PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Oil industry and household stoves speed Arctic thaw

2013-09-10
(Press-News.org) The new study, published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics by researchers at IIASA and in Norway, Finland, and Russia, finds that gas flaring from oil extraction in the Arctic accounts for 42% of the black carbon concentrations in the Arctic, with even higher levels during certain times of the year. In the month of March for example, the study showed that flaring accounts for more than half of black carbon concentrations near the surface. Globally, in contrast, gas flaring accounts for only 3% of black carbon emissions.

The researchers also found that residential combustion emissions play a greater role in black carbon pollution than previously estimated, after they incorporated seasonal differences in emissions into the model.

To conduct the study, researchers used particle dispersion model FLEXPART driven by emissions estimated with the IIASA's GAINS model, combined with measurements of black carbon in the Arctic, made during a research cruise in the Arctic Ocean and research stations located at 6 sites in Alaska, Canada, Finland, Norway, and Greenland.

In the new study, the researchers for the first time included temporal distribution of black carbon emissions from residential combustion. "Understanding how much is emitted when during the year is something that has to be included better in our regional models," says IIASA researcher Zbigniew Klimont, who worked on the study. It also incorporated detailed regional data on the location of gas flaring emissions, improving upon previous estimates that either ignored them entirely or used only regional averages. These improved emission estimates and their temporal resolution allows for a better reproduction of seasonal variability in observed black carbon concentrations.

"We are seeing more and more oil being extracted further and further north. And the proximity of emissions from gas flaring matters," says Klimont. Black carbon, or soot, contributes to warming in the Arctic by darkening the surface of snow or ice and causing it to melt faster, or absorbing more heat in the air.

The warming effect of black carbon on ice and snow has been suggested as one factor contributing to the relatively fast warming of the Arctic compared to the rest of the world. Arctic sea ice has declined faster than climate models predict, hitting new record lows in 2007 and 2012.



INFORMATION:



Reference: Stohl, A., Klimont, Z., Eckhardt, S., Kupiainen, K., Shevchenko, V. P., Kopeikin, V. M., and Novigatsky, A. N.: Black carbon in the Arctic: the underestimated role of gas flaring and residential combustion emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8833-8855, doi:10.5194/acp-13-8833-2013, 2013.

Contact:

Zbigniew Klimont
IIASA Research Scholar
Mitigation Of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases
+43(0) 2236 807 547
klimont@iiasa.ac.at

Kaarle Kupiainen
IIASA Research Scholar
Mitigation Of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases
+43(0) 2236 807 343
kupiain@iiasa.ac.at



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

3 out of every 4 cases of bladder cancer display mutations in the same gene

2013-09-10
Researchers from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) have discovered that more than 70% of bladder tumours display somatic mutations in the TERT gene (telomerase reverse transcriptase). The TERT gene is involved in the protection of DNA and in cellular ageing processes and cancer. These results make this gene the most mutated in these tumours. The study was led by Francisco X. Real, head of the Epithelial Carcinogenesis Group at CNIO, together with Nuria Malats, the head of the Genetic & Molecular Epidemiology Group at CNIO, as well as other European groups, ...

Kids reduce stress in goat herds

2013-09-10
Dairy goats are usually separated from their mothers a few days to weeks after birth and reintroduced into the herd months later – on most farms either in the last months of first pregnancy or shortly after parturition/kidding. The practice is supposed to ensure stable milk production in the herd but it clearly causes stress to the goats. Problems arise because goat herds have a strictly hierarchical social structure and changes in herd composition may lead to serious rivalries and increased aggressive behaviour. Farmers are on the lookout for ways to keep the stress to ...

Life found in the sediments of an Antarctic subglacial lake for the first time

2013-09-10
Evidence of diverse life forms dating back nearly a hundred thousand years has been found in subglacial lake sediments by a group of British scientists. The possibility that extreme life forms might exist in the cold and dark lakes hidden kilometres beneath the Antarctic ice sheet has fascinated scientists for decades. However, direct sampling of these lakes in the interior of Antarctica continues to present major technological challenges. Recognising this, scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), and the Universities of Northumbria and Edinburgh have been ...

Motorized microscopic matchsticks move in water with sense of direction

2013-09-10
Chemists, physicists and computer scientists at the University of Warwick have come together to devise a new powerful and very versatile way of controlling the speed and direction of motion of microscopic structures in water using what they have dubbed chemically 'motorised microscopic matchsticks'. Before now most research seeking to influence the direction of motion of microscopic components have had to use outside influences such as a magnetic field or the application of light. The University of Warwick team have now found a way to do it by simply adding a chemical ...

Study reveals benefits of wishes on seriously ill children and their parents

2013-09-10
New research has shown that schemes that grant children with a life threatening illness a special wish have a positive impact on their and their family's wellbeing. The research also demonstrates that seeing the child experience their wish was positive for the parents, while often it provoked bittersweet feelings. The study, published in Acta Paediatrica and led by Dr Anne-Sophie Darlington, Senior Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, Professor Passchier and Dr Heule at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands, interviewed and surveyed 235 parents ...

