Role of black carbon in the Arctic’s new normal
DOI: 10.1063/PT.3.2363
Jeffries, Overland, and Perovich reply: We thank Stephen Warren for pointing out that Arctic atmospheric black carbon concentrations have been decreasing. Nevertheless, black carbon remains a short-lived climate forcer that affects the radiation balance in the Arctic. As such, it is one of several potential contributors to Arctic amplification of global warming that is manifested, for example, in the dramatic reduction of sea-ice extent in the summer. Each of those contributors to Arctic amplification was described in our article. Nowhere in the article did we propose black carbon as the sole cause of sea-ice loss, as Warren’s final sentence seems to imply.
More about the authors
Martin Jeffries, (martin.jeffries@navy.mil) US Arctic Research Commission, Arlington, Virginia.
James Overland, (james.e.overland@noaa.gov) Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, Washington.
Don Perovich, (donald.k.perovich@usace.army.mil) US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, New Hampshire.
