Wildfires Cause Cooling in Arctic
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 07.23.08
credit: Getty Images/NASA
Wildfires in Alaska and Canada Had Net Cooling Effect
Proving that climate science can be anything but intuitive, researchers report that large wildfires could have a net cooling effect. Led by Robert Stone, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, the team studied the wildfires that ravaged Alaskan and Canadian wilderness in 2004. The work is credited with creating a better understanding of the impact of particles and smoke in the atmosphere, which has been one factor of uncertainty in climate models.
California Wildfires Won't Impact Alaska
Researchers point out that smoke from the California wildfires are unlikely to affect the arctic, because air circulation patterns do not favor the smoke reaching the arctic. However, wildfires in Siberia could affect the Arctic in addition to fires such as those in 2004 which burned in Western Canada and Alaska.
Reflected Radiation and Absorbed Warmth
The researchers measured the smoke density and the amount of energy from sunlight reaching the ground level through the wildfire smoke, to see the relationship between the amount of smoke and the reduction of net energy reaching the ground. The team found that although particles in the atmosphere absorb energy above the ground, they also reflect incoming radiation and prevent this from warming the ground below the cloud of smoke. The net effect of both influences is cooling, which is more notable when the smoke is over dark surfaces which would otherwise efficiently absorb the incoming radiation.
Uncertainties Remain
Additional uncertainties remain which are not addressed by the University of Colorado Boulder study. For example, the study does not address the tendency of particles to affect cloud formation, either by evaporating clouds due to the warmth collected in the particle mass, or by "seeding" clouds by triggering condensation on the particles.
Since wildfires are a natural phenomena, where does mankind fit into the climate change-wildfire impact continuum? Climate change models predict more fires due to drought conditions in global warming scenarios; sustainable forestry reduces wildfire risks. Studies such as this help us to understand the delicate balance.
More on Wildfires:
Rainforest Alliance Finds Sustainably Certified Forests Have Fewer Wildfires
A Picture is Worth... Northern California's Wildfires
Distant Wildfires Cause Arctic Cooling
More on Climate Models:
Climate Versus Economy: Yale Model Allows You to Decide.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report
What Makes Global Warming Skeptics Tick?
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This is yet another example that we jack about the way the planet works. We get a little bit of knowledge and extrapolate it to some greater absolute truth that is later disproved. The example here that carbon being released into the atmosphere acctually cooling not causing warming. I'm probably preaching to the choir as I'm sure most people reading this have a greater respect for the complexity of environmental issues. But if the mainstream media gets ahold of this their going to have a field day.
Net cooling effect over what time span? Are you accounting for the greenhouse gases introduced by the fire?
EXTRA! EXTRA!: Researchers discover something everyone already knows!
A similar scenario was presented on a PBS program a few months ago called "Global Dimming." The idea is that there is so much pollution in our skies that it is actually reflecting a lot of the sun's rays, thereby actually making the earth cooler--and masking the real warming effects that CO2 levels are having on global warming. This is a pretty scary scenario.
Check it out at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sun/
It is clear we need to drastically curtail pumping insane amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere as soon as possible. Let's meet Gore's plan of 100% renewable energy in 10 years!
The previous comments about this not being a newly discovered effect are right....An immediate effect of smoke is to reflect some incoming sunlight...That phenenomen is called "shade"...Usually called the aerosol effect...Maybe the original research publication quantified the effect better than before, but cant tell from the article...and yeah, the smoke dissipates and the CO2 from burning remains to counter the effect...Dan B
That phenenomen is called "shade"..
WIldfires and other such natural phenomen like volcanoes do in fact impact the weather greatly. Krakatoa and Mt. St. Helen's explosions and subsequent global temperature and weather change could be detected for years afterwards.
And no we can't say that the CO2 released from the explosions or fire offset the cooling effect. (Well you can, but there's no evidence for that statement)