Enterprizes and factories that burn wood and coal also play a considerable part in atmospheric pollution.
Scientists of the Tomsk Polytechnic University (TPU) and the Pacific Oceanology Institute ( TOI), FEB RAS have found that the atmosphere of the Russian Arctic is mostly polluted due to transportation.
"Scientists have conducted a study to find out the role of black carbon in the radiative balance of the atmosphere in the Russian Arctic. A two-year-long observation in the Arctic village of Tiksi has shown that the major source of black carbon, which propels global warming is not the burning of associated gas (flare gas), thermal power plants and forest fires, as it used to be considered earlier, but transport pollution", - the press service of the Tomsk Polytechnic University informs.
The research conducted by Russian scientists jointly with the staff of the Stockholm University has revealed that 6 percent of black carbon emitted into the atmosphere is due to gas flares, 12 percent to forest fires and up to 9 percent to power plants. The main contribution to pollution falls onto transport (38%) and local sources, such as enterprises burning wood and coal (35%). The data has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Scientists assume that contamination of the Arctic atmosphere is due to the transfer of transport contaminated air  from the European part of Russia. As the report reads, the soot, which is black carbon's main component generated during incomplete combustion of fuel in diesel engines, furnaces and so on, falls on the snow and ice surface. That leads to reduced reflection of solar radiation, which in turn increases the melting of snow and ice.
"The studies were conducted on the basis of the Polar Geocosmological Observatory, located on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, near the village of Tiksi. This location was selected as a background area, due to its maximum distance from the modern industrial centers. The results were unexpected to all of our research team," - the press service cited Igor Semiletov, the head of the International Carbon Cycle Laboratory of the TPU.