Smoke from boreal wildfires could cool the Arctic
The other problem is that they sound like good news. Negative feedbacks face the opposite problem. In a negative feedback, which need not be harmful, a change in the system produces a response that pushes the system back towards where it was. Think of an air conditioner's temperature setting or a radiator's thermostat.
A recent analysis by Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth of the University of Washington and colleagues suggests that a much more important negative feedback may now be operating in the Arctic, one which could curb the region's rapid temperature increase and markedly slow the decline in its sea ice. Indeed, it looks strong enough to have an effect on overall global average temperature.
This particular negative feedback is driven by the increasing frequency, size and intensity of wildfires in boreal forests. The climate models that scientists use to simulate warming over the coming century run on scenarios that assume these fires will continue more or less as they did in the 2000s and early 2010s. Since then, though, they have become considerably larger.
Where there is fire, there is smoke. Some is sooty and dark; some is lighter. Dr Blanchard-Wrigglesworth and his colleagues think that the brighter, more reflective smoke wins out, cooling the ground below. Taking the fire-trend into account, they reckon that, in the 2030s, the extent of sea-ice cover in the Arctic ocean will be at least 3m square kilometres more than it would be in a fire-trend-free model. Without the fire trend, an ice-free Arctic September would be expected in 2050. Fires delay its onset by over a decade.
None of this says that the fires are a good thing, or that they will avert catastrophes elsewhere. Fires are a massive shock to ecosystems, and smoke which reflects sunlight also harms humans and other animals. Moreover, the carbon that fires release will warm the entire planet for some time to come. That is clearly bad news.
Curious about the world? To enjoy our mind-expanding science coverage, sign up to Simply Science, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
Climate change made Nordic heatwave 2C hotter: study
Human-caused climate change made a recent Nordic heatwave about 2C hotter, putting a strain on healthcare, ecosystems and indigenous Sami reindeer herders in a region ill-equipped for such events, researchers said on Thursday. Finland, Norway and Sweden experienced unusually hot weather for two weeks in the second half of July as temperatures soared above 30C, with Finland seeing 22 consecutive days of temperatures above 30C. The persistent heat led to people fainting at outdoor events, overcrowded and overheated hospitals, wildfires, algae blooms, a surge in drownings, and sightings of reindeer seeking shade in towns, the two dozen European researchers said in a report published by the World Weather Attribution. "Climate change made the heatwave about 2C hotter and at least 10 times more likely," their rapid analysis showed. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Indonesia: New Container Houses (Prices May Surprise You) Container House | Search ads Search Now Undo The heatwave was intensified by the burning of fossil fuels , which release planet-heating carbon emissions, they said. "Climate change is fundamentally reshaping the world we live in," Clair Barnes, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London said in a statement. "Cold-climate countries like Norway, Sweden and Finland are now experiencing unfamiliar levels of heat, as recently seen in strained health systems and sightings of reindeer seeking shade in urban areas," she said. The report came as temperatures were again expected to soar to almost 30C in parts of the region on Thursday. The Nordic countries are known for their cooler climate and are not normally considered vulnerable to high temperatures. "Our infrastructure was not built to withstand these extreme temperatures and our ageing population is increasingly susceptible to dangerous heat," Maja Vahlberg, a climate consultant at the Swedish Red Cross said in the report. Buildings in the region are often well-insulated but poorly ventilated, Vahlberg told reporters at a press briefing. The researchers also noted that warmer temperatures were threatening the livelihood of indigenous Sami reindeer herders in the north. Reindeer normally move to higher ground in summer but those areas now offer less relief, causing the animals to overheat and struggle to find food and water. Additionally, warmer winters cause more snow to fall as rain, with alternating periods of freeze and thaw building layers of ice that prevent reindeer from digging for food. The Arctic region is heating far faster than other parts of the planet, other studies have shown. Barnes said that the likelihood of a prolonged period of heat like the recent heatwave has almost doubled since 2018, when the region last experienced such an intense heatwave. "A rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is the only way to slow and, hopefully, ultimately stop this warming," she said.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Time of India
