only method of significantly slowing Arctic warming within the next two decades," said Jacobson, director of Stanford's Atmosphere/Energy Program.

"We have to start taking its effects into account in planning our mitigation efforts and the sooner we start making changes, the better."

Global Warming can Only be Fixed Temporarily by Aerosols
New research reveals that injecting aerosols in the upper atmosphere is believed to be a method that can quickly counter global warming. However, this is not the case.

To reach his conclusions, Jacobson used an intricate computer model of global climate, air pollution and weather that he developed over the last 20 years that included atmospheric processes not incorporated in previous models.

He examined the effects of soot - black and brown particles that absorb solar radiation - from two types of sources.

Water Changes Induced Due to Global Warming Will Continue for Decades
A new study has pointed out that a reversal of human-induced temperature changes will not alter the hydrological cycle to its prewarming state.

He analyzed the impacts of soot from fossil fuels - diesel, coal, gasoline, jet fuel - and from solid biofuels, such as wood, manure, dung, and other solid biomass used for home heating and cooking in many locations. He also focused in detail on the effects of soot on heating clouds, snow and ice.

What he found was that the combination of both types of soot is the second-leading cause of global warming after carbon dioxide.

Sea Otters Prevent Global Warming
Sea otters have the potential to play a vital role in protecting the earth from global warming if their existence is not endangered, says an American scientist.

He also found that soot emissions kill more than 1.5 million people prematurely worldwide each year, and afflicts millions more with respiratory illness, cardiovascular disease and asthma, mostly in the developing world where biofuels are used for home heating and cooking.

Jacobson's study will be published this week in Journal of Geophysical Research (Atmospheres).

Source-ANI