According to scientists from British Antarctic Survey and the University College London, spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCP), a component of fly ash, have been identified for the first time in an Antarctic ice core.
Key points
- The particles recovered dated back to 1936.
- Not just that, the particles recovered dated back to 1936.
- SCPs have no other anthropogenic or natural sources other than fossil fuel combustion. Thus, they are an unambiguous environmental indicator of industrialisation.
- The study provided the first evidence that SCPs have not only been transported to continental Antarctica, but that those enduring physical markers of fossil fuel combustion have been trapped in ice layers since the early decades of the 20th century.
- The researchers presented SCP data from annually resolved samples from 1900-2011, taken from an ice core collected from the Palmer Land region of the Antarctic Peninsula.
