Even after atmospheric microplastics settle on land or in water, they may reenter the atmosphere, a study suggests.
Image credit: Janice Brahney.
Edited by Gerald R. North, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, and accepted by the Editorial Board January 6, 2014 (received for review September 30, 2013)
Significance
The Arctic sea ice retreat has been one of the most dramatic climate changes in recent decades. Nearly 50 y ago it was predicted that a darkening of the Arctic associated with disappearing ice would be a consequence of global warming. Using satellite measurements, this analysis directly quantifies how much the Arctic as viewed from space has darkened in response to the recent sea ice retreat. We find that this decline has caused 6.4 ± 0.9 W/m2 of radiative heating since 1979, considerably larger than expectations from models and recent less direct estimates. Averaged globally, this albedo change is equivalent to 25% of the direct forcing from CO2 during the past 30 y.
Abstract
The decline of Arctic sea ice has been documented in over 30 y of satellite passive microwave observations. The resulting darkening of the Arctic and its amplification of global warming was hypothesized almost 50 y ago but has yet to be verified with direct observations. This study uses satellite radiation budget measurements along with satellite microwave sea ice data to document the Arctic-wide decrease in planetary albedo and its amplifying effect on the warming. The analysis reveals a striking relationship between planetary albedo and sea ice cover, quantities inferred from two independent satellite instruments. We find that the Arctic planetary albedo has decreased from 0.52 to 0.48 between 1979 and 2011, corresponding to an additional 6.4 ± 0.9 W/m2 of solar energy input into the Arctic Ocean region since 1979. Averaged over the globe, this albedo decrease corresponds to a forcing that is 25% as large as that due to the change in CO2 during this period, considerably larger than expectations from models and other less direct recent estimates. Changes in cloudiness appear to play a negligible role in observed Arctic darkening, thus reducing the possibility of Arctic cloud albedo feedbacks mitigating future Arctic warming.
Footnotes
- ↵1To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: eisenman{at}ucsd.edu.
Author contributions: K.P., I.E., and V.R. designed research; K.P. and I.E. performed research; K.P., I.E., and V.R. analyzed data; and K.P., I.E., and V.R. wrote the paper.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission. G.R.N. is a guest editor invited by the Editorial Board.
This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1073/pnas.1318201111/-/DCSupplemental.
Albedo decrease due to Arctic sea ice loss
Article Classifications
- Physical Sciences
- Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
See related content:
Sign up for Article Alerts
Jump to section
You May Also be Interested in
Researchers examine how highly public racial violence affects the mental health of Black individuals in the United States.
Image credit: iStock/fizkes.
A study examines how humans have reshaped terrestrial nature and suggests that restoring Indigenous peoples and local communities to positions of environmental stewardship may help conserve biodiversity.
Image credit: Erle C. Ellis.
Since start of the pandemic, depictions of the virus that causes COVID-19 have become iconic, visual touchstones for a nervous public.
Image credit: David Goodsell.
Working with members of the Deaf community to study people who don’t vocalize, researchers find that droplets from one’s own speech could contribute to infection.
Image credit: Shutterstock/insta_photos.