Washington -- Soot, mostly from diesel engines, is blocking snow and ice from reflecting sunlight, which is contributing to "near worldwide melting of ice" and as much as a quarter of all observed global warming, NASA scientists say.
 
    The findings about the snow and ice albedos -- their power to reflect light falling on the surface -- raise new questions about human-caused climate change from the Arctic to the Alps.
 
    "We suggest that soot is a more all-around 'bad actor' than has been appreciated," NASA scientists James Hansen and Larissa Nazarenko wrote in a paper published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
 
    Soot comprises carbon particles that are, along with salts and dust, byproducts of burning fossil fuels and vegetation. In developed countries, the biggest source is diesel fuel. Elsewhere, burning wood, animal dung, vegetable oil and other biofuels is a major source of soot.
 
    Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and Nazarenko, a staff associate there, found soot is twice as potent as carbon dioxide in changing global surface air temperatures in the Arctic and the Northern Hemisphere.

    Hansen said Monday that the authors estimate the soot effect is equivalent estimate the soot effect is equivalent to putting a 1-watt bulb, the size of a miniature Christmas tree bulb, over every two square yards in the Northern Hemisphere. The effect is greater in northernmost snow regions, and about zero in the tropics.
 
    Levels of airborne soot as high as about 100 parts per billion were found in the Alps, enough to reduce the snow's ability to reflect light rather than absorb it from about 98 percent, down to between 80-90 percent, Hansen said. In the spring and summer, as the snow melts and some soot accumulates as crud on the surface, the remaining snow is even darker, he said.
 
    Scientists thought until recently that only carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases have global reach and effect. They now are finding the same thing with these microscopic, suspended particles of pollutants, generically known as aerosols, that settle on ground hours later.
 
    Soot particles, which absorb toxic organic material, are minute enough to penetrate skin when breathed in. Soot is the aerosol most responsible for the haze in rapidly developing countries such as India and China, the scientists said.

Is32..1 Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule with justice.
 
Jer23..1 "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.
2 Therefore thus says the LORD GOD of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: "You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings," says the LORD.
3 "But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 "I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking," says the LORD.
5 "Behold, days are coming," says the LORD, "That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
6 In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
9 My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome, because of the LORD, and because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers; for because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might not right.
11 "For both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house I have found their wickedness," says the LORD.
12 Therefore their way shall be to them like slippery; in the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them; for I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment," says the LORD.
14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in lies; they also strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets: 'Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land.'

16 Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; they speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 They continually say to those who despise Me, "The LORD has said, 'You shall have peace;'" and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, 'No evil shall come upon you.' "
18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, and has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard?
19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury - a violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.
21 "I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22 But if they had stood in My counsel, and had caused My people to hear My words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
39 'Therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and out of My presence.
40 'And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.'"
 
Ez33..6 'But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand.'
7 "So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.
8 "When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked, you shall surely die!' And you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.
9 "Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."

Acts15..16 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up;'
 
Mat23..23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier (parts) of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
24 "Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
26 "Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead bones and all uncleanness.
28 "Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
30 "And say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.'
31 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
32 "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers."
33 "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"
 
2Thes1..8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know GOD, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our LORD Jesus Christ.
9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the LORD and from the glory of His power.