sooty

“This soil was so sooty and full of carbon,” the University of Montreal archaeologist recalls.

They compared reefs next to islands with thriving populations of seabirds, such as red-footed boobies, sooty terns and lesser noddies, against reefs next to islands with few seabirds.

But the country’s move away from coal wasn’t before its empire left its sooty footprint around the world.

That type of more traditional sooty air pollution has a cooling effect that masks a fraction of the warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, Hansen and many other scientists said.

One of the most critical are sooty particles called aerosols, which mainly arise from the burning of fossil fuels.