Study finds black carbon not as important in cloud ice formation as once believed

Black carbon released when fossil fuel or biomass burns does not play as important of a role as once believed in the formation of ice particles in mid-level clouds, according to a new study.

Black carbon is an important factor in short-term climate because it absorbs solar energy and can affect cloud formation, according to a news release from the National Science Foundation, which funded the new research..

But natural sources such as dust and sea spray have a stronger effect on mid-level clouds than black carbon, the study by Colorado State University scientists published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists states. 

“The results from this study should help weather and climate models more accurately simulate the impact of black carbon emissions from wildfires on cloud development," Nick Anderson, a program director in the National Science Foundation’s  Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences, said in the news release. 

Results from previous studies “ranged wildly” on the effect of black carbon on ice formation in clouds.

"One reason these results could span such a range is that combustion processes that form black carbon are extremely complicated and differ depending on fuels burned, and on whether combustion is carefully controlled, as in a diesel engine, or uncontrolled, as in wildfires," Gregory Schill, first author on the study, said in the news release.