Salty Snow Could Affect Air Pollution In the Arctic

The region of Arctic is changing constantly due to the abundant formation of local atmospheric pollutants. The natural Arctic region with a desolate and icy landscape that you see on television and the internet is not the reality.

According to Science Daily, the reports state that the presence of sea salt could be the major reason for the increasing air pollution in the region. Scientists are busy working on these atmosphere changes to predict the future of Arctic.

According to ACS.org, NASA said, "This year, the ice hit during Arctic's winter time has been recorded low and the air is warming continuously in this region." A few of the previous studies conducted show that the pollutants such as Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide have been increased and it's levels are similar to the ones present in the populated cities. In the presence of sunlight, Nitrogen Oxide tends to form a larger amount of air pollution, thus, leading to the emergence of smog. The gasses are developed in the atmosphere and they are deposited as nitrates, which gets trapped in the snow.

James Donaldson along with Karen Morenz and his other colleagues studied regarding how salt and nitrate present in the snow can affect the nitrogen oxide levels in the air during summer seasons. They conducted a lab test using snow consisting of only nitrate or nitrate and salt. When the snow was heated with the help of simulated sunlight, the snow that had more salt changed the nitrate into nitrogen dioxide as compared to the snow that had no salt.

Global warming and the continuous climate change have possessed a serious threat to the overall ecological balance of the Earth. Sea ice and salty snow are considered to be important factors of this sudden climate change. Most of us have always been in an opinion that Arctic is relatively free from pollution. But with the increase in population and pollution, it has become just like any other human traffic concentrated city. Efforts are still being made by the researchers to combat the threat of global warming.