The Arctic region is particularly susceptible to large-scale carbon emissions due to both human activity and forest fires, the press service of Moscow State University (MSU) reported.
Black carbon absorbs solar radiation well and contributes to the warming of the Arctic climate. In August 2022, the maximum concentrations of black carbon in the Arctic region reached 851 ng/m3, which is 85 times higher than background concentrations. The reason was last year's record forest fires in Siberia.
MSU scientists found out that smoke emissions from fires in Western Siberia, northern and central regions of European Russia, as well as steppe regions of the East European Plain and the southern Urals made the greatest contribution to the composition of the climatically active aerosol component of the atmosphere.
When biomass is burning, aerosols are formed, and their composition depends on the nature of wildfires. Black carbon is formed during intense burning, and various compounds of organic carbon occur during the decay of vegetation, MSU said.
The increase in the concentration of black carbon since the early 1980s has led to an increase in surface temperature in the Arctic by almost 0.3 ° C, gazeta.ru reported.
Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished