IRVINE, Calif., June 6 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say dirty snow might be as much to blame as greenhouse gases for a third or more of Arctic warming.
University of California-Irvine Associate Professor Charlie Zender said snow becomes dirty as the result of soot from vehicle tailpipes, smoke stacks and forest fires that enters the atmosphere and falls to the ground.
Soot-infused snow is darker than natural snow and dark surfaces absorb sunlight and cause warming, Zender said. Bright surfaces reflect heat back into space and cause cooling.
"When we inject dirty particles into the atmosphere and they fall onto snow, the net effect is we warm the polar latitudes," said Zender. "Dark soot can heat up quickly. It's like placing tiny toaster ovens into the snow pack."
The study appears in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