ChatGPT health scare: 60-year-old man hospitalized after following AI advice- Here's why
. A 60-year-old man was hospitalized for three weeks after replacing table salt with sodium bromide following advice from the AI chatbot ChatGPT. The case was detailed in a report published this month in the Annals of Internal Medicine by three physicians from the University of Washington. According to the report, the man had no prior psychiatric history when he arrived at the hospital "expressing concern that his neighbor was poisoning him. " He reported that he had been distilling his own water at home and appeared paranoid about the water he was offered. After lab tests and consultation with poison control, doctors found high levels of bromide in the body, as reported by NBC News. "In the first 24 hours of admission, he expressed increasing paranoia and auditory and visual hallucinations, which, after attempting to escape, resulted in an involuntary psychiatric hold for grave disability," the case report said. Once stabilized, the man revealed that he had conducted a "personal experiment" to eliminate table salt from his diet after reading about its potential health risks. He said he had consulted ChatGPT before making the change, which he followed for three months. The physicians did not have access to the man's exact ChatGPT conversation logs. However, when they asked ChatGPT 3.5 what chloride could be replaced with, the AI suggested bromide. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Use an AI Writing Tool That Actually Understands Your Voice Grammarly Install Now Undo "Though the reply stated that context matters, it did not provide a specific health warning, nor did it inquire about why we wanted to know, as we presume a medical professional would do," the report said. In a prior statement to Fox News, OpenAI the parent company has emphasized that the chatbot is not intended for treating any health condition. "We have safety teams working on reducing risks and have trained our AI systems to encourage people to seek professional guidance," the statement said. The report noted that bromide toxicity was more common in the early 1900s, when bromide salts were found in over-the-counter medications and sedatives and accounted for about 8% of psychiatric admissions. Today, bromide is primarily used in veterinary medicine as an anti-epileptic treatment for cats and dogs, according to the National Library of Medicine. The report said the syndrome is rare, but cases have recently re-emerged because bromide-containing substances have become more widely available online.
Hindustan Times
4 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Smoke from boreal wildfires could cool the Arctic
There are two things which climate scientists hate about 'positive feedbacks'. One is that they are bad news. A positive feedback, in the science of complex systems, is an amplification; in climate change, this comes about when a consequence of rising temperatures drives a further rise in temperature. Such feedbacks are the sorts of things that drive tipping points. The other problem is that they sound like good news. Negative feedbacks face the opposite problem. In a negative feedback, which need not be harmful, a change in the system produces a response that pushes the system back towards where it was. Think of an air conditioner's temperature setting or a radiator's thermostat. A recent analysis by Edward Blanchard-Wrigglesworth of the University of Washington and colleagues suggests that a much more important negative feedback may now be operating in the Arctic, one which could curb the region's rapid temperature increase and markedly slow the decline in its sea ice. Indeed, it looks strong enough to have an effect on overall global average temperature. This particular negative feedback is driven by the increasing frequency, size and intensity of wildfires in boreal forests. The climate models that scientists use to simulate warming over the coming century run on scenarios that assume these fires will continue more or less as they did in the 2000s and early 2010s. Since then, though, they have become considerably larger. Where there is fire, there is smoke. Some is sooty and dark; some is lighter. Dr Blanchard-Wrigglesworth and his colleagues think that the brighter, more reflective smoke wins out, cooling the ground below. Taking the fire-trend into account, they reckon that, in the 2030s, the extent of sea-ice cover in the Arctic ocean will be at least 3m square kilometres more than it would be in a fire-trend-free model. Without the fire trend, an ice-free Arctic September would be expected in 2050. Fires delay its onset by over a decade. None of this says that the fires are a good thing, or that they will avert catastrophes elsewhere. Fires are a massive shock to ecosystems, and smoke which reflects sunlight also harms humans and other animals. Moreover, the carbon that fires release will warm the entire planet for some time to come. That is clearly bad news. Curious about the world? To enjoy our mind-expanding science coverage, sign up to Simply Science, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter.
