…so much dust blown on to surface that ability of ice to reflect sunlight, kno
wn as albedo, dropped 20% in a single month. The dust that was darkening brilliant whiteness of snow was heating up in strong sun and melting snow and ice…American geologist…set up a mini weather station at 5,800m on Mount Himlung, on Nepal-Tibet border…east towards Everest…shocked…world’s highest glacier, Khumbu, turning visibly darker …fine dust, blown by fierce winds, settled on bright, fresh snow. “One-week-old snow turning black and brown before my eyes,”…Nearly invisible particles of “black carbon” resulting from incomplete combustion of fossil fuels from diesel engines are being swept thousands of miles from industrial centres in US, Europe and SE Asia, as is dust from Africa and Middle East, where dust storms are bigger as land dries out, with increasingly long and deep droughts…this year dust from Sahara swept north, several thousands miles, smothered Britain and reached Norway.

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