Black Carbon Pollution from Tourism and Research Increasing Antarctic Snowmelt, Study Says (theguardian.com) 22
Black carbon pollution from tourism and research activities in Antarctica is likely increasing snowmelt on the continent by an estimated 83 tonnes for each visitor, according to new research. From a report: Scientists have estimated that the black carbon produced by vessels, planes and diesel generators results in 23mm of additional snowmelt each summer in the most frequently visited areas of the ice-covered landmass. More than 74,000 tourists visited Antarctica in the 2019-2020 season, nearly double the figures from a decade ago. A team of researchers sampled the snow yearly between 2016 and 2020 at 28 sites spanning 2000km from Antarctica's northern tip to the Ellsworth Mountains.
They focused primarily on the Antarctic peninsula, where about half of the research facilities on the continent are located and where an estimated 95% of Antarctic tourist trips are made. The team estimated that 53,000 tourists visited Antarctica annually between 2016 and 2020. Study co-author Dr Raul Cordero, of the University of Santiago Chile, said Antarctic snow was the cleanest on Earth, typically with baseline levels of black carbon around one part in a billion. "That is 1000 times less than what you would find in the Himalayas, and 100 times less than what you can find in the Andes or in the Rocky Mountains," he said.
They focused primarily on the Antarctic peninsula, where about half of the research facilities on the continent are located and where an estimated 95% of Antarctic tourist trips are made. The team estimated that 53,000 tourists visited Antarctica annually between 2016 and 2020. Study co-author Dr Raul Cordero, of the University of Santiago Chile, said Antarctic snow was the cleanest on Earth, typically with baseline levels of black carbon around one part in a billion. "That is 1000 times less than what you would find in the Himalayas, and 100 times less than what you can find in the Andes or in the Rocky Mountains," he said.
Simple solution: (Score:2)
only burn white diesel.
Re: Simple solution: (Score:2)
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It was intended as a joke. My apologies for the confusion. But the joke does suggest we should find alternatives to burning diesel to get power.
Re: Simple solution: (Score:2)
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Finally a use for hydrogen in vehicles.
Burning any carbonized fuel in the real world produces soot. Not a problem with a Hydrogen FCV.
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We should do it. What could go wrong?
Re: Simple solution: (Score:2)
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Polar regions are warming much faster than equatorial regions, and the harm to the icecaps and permafrost is a much bigger problem than temperate and tropical warming.
Cooling the tropics at the expense of the poles is the dumbest thing we could do.
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Anyway, it's too late. I've paid a non-refundable deposit and the concrete trucks are on their way. The pour starts on Tuesday.
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It's just normal diesel with white food coloring.
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83 tonnes is utterly negligible. It is not even a trillionth of the ice gained and lost by Antarctica annually.
More accurate headline: Study shows that Antarctica tourism is harmless.
"Last chance tourism" is so perfectly human (Score:2)
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There's gotta be a quantum mechanics equivalent to a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism per observation frenzy. Put on your Cat Cap...
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It's a minor contribution to a sure thing. We're still fighting wars over where lines are on the map, you think we're gonna pull together to save the biosphere? Bend over and gently kiss your ass goodbye, because it ain't gonna happen. It's not too late technically, it's too early socially
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Humans haven't really escaped tribalism to the point where we can view ourselves and our planet as a whole. We're still stuck in, "I've got mine, now gimme yours!" mode. And as long as that's true? We're doomed to keep hosing up the planet.
The weather extremism the past few years is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. It's going to keep getting worse. I'm saddened by it, but happy I'm on the downslope of life and probably will be checked out by the time the worst of it comes. SMH.
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They should dust the currently most dangerous glaciers there with carbon black, and just get it over with quickly. People are reactive not proactive. Give them something to react to.
It'll be like taking off a band-aid, skip the preamble and get to the pain. Help to raise the sea level by a metre or two by 2050 and watch how fast climate change remediation starts to happen. Temperatures will be much higher and heat events will be yearly, but things will still be moving too slowly.
Quick! (Score:2)
Seal everyone in concrete boxes and brain-jack them into Meta!
Quit having babies (Score:2)