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Wednesday, December 8, 2010 New Black Carbon Research Helps Advance Climate Solutions California experiences a reduction in black carbon and cells phones emerge as a valuable tool to scientifically monitor soot and other forms of black carbon in developing countries Scripps Institution of Oceanography / University of California, San Diego AGU PRESS CONFERENCE: TUESDAY, DEC. 14, 1 P.M.RELATED TO A32C-01 · Wednesday, Dec. 15, 10:20 a.m. · 3008 Moscone West "BLACK CARBON: IMPACTS ON LOCAL, REGIONAL AND GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE" ED11A-0576 · Monday, Dec. 13, 8:00 a.m. - 12:20 p.m. · Poster Hall, Moscone South "CELLPHONES AS A DISTRIBUTED PLATFORM FOR BLACK CARBON DATA COLLECTION" Climate researchers have observed reductions in black carbon's warming effect in California, an unexpected benefit from two decades of the state's clean air laws. Black carbon, a form of particulate pollution associated with biomass burning and vehicle emissions, has been recognized as a major contributor to global warming. In another aspect of black carbon research, computer scientists have discovered that cell phones can be used as a real-time, ultra low-power black carbon data collection system.  Scripps Distinguished Professor of Climate and Atmospheric Science V. Ramanathan "This study serves to confirm that some successes have already been achieved in combating climate change using existing, affordable remedies," said Ramanathan, who is a co-author of the California Air Resources Board (ARB)-funded study. "This study demonstrates that ARB's efforts to cut air pollution, whether by promoting cleaner cars or controlling agricultural burning, have significantly reduced threats to public health while also helping address climate change," said California Air Resources Board chairman Mary D. Nichols. "The more we learn about the atmosphere, the more it's clear that cleaning up the pollution that harms our lungs is also beneficial for slowing the rate of climate change." Ramanathan's Project Surya - which examines the effect of replacing wood- and dung-burning stoves in India with cleaner alternatives - is using mobile phone technology to create a valuable black carbon dataset.  A researcher takes an image of an aerosol filter to upload to the server for analysis. Photo: UCLA "We discovered that this widely available technology can help us overcome many of the traditional hurdles required to achieve high-quality field data collection," said Nithya Ramanathan. The research team used cell phones to take pictures of aerosol sampler filters. The snapshot, along with exposure time information, is sent directly to computer servers where it is immediately analyzed for ambient black carbon concentrations and emailed back to the scientists. With more than four billion cell phone users in the world today, Nithya Ramanathan's data collection system opens new doors for global health and environment monitoring. # # # Note to broadcast and cable producers: University of California, San Diego provides an on-campus satellite uplink facility for live or pre-recorded television interviews. Please phone or e-mail the media contact listed above to arrange an interview. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at University of California, San Diego, is one of the oldest, largest and most important centers for global science research and education in the world. Now in its second century of discovery, the scientific scope of the institution has grown to include biological, physical, chemical, geological, geophysical and atmospheric studies of the earth as a system. Hundreds of research programs covering a wide range of scientific areas are under way today in 65 countries. The institution has a staff of about 1,300, and annual expenditures of approximately $155 million from federal, state and private sources. Scripps operates one of the largest U.S. academic fleets with four oceanographic research ships and one research platform for worldwide exploration.
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