19 Facts About Black carbon

In climatology, black carbon is a climate forcing agent contributing to global warming.

Black carbon stays in the atmosphere for only several days to weeks, whereas potent greenhouse gases have longer lifecyles, for example, carbon dioxide has an atmospheric lifetime of more than 100 years.

The IPCC and other climate researchers have posited that reducing black carbon is one of the easiest ways to slow down short term global warming.

The term black carbon was coined by Tihomir Novakov, referred to as "the godfather of black carbon studies" by James Hansen, in the 1970s.

The term elemental Black carbon has been used in conjunction with thermal and wet chemical determinations and the term graphitic Black carbon suggests the presence of graphite-like micro-crystalline structures in soot as evidenced by Raman spectroscopy.

Related searches

The term black carbon is used to imply that this soot component is primarily responsible for the absorption of visible light.

The term black carbon is sometimes used as a synonym for both the elemental and graphitic component of soot.

Black carbon was identified in the Arctic haze aerosols and in the Arctic snow.

Levels of Black carbon are most often determined based on the modification of the optical properties of a fiber filter by deposited particles.

Experiments showed that soils without high amounts of black carbon are significantly less fertile than soils that contain black carbon.

Soluble and colloidal black carbon retained on the landscape from wildfires can make its way to groundwater.

Today, the majority of black carbon emissions are from developing countries and this trend is expected to increase.

Black carbon emissions are highest in and around major source regions.

Black carbon is a form of ultrafine particulate matter, which when released in the air causes premature human mortality and disability.

Recent studies have shown that as much black carbon is inhaled in traffic and at other locations as at the home address.

High in-vehicle concentrations of black carbon have been associated with driving during rush hours, on highways and in dense traffic.

Semi-direct effect Black carbon absorb incoming solar radiation, perturb the temperature structure of the atmosphere, and influence cloud cover.

Research scheduled for publication in 2013 shows black carbon plays a role second only to carbon dioxide in climate change.

Many countries have existing national laws to regulate black carbon emissions, including laws that address particulate emissions.