The mysterious black dust speeding up Arctic ice melt: What’s behind it?

The Arctic, already warming nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, faces a new and urgent threat: soot from Canada’s record-breaking wildfires is darkening the region’s ice and snow, potentially speeding up its melt at an alarming rate.

This year, Canada has experienced one of its most severe wildfire seasons on record. According to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, over 18 million hectares have burned so far in 2025, surpassing last year’s devastating fires. The blazes have sent vast plumes of smoke and soot—known as black carbon—across North America and into the Arctic Circle.

Why soot matters in the Arctic?

Soot is a powerful climate forcer. When it settles on ice and snow, it reduces their reflectivity, or albedo, causing them to absorb more sunlight instead of reflecting it back into space. This leads to faster warming and melting—a process scientists call the “albedo effect.” According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, even a thin layer of black carbon can reduce snow’s reflectivity by as much as 10%.

Dr. Jennifer Francis, a senior scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, explains:

“The Arctic is like the planet’s air conditioner. When soot from wildfires lands on ice, it turbocharges melting. This creates a feedback loop: less ice means more warming, which means more fires and more soot.”

Satellite imagery from NASA’s MODIS instrument shows a marked increase in darkened snow and ice surfaces across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and Greenland’s southern coast this summer. Preliminary data from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus program indicate that concentrations of black carbon in the Arctic atmosphere have risen by over 30% compared to the 2010-2020 average.

A recent study published in Nature Communications found that wildfire soot could account for up to 25% of the Arctic’s recent sea ice loss, a figure that is likely to increase as wildfires become more frequent and intense.

The consequences of accelerated Arctic melting are profound. Melting sea ice not only raises global sea levels but also disrupts weather patterns worldwide. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that rapid Arctic warming could destabilize the jet stream, leading to more extreme weather events across the Northern Hemisphere.

Scientists are calling for urgent action to both curb greenhouse gas emissions and address the growing threat of wildfire soot. Enhanced monitoring, improved wildfire management, and international cooperation will be critical in protecting the Arctic’s fragile climate system.