Another warming myth busted: Climate change ISN'T to blame for melting glacier in Bolivia - but our aerosols are

• Particles settle in glaciers, increasing capacity to absorb solar radiation
• Glaciers in Bolivia melting faster than expected - in contrast to others in Himalayas which are melting slower than estimates
• Industry and smog to blame for aerosols

By Eddie Wrenn UPDATED: 15:02 GMT, 28 May 2012

Bolivia's glaciers are melting - much faster than first predicted, and the blame is falling on airborne aerosol particles.

The Chacaltaya glacier made its slow trek down the Cordillera Real Mountains for 18,000 years.

By 2009 the glacier in southern America had gone, and even that was sooner than expected for researchers, who estimated in the 1990s that it would survive into 2015.

Now researcher Franceso Zaratti, from the Higher University of San Andres, suggests that aerosol particles are landing on the glaciers and speeding up their demise.

He said: 'The phenomenon that we believe contributes more and that we are going to measure, is airborne aerosol particles that deposit on the glaciers and in turn increase their capacity to absorb energy and solar radiation.'

Most atmospheric aerosol particles are produced by natural processes such as volcanic eruptions and forest fires.

FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2151066/Another-warm...