‘Its scent is getting stronger’ as the temperature rises – Watts Up With That?

From Climate Warehouse

Pass Green New Deal or Snow won’t smell the same?!

WaPo:

“Snow has a scent, and researchers say that scent depends on what is in the ground and in the air. And as both the atmosphere and the land become warmer, the scent of snow becomes stronger.” …

“Climate change is affecting the way snow smells,” said Parisa A. Ariya, chemist and chair of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at McGill University. As the ground and air warms, that encourages the circulation – and intensity – of odor molecules.” …

“An increase in temperature is thought to increase the toxicity of some pollutants and speed up chemical reactions and decomposition processes,” Ariya said. “Snow has a scent, and researchers say that scent depends on what is in the ground and in the air. And as both the atmosphere and the land become warmer, the scent of snow becomes stronger.”

Via: Marc Morano – Total climate inventory

February 7, 2022 6:21 pm

Climate change is changing the smell of snow https://t.co/C86gt6JCxM

– Washington Post (@washingtonpost) February 5, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2022/02/05/snow-smell-climate-change/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_source=twitter

Climate change is changing the smell of snow

Its scent grows stronger as both the atmosphere and land get warmer, the researchers say.

By Dawn Fallik February 5, 2022 at 9:00 a.m. EST

How would you describe the scent of winter? Unlike spring, summer, and autumn, which have their signature scents (blooming flowers, beaches, rotting leaves), the current season is marked by the scent of nowhere. Nothing is developing. Nothing dies. It’s a form of olfactory pause, but snow has a scent, and researchers say that scent depends on what’s in the ground and the air. And as both the air and the land grew warmer, the scent of snow became stronger.

Johan Lundstrom, a clinical neuroscience professor who describes himself as a “smell researcher” at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, says that because the smell of snow reflects impurities in the air, the pieces in Wisconsin smell different from the snow in Sweden and from the snow in a city. Lundstrom says that people notice odors more in the summer because warmer, humid air enhances odor molecules, in the same way that perfume smells stronger and different on the skin than it does when it’s sprayed in the air. gas. But winter’s cold, dry air creates a “poor-smelling environment.”

Parisa A. Ariya, chemist and chair of the Department of Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences at McGill University, said… Climate change is affecting the way snow smells. As the ground and air warm, that encourages the circulation – and intensity – of odor molecules.

…

“An increase in temperature is thought to increase the toxicity of some pollutants and speed up chemical reactions and decomposition processes,” Ariya said.