ANTARCTIC MELTING

ANTARCTIC MELTING

TOPIC: Environment

Context- According to the study, increased human activity is leading to black carbon pollution, contributing to snow melting, a concern as loss of Antarctic ice accelerates global heating.

Concept-

• Black carbon or soot pollution from increased human activity at Antarctica’s tourist landing sites and research facilities is accelerating the melting of snow on the continent, an international collaborative study has found.
• Antarctica is estimated to be warming thrice as fast as the rest of the world on average.

Albedo and Antarctica

• Albedo is the property of any substance to reflect sunlight.
• Albedo is higher in Snow or Ice.
• On earth, the cloud cover and ice cover act as sources increasing Earth’s albedo.
• Increased soot accumulation would lower the albedo and aid in absorption of sunlight and further surface melting.
• As more ice melts, in the future, it will expose more land.
• These surfaces are darker than ice, hence lowering the albedo and absorbing more heat and accelerating warming further as more ice melts.