A new large-scale study by University of Washington scientists shows that agriculture as well as oil and gas production is contributing to the darkening of snow fields across the Northern Hemisphere, according to Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. This is of concern for long term climate balance since normally white snow reflects most sunlight back to space rather than keeping the solar energy near the ground. As snow gets darker, it reflects less sunlight and absorbs more energy, leading to increased melting of ice caps like the one in Greenland as well as Arctic sea ice. While oil and gas production and burning has always been considered the leading source of black soot, the study shows that dirt blowing off of bare ground in agricultural areas can also fly a long way and contributes to the darker ice and snow conditions. You can read the full article describing the study at the American Geophysical Union blog here.
