Study: Black Carbon Pollution Major Factor in Global Warming

Black carbon, a form of particulate air pollution most often produced from burning biomass, cooking with solid fuels and diesel exhaust, has a warming effect in the atmosphere that is three to four times greater than prevailing estimates, according to a new study published online in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego atmospheric scientist V. Ramanathan and University of Iowa chemical engineer Greg Carmichael said that soot and other forms of black carbon could have as much as 60% of the current global warming effect of carbon dioxide, more than that of any greenhouse gas except CO2. The researchers also noted, however, that mitigation would have immediate societal benefits in addition to the long term effect of reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

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