00:00When snow is blown across sea ice, an international team of researchers has found it can indirectly contribute to regional
00:07warming.
00:08That's because snow in the Arctic contains tiny particles of sea salt.
00:12Science Alert explains that if these aerosols are whipped into the atmosphere,
00:16new findings suggest they can enhance cloud formation by up to tenfold.
00:20And the thing about clouds in the Arctic is that they are a two-edged sword when it comes to
00:24regional warming.
00:25The study published in Nature Geoscience says the presence can reflect sunlight,
00:30but they can also trap surface long-wave radiation, thereby significantly warming the Arctic's surface.
00:37After looking at data for over a year, the scientists' models estimate the sea salt aerosols from blowing snow
00:43contribute to more than a quarter of the particles in Arctic clouds,
00:47something many climate models overlooked when interpreting aerosol population in the Arctic.
