What causes black carbon (BC) pollution and does black carbon affect water and its impact on climate?
In reality Black carbon (BC) is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. Primary sources include emissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires. Per unit of mass, black carbon has a warming impact on climate that is 460-1,500 times stronger than CO2. When suspended in the atmosphere, black carbon contributes to warming by converting incoming solar radiation to heat. It also influences cloud formation and impacts regional circulation and rainfall patterns. Black carbon particles can deposit on snow, glaciers, and ice. Deposits darken these light surfaces, causing them to absorb more sunlight and melt faster. This could significantly affect water supplies,which rely heavily on snowmelt runoff.
In fact per unit of mass, black carbon has a warming impact on climate that is 460-1,500 times stronger than CO2. When suspended in the atmosphere, black carbon contributes to warming by converting incoming solar radiation to heat. It also influences cloud formation and impacts regional circulation and rainfall patterns. Increasing concentrations of black carbon causes a decrease in summer precipitation resulting in 11.0% glacier deficit mass balance on average from 2007 to 2016; this loss rises to 22.1% in the Himalayas. Black carbon particles can deposit on snow, glaciers, and ice. Deposits darken these light surfaces, causing them to absorb more sunlight and melt faster. Carbon dioxide is influential in regulating the pH in water; the amount of CO2 in a solution is one way to determine the pH. The more CO2 in water, the lower the pH. When pH levels drop due to increased levels of CO2, it creates unstable aquatic environments, produces acid rain, and drives ocean acidification. BC particles strongly absorb sunlight and give soot its black color. BC is produced both naturally and by human activities as a result of the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuels, and biomass. Primary sources include emissions from diesel engines, cook stoves, wood burning and forest fires. 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 is a climate forcing agent contributing to global warming. Black carbon warms the Earth by absorbing sunlight and heating the atmosphere and by reducing albedo when deposited on snow and ice and indirectly by interaction with clouds, with the total forcing of 1.1 W/m2.
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