Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




CARBON WORLDS
Climate Change From Black Carbon Depends On Altitude
by Staff Writers
Palo Alto, CA (SPX) Apr 18, 2011


They found that the addition of black carbon near the land and ocean surface caused the surface to heat. As the altitude of black carbon increased, surface warming decreased.

Scientists have known for decades that black carbon aerosols add to global warming. These airborne particles made of sooty carbon are believed to be among the largest man-made contributors to global warming because they absorb solar radiation and heat the atmosphere.

New research from Carnegie's Long Cao and Ken Caldeira, along with colleagues George Ban-Weiss and Govindasamy Bala, quantifies how black carbon's impact on climate depends on its altitude in the atmosphere. Their work, published online by the journal Climate Dynamics, could have important implications for combating global climate change.

Black carbon is emitted from diesel engines and burning wood, among other sources. In the atmosphere, it acts as an absorbing aerosol-a particle that absorbs the sun's heating rays. (Other types of aerosols reflect the sunlight back out into space, providing a cooling effect.)

The climate effect of black carbon is difficult to quantify because these particles heat the air around them, affecting clouds even before they begin to heat the land and ocean surface.

The team's research involved idealized simulations of adding a theoretical megatonne of black carbon uniformly around the globe at different altitudes in the atmosphere.

They found that the addition of black carbon near the land and ocean surface caused the surface to heat. As the altitude of black carbon increased, surface warming decreased.

The addition of black carbon to the stratosphere caused the land and oceans to cool. This cooling occurred despite the fact that the black carbon caused the Earth as a whole to absorb more energy from the sun.

When black carbon is high in the atmosphere, it can lose its energy to space while helping to shade the land and ocean surface.

"Black carbon lower in the atmosphere is more effective at warming the surface, even though black carbon particles at higher altitudes absorb more solar radiation," said Ban-Weiss, formerly of Carnegie and currently at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

He continued: "Just analyzing instantaneous changes in absorption of radiation from black carbon cannot accurately predict changes in surface temperatures.

If we want a consistent framework for predicting changes in surface air temperature from black carbon we need to account for rapid atmospheric responses in things like clouds."

Black carbon also had varying effects on precipitation. In the lower layers it increased precipitation and in the upper layers it decreased precipitation, a result of changes in atmospheric stability.

"We showed that black carbon near Earth's surface has the greatest effect on global warming. Unfortunately, this is exactly where we are putting most of the black carbon that we add to the atmosphere," Caldeira said.

"This black carbon also often causes health problems, so cleaning up these emissions would help both the environment and human health."

Major sources of black carbon emissions into the lower atmosphere include forest fires, cooking stoves, and emissions from trucks and automobiles. Aircraft are a notable source of emissions to the upper atmosphere.

"This study points out the importance of understanding the complexities of how human activities affect the globe. If we want humans to live well while protecting the environment, we need to understand how our activities affect climate," Caldeira said.

.


Related Links
Carnegie Institution
Carbon Worlds - where graphite, diamond, amorphous, fullerenes meet






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








CARBON WORLDS
Europe pushes plans to hike diesel, coal taxation
Brussels (AFP) April 13, 2011
The European Commission pushed controversial plans Wednesday for a tax on carbon emissions to promote clean energy use by increasing the cost of dirty fuels such as coal and diesel. The aim is "to promote energy efficiency and consumption of more environmentally-friendly products," the European Union executive said. It would tax carbon dioxide emissions at 20 euros per tonne while also t ... read more


CARBON WORLDS
BRP To Contribute To Canadian Moon And Mars Exploration Programs

Naveen Jain Co-Founder And Chairman Of Moon Express

Project Morpheus To Begin Testing At NASA's Johnson Space Center

NASA Announces Winners Of 18th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race

CARBON WORLDS
Mars Rover's 'Gagarin' Moment Applauded Exploration

Mars Flight Possible After 2035

Several Drives This Week Put Opportunity Over 17-Mile Mark

Next Mars Rover Nears Completion

CARBON WORLDS
NASA Awards Next Set Of Commercial Crew Development Agreements

LockMart Commends Congressional Action On NASA Spacecraft

NASA spared cuts in US spending bill passage

NASA mission control named for Chris Kraft

CARBON WORLDS
Asia's star ever brighter in space

What Future for Chang'e-2

China setting up new rocket production base

China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket

CARBON WORLDS
Roberto Vittori's DAMA Mission To ISS

Northrop Grumman To Test Heat Management System On ISS

The MELFI Shuffle: Contingency Planning For Preserving Samples

Space Debris No Threat To ISS

CARBON WORLDS
India Starts Countdown For Launch Of Three Satellites

Kazakh Space Launch Project Delayed Until 2017

Putin Urges Ukraine To Join New Russian Space Center Project

Arianespace to launch ASTRA 2E Satellite

CARBON WORLDS
Titan-Like Exoplanets

A New Way To Find Planets

Telescope Ferrets Out Planet-Hunting Targets

White Dwarfs Could Be Fertile Ground For Other Earths

CARBON WORLDS
Researchers Discover The Cause Of Irradiation-Induced Instability In Materials Surfaces

ITT's Commercial Imaging Payload Passes Major Milestone

Eco-Friendly Treatment For Blue Jeans Offers Alternative To Controversial Sandblasting

Japan's TEPCO pours radiation-absorbing mineral in sea




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement