Soot hastens snowmelt on Tibetan Plateau

[Barrett808]

In high-elevation snowy regions, the warming effects of greenhouse gases pale in comparison to those triggered by soot, new computer calculations show. The finding could help explain the accelerating pace of melting on the Tibetan Plateau, which holds the world’s largest reservoir of ice outside of the polar regions. ...

Researchers used a computer program to investigate the melting of snow covered in tiny particles of black carbon — the soot emitted by everything from cookstoves and diesel engines to coal-fired electric power plants. Like a black tarp, these dark particles absorb solar energy and warm the snow beneath. The new simulations indicate that the estimated amounts of black carbon on the Plateau can reduce snow’s reflectivity in spring by 4 to 6 percent. That’s enough to warm the average surface air temperature across the Tibetan Plateau by around 1 degree Celsius, the scientists report online March 2 in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. ...

Soot hastens snowmelt on Tibetan Plateau

[necso]

1. And as snow and ice melt,

previously buried particulate matter can be left on, near top (where not blown, washed away).

I remember when, living in the city, the snow finally melted; all sorts of buried "presents" were left exposed.