Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account
The ability of light-absorbing impurities (LAI) to darken snow had been known for decades, even inspiring practical applications, but quantification of the radiative forcing awaited radiative-transfer modeling in 1980 and measurement of soot in Arctic snow in 1983-4. Climate-modeling interest in thi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2018.00250/full |
| _version_ | 1818057508212703232 |
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| author | Stephen G. Warren |
| author_facet | Stephen G. Warren |
| author_sort | Stephen G. Warren |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ability of light-absorbing impurities (LAI) to darken snow had been known for decades, even inspiring practical applications, but quantification of the radiative forcing awaited radiative-transfer modeling in 1980 and measurement of soot in Arctic snow in 1983-4. Climate-modeling interest in this forcing began in 2004, spurring a modern explosion of research on several topics: methods to measure black carbon (BC) and other LAI, Arctic air pollution, measurement of BC mixing ratio in snow over large areas, and radiative transfer modeling of this forcing and its climatic and hydrological effects. The BC-content of snow in large remote regions of the northern hemisphere is on the order of 20 parts per billion, causing albedo reductions of ∼1–2%. This reduction is climatically significant but difficult to detect by remote sensing, so quantification requires fieldwork to collect and analyze snow samples. This review is a personal account of early research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Washington, followed by a brief summary of recent work by the author and his colleagues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:45:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ca0a18514efc49d5be69190a9696c713 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2296-6463 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T12:45:51Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Earth Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-ca0a18514efc49d5be69190a9696c7132022-12-22T01:48:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632019-01-01610.3389/feart.2018.00250415700Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical AccountStephen G. WarrenThe ability of light-absorbing impurities (LAI) to darken snow had been known for decades, even inspiring practical applications, but quantification of the radiative forcing awaited radiative-transfer modeling in 1980 and measurement of soot in Arctic snow in 1983-4. Climate-modeling interest in this forcing began in 2004, spurring a modern explosion of research on several topics: methods to measure black carbon (BC) and other LAI, Arctic air pollution, measurement of BC mixing ratio in snow over large areas, and radiative transfer modeling of this forcing and its climatic and hydrological effects. The BC-content of snow in large remote regions of the northern hemisphere is on the order of 20 parts per billion, causing albedo reductions of ∼1–2%. This reduction is climatically significant but difficult to detect by remote sensing, so quantification requires fieldwork to collect and analyze snow samples. This review is a personal account of early research at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the University of Washington, followed by a brief summary of recent work by the author and his colleagues.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2018.00250/fullsnowlight-absorbing impurities in snowsnow albedoArcticradiative transfer |
| spellingShingle | Stephen G. Warren Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account Frontiers in Earth Science snow light-absorbing impurities in snow snow albedo Arctic radiative transfer |
| title | Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account |
| title_full | Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account |
| title_fullStr | Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account |
| title_full_unstemmed | Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account |
| title_short | Light-Absorbing Impurities in Snow: A Personal and Historical Account |
| title_sort | light absorbing impurities in snow a personal and historical account |
| topic | snow light-absorbing impurities in snow snow albedo Arctic radiative transfer |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2018.00250/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT stephengwarren lightabsorbingimpuritiesinsnowapersonalandhistoricalaccount |