Meri M. Ruppel
Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Department of Environmental Sciences
University of Helsinki, Finland
The objective of this thesis is to collect new spatial and temporal data on BC deposition in the European Arctic from the preindustrial to the present (i.e., the last ca. 300 years), and assess BC sources and climatic implications, by analysing five lake sediment cores from Arctic Finland and an ice core from Svalbard.
The results suggest that black carbon may have exerted a significant impact on the radiative forcing and thereby past climatic warming of the Arctic, in the most recent three or four decades. However, the study indicates that local results cannot necessarily be extrapolated over wider areas, and therefore further studies are required to establish regional black carbon deposition trends within the Arctic.
To read the thesis, please visit University of Helsinki webpage.
