Climate model tagging technique tracks snowpack-melting particles
Thursday, October 1, 2015 - 06:20
in Earth & Climate
Airborne soot from fires, burning fossil fuels, and other sources can threaten water supplies in mountainous regions far from the burning source. Now, a new method developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory tagged sources of soot from different global regions in a climate model, and tracked where it lands on China's Tibetan Plateau. Researchers determined which areas around the plateau contributed the most soot-and where. The technique also pointed to the most effective way to reduce soot on the plateau to ease the amount of warming the region undergoes.