New magnetic semiconductor material holds promise for 'spintronics'

2013-09-10
Researchers at North Carolina State University have created a new compound that can be integrated into silicon chips and is a dilute magnetic semiconductor – meaning that it could be used to make "spintronic" devices, which rely on magnetic force to operate, rather than electrical currents. The researchers synthesized the new compound, strontium tin oxide (Sr3SnO), as an epitaxial thin film on a silicon chip. Epitaxial means the material is a single crystal. Because Sr3SnO is a dilute magnetic semiconductor, it could be used to create transistors that operate at room ...

Maya dismembered their enemies

2013-09-10
Researchers of the Department of Anthropology of the Americas at the University of Bonn have discovered a mass grave in an artificial cave in the historical Maya city of Uxul (Mexico). Marks on the bones indicate that the individuals buried in the cave were decapitated and dismembered around 1,400 years ago. The scientists assume that the victims were either prisoners of war or nobles from Uxul itself. For the last five years, archaeologists of the department of Anthropology of the Americas of the University of Bonn have been excavating in the historical Maya city of ...

Novel mechanism discovered in first line of immune defense

2013-09-10
1. Scientists from A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) have discovered a new defense mechanism that the immune system utilises to combat infections. The team's discovery of how a novel protein unexpectedly activates an immune response shows how this mechanism can also be used to get rid of tumour cells. This research was done in collaboration with University Hospital Basel, Switzerland, published in July 2013 in Nature Immunology. 2. The immune system combats microbes using several strategies, of which early activation of defence is one of the most important. ...

Life deep down: A new beautiful translucent snail from the deepest cave in Croatia

2013-09-10
Scientists discovered a new species of a peculiar cave-dwelling snail in one of the 20 deepest cave systems in the world, Lukina Jama–Trojama in Croatia. The newly discovered species belongs to a genus of minute air-breathing land snails that have lost visual orientation and are considered to be true eutroglobionts, or exclusive cave-dwellers. The study describing the new species was published in the open access journal Subterranean Biology. The new species Zospeum tholussum is a miniature and fragile snail, with a beautifully shaped dome-like translucent shell. Only one ...

Micro-gels from tiny ice algae play an important role in polar ocean carbon budgets

2013-09-10
A community of microscopic algae and bacteria thrives within the Arctic and Antarctic pack ice. These ice-organisms are adapted to growing on the ice crystal surfaces and within a labyrinth of channels and pores that permeate the ice floes. It is a hostile place to grow with temperatures often at -10°C to -20°C, low light and within six or seven times more salty brines in the ice channels compared to the underlying seawater from where these organisms originate. Many marine organisms secrete gel-like substances in response to environmental stress, and these ice-dwellers ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Premenstrual symptoms linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease

Newly discovered remains of ancient river landscapes control ice flow in East Antarctica

Newly discovered interstellar object 'may be oldest comet ever seen'

Animal-inspired AI robot learns to navigate unfamiliar terrain

Underserved youth less likely to visit emergency department for concussion in Ontario, study finds

‘Molecular shield’ placed in the nose may soon treat common hay fever trigger

Beetles under climate stress lay larger male eggs: Wolbachia infection drives adaptive reproduction strategy in response to rising temperature and CO₂

Groundbreaking quantum study puts wave-particle duality to work

Weekly injection could be life changing for Parkinson’s patients

Toxic metals linked to impaired growth in infants in Guatemala

Being consistently physically active in adulthood linked to 30–40% lower risk of death

Nerve pain drug gabapentin linked to increased dementia, cognitive impairment risks

Children’s social care involvement common to nearly third of UK mums who died during perinatal period

‘Support, not judgement’: Study explores links between children’s social care involvement and maternal deaths

Ethnic minority and poorer children more likely to die in intensive care

Major progress in fertility preservation after treatment for cancer of the lymphatic system

Fewer complications after additional ultrasound in pregnant women who feel less fetal movement

Environmental impact of common pesticides seriously underestimated

The Milky Way could be teeming with more satellite galaxies than previously thought

New study reveals surprising reproductive secrets of a cricket-hunting parasitoid fly

Media Tip Sheet: Symposia at ESA2025

NSF CAREER Award will power UVA engineer’s research to improve drug purification

Tiny parasitoid flies show how early-life competition shapes adult success

New coating for glass promises energy-saving windows

Green spaces boost children’s cognitive skills and strengthen family well-being

Ancient trees dying faster than expected in Eastern Oregon

Study findings help hone precision of proven CVD risk tool

Most patients with advanced melanoma who received pre-surgical immunotherapy remain alive and disease free four years later

Introducing BioEmu: A generative AI Model that enables high-speed and accurate prediction of protein structural ensembles

Replacing mutated microglia with healthy microglia halts progression of genetic neurological disease in mice and humans

[Press-News.org] Oil industry and household stoves speed Arctic thaw