Zender testifies on Capitol Hill about climate change

Charlie Zender, associate professor of Earth system science at UC Irvine, testified Thursday, Oct. 18, at a congressional hearing about the role of black carbon in climate change. Zender (pictured, center) was one of five climate scientists to testify before the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in Washington D.C. Zender led a study recently that found that dirty snow can explain one-third or more of the Arctic warming primarily attributed to greenhouse gases. Snow becomes dirty when soot from tailpipes, smoke stacks and forest fires enters the atmosphere and falls to the ground.