A new way to quantify and track soot from its source to destination
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 09:00
in Earth & Climate
No one wants to see dirty snow. But that's just what appears when soot—from forest fires, diesel engines, and other fuel combustion—hitchhikes to the Arctic on atmospheric currents. Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory designed a new way to identify and track the sources of soot using an atmospheric model and a tagging technique that is both efficient and effective. The result establishes a clear source-receptor relationship and soot pathways that will help explain the seasonal variations found for soot deposition. This finding will contribute to insights on the impact of darkened snow and ice on the Earth's energy budget.