Human presence has accelerated snow melting in Antarctica: Report

Context

As per a new report, Human presence has accelerated snow melting in Antarctica.

About

Findings of the report:

Black carbon (BC) concentration in Antarctica is considerably higher around research stations and popular tourist destinations than other parts of the continent.
Black carbon-impacted areas are seeing a shrinking of snowpack on the Antarctic Peninsula and associated archipelagoes by up to 23 millimetres water equivalent every summer.
Black carbon content in snow surrounding research facilities and popular shore tourist-landing sites was 2-4 nanogram per gram of snow (ng / g).

About Black Carbon:

Black carbon is the sooty black material emitted from gas and diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and other sources that burn fossil fuel.
It comprises a significant portion of particulate matter or PM, which is an air pollutant.
Black carbon (BC) from fossil fuel and biomass combustion darkens the snow and makes it melt sooner.
Black carbon is generally thought to have both a direct warming effect (by absorbing incoming solar radiation in the atmosphere and converting it to heat radiation) and an indirect warming effect (by reducing the reflectivity of snow and ice).
Black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant with a lifetime of only days to weeks after release in the atmosphere.
During this short period of time, black carbon can have significant direct and indirect impacts on the climate, the cryosphere (snow and ice), agriculture and human health.
Predominant sources of black carbon or soot are combustion-related, namely fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses as well as open burning of biomass.
Reducing black carbon could help keep the climate system from passing the tipping points for abrupt climate changes, including significant sea-level rise from the disintegration of the Greenland and/or Antarctic ice sheet

Types of Carbon in news:

Black Carbon
- Black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter of the size 2.5 μm.
- It consists of pure carbon, which originates from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, coal, biofuel, biomass, wood, rubber, etc.
- It is emitted in the form of soot.
- Soot is an airborne mass of impure carbon particles resulting from the incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons. It originates from pyrolysis.
Brown Carbon
- Brown carbon is brown smoke released by the combustion of organic matter.
- It coexists with black carbon when released in the atmosphere.
- It is one of the significant warming factors as it disturbs the temperature pattern of the atmosphere and the cloud forming process.
- It also changes the solar absorption pattern and the nature of clouds.
Blue Carbon
- It is the carbon captured by the world’s oceans and coastal ecosystems.
- This carbon is captured by living organisms in oceans is stored in the form of aquatic biomass.
- Seagrasses, mangroves, and marshes are types of vegetated coastal blue carbon ecosystems; these habitats have a cover of approximately 49 million hectares worldwide.
- Blue carbon ecosystem act as the major sink for capturing atmospheric carbon and reducing warming effects.
Green Carbon
- It is the carbon captured into terrestrial plant biomass in photosynthesis and stored in the plants and soil of natural ecosystems and is a vital part of the global carbon cycle.