Black carbon stabilizes the layer of air on top of the clouds, promoting their growth. It just so happens that thick stratocumulus clouds are like shields, blocking incoming sunlight. As a result, black carbon also ends up cooling the planet. Black carbon has a dazzling number of effects on clouds. Surface melt in the ablation zone is controlled by atmospheric temperature and surface albedo. Impurities such as mineral dust and black carbon darken the snow and ice surfaces and therefore reduce the surface albedo which leads to more absorbed solar energy and ultimately amplifying melt. Albedo is the amount of sunlight reflected by a surface, and is usually expressed as a percentage or a decimal value, with 1 being a perfect reflector and 0 absorbing all incoming light.
Because black carbon absorbs solar energy, it warms the atmosphere. When it falls to earth with precipitation, it darkens the surface of snow and ice, reducing their albedo (the reflecting power of a surface), warming the snow, and hastening melting.
Black carbon, which can absorb a high amount of solar radiation, reduces albedo. When black carbon particulates are emitted, travel through the air and become deposited in the Arctic, the surface of the snow darkens and then reflects less radiation. Black carbon lowers the albedo of a surface. The term "albedo" as an indicator of the amount of energy reflected by a surface. Albedo is measured on a scale from zero to one. Very dark colors have an albedo close to zero (or close to 0%). Snow and ice have the highest albedos of any parts of Earth's surface: Some parts of Antarctica reflect up to 90% of incoming solar radiation. Albedo is the amount of sunlight reflected by a surface, and is usually expressed as a percentage or a decimal value, with 1 being a perfect reflector and 0 absorbing all incoming light. Atmospheric radiation is the flow of electromagnetic energy between the sun and the Earth's surface as it is influenced by clouds, aerosols, and gases in the Earth's atmosphere. It includes both solar radiation (sunlight) and long-wave (thermal) radiation. Energy is transferred from the sun to Earth via electromagnetic waves, or radiation. Most of the energy that passes through the upper atmosphere and reaches Earth's surface is in two forms, visible and infrared light. The majority of this light is in the visible spectrum. On average, 340 watts per square meter of solar energy arrives at the top of the atmosphere. Earth returns an equal amount of energy back to space by reflecting some incoming light and by radiating heat. Black carbon is an important contributor to warming because it is very effective at absorbing light and heating its surroundings. Per unit of mass, black carbon has a warming impact on climate that is 460-1,500 times stronger than CO2. Black carbon, or soot, enters the air mainly as a byproduct of fuel combustion and absorbs sunlight. This leads to a strong warming effect on the Earth's atmosphere. China and India alone account for up to a third of that pollution. The chief sources of black carbon in these parts of the world is from household combustion of biomass, as well as coal burning for energy and heat.