Berkeley Lab Scientists ID New Driver Behind Arctic Warming
http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2014/11/03/far-infrared-arctic/[font face=Serif][font size=5]Berkeley Lab Scientists ID New Driver Behind Arctic Warming[/font]
News Release Dan Krotz 510-486-4019 November 3, 2014
[font size=3]Scientists have identified a mechanism that could turn out to be a big contributor to warming in the Arctic region and melting sea ice.
The research was led by scientists from the US Department of Energys Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). They studied a long-wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum called far infrared. Its invisible to our eyes but accounts for about half the energy emitted by the Earths surface. This process balances out incoming solar energy.
Despite its importance in the planets energy budget, its difficult to measure a surfaces effectiveness in emitting far-infrared energy. In addition, its influence on the planets climate is not well represented in climate models. The models assume that all surfaces are 100 percent efficient in emitting far-infrared energy.
Thats not the case. The scientists found that open oceans are much less efficient than sea ice when it comes to emitting in the far-infrared region of the spectrum. This means that the Arctic Ocean traps much of the energy in far-infrared radiation, a previously unknown phenomenon that is likely contributing to the warming of the polar climate.
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www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/10/29/1413640111.abstract