QUANTIFYING VARIABILITY OF BLACK CARBON TRANSPORT FROM CROPLAND BURNING IN RUSSIA TO THE ARCTIC DRIVEN BY ATMOSPHERIC BLOCKING EVENTS ...

• Main Author: Hall, Joanne Vanessa
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Digital Repository at the University of Maryland 2017
• Subjects: Remote sensing; Atmospheric sciences; Geography; Arctic; Atmospheric Blocking Events; Atmospheric Transport; Black Carbon; Cropland Burning; Russian Federation; black carbon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m2ts1d; http://drum.lib.umd.edu/handle/1903/19408

Short lived aerosols and pollutants transported from northern mid-latitudes have amplified the short term warming in the Arctic region. Specifically, black carbon is recognized as the second most important human emission in regards to climate forcing, behind carbon dioxide with a total climate forcing of +1.1Wm-2. Studies have suggested that cropland burning may be a large contributor to the black carbon emissions which are directly deposited on the snow in the Arctic region. However, accurate monitoring of cropland burning from existing active fire and burned area products is limited, thereby leading to an underestimation in black carbon emissions from cropland burning. This dissertation focuses on 1) assessing the potential for the deposition of hypothetical black carbon emissions from known cropland burning in Russia through low-level transport, and 2) identifying a possible atmospheric pattern that may enhance the transport of black carbon emissions to the Arctic. Specifically, atmospheric blocking ...