Last year, the world’s leading expert claimed that Greenland was darkening due to soot.
The world’s leading expert on the ice that covers the huge expanse of Greenland has told The Independent that he was “stunned” to see how much darker it has become in the past year – warning it could start a hugely damaging “cascading feedback loop” of the area becoming blacker as less and less light is reflected.
Greenland’s dark snow may start global warming ‘feedback loop’ – Environment – The Independent
I pointed out at the time that this claim is complete nonsense.
And now, the world’s leading expert gets debunked by his colleagues.
Arctic snow not darkening due to soot, dust, study finds
October 31, 2015
For millennia, Greenland’s ice sheet reflected sunlight back into space, but satellite measurements in recent years suggest the bright surface is darkening, causing solar heat to be absorbed and surface melting to accelerate. Some studies suggest this “dirty ice” or “dark snow” is caused by fallout from fossil fuel pollution and forest fires.
But a new Dartmouth-led study shows that degrading satellite sensors, not soot or dust, are responsible for the apparent decline in reflectivity of inland ice across northern Greenland. The study’s results suggest the ice sheet hasn’t lost as much reflectivity as previously thought, and that black carbon and dust concentrations haven’t increased significantly and are thus not responsible for darkening on the upper ice sheet.
h/t to Dave G
This is why real science has open, free and fair discussion and doesn’t consist of a lot of people like Mann telling everyone who doesn’t agree with them to shut up.
apparently the dark soot stuff is algae and bacteria that grows on the ice.
I’ve seen red algae and worms on old snow in Jasper.
or maybe not.
Sadly, this is not unprecedented.
I’m glad to see the original claims corrected by further studies, but why on earth didn’t these people consider measurement artifacts in the first place?