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Arctic Marine Sustainability pp 165–177Cite as

Black Carbon, Maritime Traffic and the Arctic

Part of the Springer Polar Sciences book series (SPPS)

Abstract

Maritime transportation covers approximately 90% of the global traffic volumes. The global fleet consists of approximately 100,000 diesel ships, around 250 LNG ships, and a smaller number of methanol or even electric ferries. When it comes to maritime transportation, the Arctic sea route is becoming more and more interesting for the shipping industry as it has been estimated that the Northeast Passage can shorten the travelling distance significantly compared to Suez Canal.

Black Carbon (BC) is the second largest contributor to climate change emissions after carbon dioxide (CO2). BC particles spread out from different sources and the majority of BC emissions are transmitted to the Polar Regions from other parts of the globe. The share of global BC emission from international shipping is estimated to be up to 3% of the global total.

The Northern Sea Route can shorten the travelling distance, but it is important to find out, will the increase of maritime traffic effect the BC emissions in the Arctic. This paper considers how BC from ships’ fuel affects the Arctic. This paper also discusses alternative fuels and emission abatement technologies, which can decrease the emissions from ships and may also affect the BC emissions in the Arctic in the future.

Keywords

  • Black carbon
  • Emission abatement
  • Arctic
  • Ship traffic

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Turku, Turku, Finland

    Olli-Pekka Brunila, Tommi Inkinen & Esa Hämäläinen

  2. South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences, Mikkeli, Finland

    Vappu Kunnaala-Hyrkki

  3. University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Katariina Ala-Rämi

Authors
  1. Olli-Pekka Brunila
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  2. Tommi Inkinen
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  3. Vappu Kunnaala-Hyrkki
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  4. Esa Hämäläinen
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  5. Katariina Ala-Rämi
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Correspondence to Olli-Pekka Brunila .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Eva Pongrácz

  2. Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Victor Pavlov

  3. Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Niko Hänninen

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Brunila, OP., Inkinen, T., Kunnaala-Hyrkki, V., Hämäläinen, E., Ala-Rämi, K. (2020). Black Carbon, Maritime Traffic and the Arctic. In: Pongrácz, E., Pavlov, V., Hänninen, N. (eds) Arctic Marine Sustainability. Springer Polar Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28404-6_8

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