Black carbon (BC) also known as soot, is small particles that are emitted into the atmosphere naturally, for example by wildfires as well as unnaturally, by humans burning diesel fuel (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2010). BC is particularly harmful to the environment in two ways, by turning white surfaces black (like Arctic ice) and by warming the air in the atmosphere (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2010). For this experiment, we looked at how BC causes ice melt in the Arctic when it lands on ice and turns it a darker colour. BC is suggested to have caused more than 30% of warming in the Arctic (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2010).

When black carbon particles land on ice and snow, it makes them much darker than the pure white we think of when we think of the Arctic (Johnson 2018). The darker surfaces reduces the Albedo, or reflectiveness of the area (Johnson 2018).

Have you ever stepped outside on a hot day in a black T-Shirt and felt more hot than if you were in a white one? That is due to albedo. Albedo, translated into "whiteness" in Latin, is a term used to measure reflectiveness (Collins 2020). This is usually used on Earth to explain how surfaces reflect sunlight in order to cool down the planet, one of the biggest surfaces that does this is snow and ice (Collins 2020). White surfaces reflect light much more than darker surfaces (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2010). Therefore, when black carbon lands on snow and ice, less sunlight is reflected back into space (Center for Climate and Energy Solutions 2010). This causes the snow and ice to absorb more heat and melt much faster than they would if they were lighter, meaning less reflection of sunlight is happening, causing even more melting and rising sea levels (Johnson 2018 and Collins 2020).