Could clean snow help preserve snowpack? ❄️
A large portion of our fresh water in the Pacific Northwest comes from snowmelt (https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph/healthy..., and climate change means a shift to more rain than snow. But the outlook may not be as dire as we thought. Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Lab (https://www.pnnl.gov/) say future snowpack loss will be at least somewhat offset because our snow is getting cleaner. With anti-pollution laws and a shift to green energy, we’re emitting less particulate pollution into the air — specifically black carbon (https://www.nature.com/articles/s4301....
The researchers found that black carbon (https://www.c2es.org/document/what-is...) melts snow because the dark particles landing on the surface absorb heat instead of reflecting it like clean snow does.
The scientists calculated that cleaner snow will decrease how much snowpack we lose by about 8%.
📹 by Jes Burns, OPB
#climatescience #PNWsnowpack #winter #science #AllScienceNoFiction #PacificNorthwest #PNNL
#OPB #Oregon #snow #snowpack
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