Photo: Arctic clouds like a warming blanket, research suggests

Beautiful Arctic clouds, like these in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, may contribute to Arctic warming. A recent study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters looks at how clouds with more pollutant particles can influence the climate. It found that Arctic air is sensitive to this particulate matter, which spews from exhaust and coal-burning power plants and other industrial distant sources. These clouds then end up acting like a blanket over the region. Clouds have “a big impact on local climate,” said atmospheric scientist Tim Garrett said in a University of Utah release. And it looks like clouds in the Arctic are especially sensitive to air pollution, Garrett said. “This pollution would naturally get blown northward because that’s the dominant circulation pattern to move from lower latitudes toward the poles,” Garrett said. While warming could lead to fewer particle pollutants ending up in clouds by the end of the century, increasing Arctic maritime transportation and industrialization could offset that decrease, the study said. (PHOTO BY JANE GEORGE)