Are aerosols accelerating the warming going on in the Arctic region? That's the question researchers from NASA, NOAA and the Department of Energy are trying to find the answer to in recent weeks as they sample the haze from research planes flying over the Arctic.

Using mass spectroscopy to identify what is in the haze, scientists are also trying to find out where it came from and how it interacts with clouds, sunlight and snow cover. Here are some of the things they found in the haze.........

1. Dust from the Asian Deserts.
2. Salts.
3. Particles from incomplete burning of organic material from forest fires.
4. All sorts of stuff associated with automobile exhaust and smokestack emissions.

"The Arctic is a melting pot for mid-latitude pollution," said Daniel Jacob, a Harvard scientist taking part in the research. "We have signatures of just about everything you can imagine flying around in the Arctic."

A.R. Ravishankara from NOAA suspects that some of these particles may absorb the sun's energy and give off their own radiant heat, like blacktop on a summer day.

Below is an exerpt from the MSNBC article..............

"How much of this aerosol is there?" Ravishankara asked, summarizing some of things scientists hope to find out. "Do they absorb light? Do they scatter light? Do they make clouds brighter or dimmer? Are they getting to the ice surface? Because if you add these absorbing particles to the ice surface, it could actually enhance the melting."

If aerosols prove to be a major factor in warming, Ravishankara said, removing them could yield relatively fast benefits for the environment.

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