BLACK CARBON

What other colors does it come in?

Transported Black Carbon A Significant Player In Pacific Ocean Climate
March 15, 2007 (University of California, San Diego via Science Daily)

WHO
Professor V. Ramanathan and graduate student Odelle Hadley, Center for Atmospheric Sciences at Scripps, lead authors of a research paper appearing in the March 14 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research. at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego…

WHAT
More than three-quarters of the particulate pollution known as black carbon transported at high altitudes is from Asian sources… It is part of a worldwide transport of aerosols that sees them remain aloft at high altitudes for up to two weeks…

WHEN
…during spring…

WHERE
…over the West Coast…

WHY
…the transported black carbon, most of which is soot, is an extremely small component of air pollution at land surface levels but has a significant heating effect on the atmosphere at altitudes above two kilometers (6,562 feet)…as the soot heats the atmosphere, it also dims the surface of the ocean by absorbing solar radiation… The dual effect carries consequences for the Pacific Ocean region that drives much of Earth's climate… Black carbon concentrations diminish as they move farther away from their sources in cities and farmlands in countries such as China and India. However, over the Pacific Ocean, the particles are in sufficient concentration to have a heating effect on the upper atmosphere…At the same time, the radiation-absorbing particles dim skies at the surface…

QUOTES
It likely has measurable effects on a variety of other physical and biological conditions in the areas of the Pacific over which the particulate pollution passes…