SMOKE FROM BURNING FORESTS INTENSIFY GLACIER MELTING

Reproduced from BBC News - Environment


Amazon fires intensify Andes glacier melt https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-50573623

The team found evidence that snow and ice was being "darkened", accelerating the melt rate, threatening supplies.
Melting tropical glaciers provide water for millions of people in the region.
Scientists modelled the movement and effect of smoke particles from fires on Andean glaciers, and checked their conclusions against satellite images.
And they say the impact will be felt across the continent.
Dr Newton de Magalhães Neto from Rio de Janeiro State University in Brazil, said: "Amazon deforestation and fires - events that occur mainly in Bolivia, Peru and Brazil - cannot be considered a regional issue.
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How can fires in the rainforest affect glaciers hundreds of miles away?
The first thing the study, published in Scientific Reports, set out to do was show that smoke plumes from forest fires in the Amazon could actually reach glaciers in the Andes mountains.

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Atmospheric data showed that smoke from those fires - particularly particles of black carbon - were carried on wind and deposited on mountain glaciers.
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Dr de Magalhães Neto said: "Once deposited on the glacier, the [black carbon darkens] the snow/ice surface, which reduces its ability to reflect solar radiation - or sunlight."
That darkened surface then absorbs more of the sun's energy, which amplifies melting.
While the findings were significant, the researchers said they did not come as a huge surprise: the same process has been seen elsewhere in the world.
"Greenland receives large amounts of black carbon from fossil-fuel origin due to North America and European industrialisation," said Dr de Magalhães Neto. "And black carbon from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass throughout the northern hemisphere has accelerated glacier melting in the Arctic."

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