14 DAY TRIAL // The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has just agreed to participate in a new scientific monitoring program, to be carried out above the Arctic. This time, experts are trying to keep tabs and map out black carbon reserves in the air above this sensitive location.
Scientists from Norway, Russia, Germany, Italy and China are also participating in this endeavor, whose results will have a significant influence on existing and future climate models. The Arctic has already been showed to be engaged in a fast transformation process.
The air above it is laden with black carbon, also known as soot, a carbon compound that is released from vehicle exhaust pipes and power plant smokestacks. The role that this element plays in the Earth's carbon cycle has yet to be discovered entirely.
This new survey will allow experts to understand the way black carbon is distributed above the North Pole. In turn, these data will be of tremendous importance when developing novel climate models to show how the North Pole will be affected by soot concentrations.
NOAA promised to contribute to the endeavor with two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). Each of the two aircraft is about the size of a briefcase, and is capable of detecting the presence and concentration of soot in the area it's flying through.
“Carbon is dark in color and absorbs solar radiation, much like wearing a black shirt on a sunny day. If you want to be cooler, you would wear a light-colored shirt that would reflect the sun’s warmth,” explains NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory (PMEL) research chemist Tim Bates.
“When black carbon covers snow and ice, the radiation is absorbed, much like that black shirt, instead of being reflected back into the atmosphere,” he explains. This leads to the melting of even more snow, and contributes to the creation of a vicious circle.
The research initiative is called the Coordinated Investigation of Climate-Cryosphere Interactions (CICCI). “We need to better understand the behavior of black carbon in the Arctic. This coordinated study will give us a snapshot so we can see all of it at once,” explains Patricia Quinn.
She is the co-leader of the NOAA portion of the project, and holds an appointment as a PMEL research chemist. Quinn explains that the investigation will conclude on May 15, and that survey runs are now being conducted from a base in Svalbard, Norway.