White-tailed ptarmigan summer plumage. The finely-barred greyish coloration on the back makes it easy to distinguish this species from the much browner willow ptarmigan and rock ptarmigan. Both sexes maintain white tail and wing feathers all the year and males can be identified by their reddish eyecombs (fleshy growths above the eye), also present year-long. In general this bird is silent but it sometimes makes quiet, low-pitched hoots and soft clucking noises. The white-tailed ptarmigan is an alpine species, a permanent resident of the high mountains above or near the timber line. It occupies open country and flies a great deal more
Arctic haze the opposite effect of trapped warmth beneath the cloud cover. During the Arctic winter, however, there is no sunlight to reflect. In the absence of this cooling effect, the dominant effect of changes to Arctic clouds is an increased trapping of infrared radiation from the surface. Ship emissions, mercury, aluminium, vanadium, manganese, and aerosol and ozone pollutants are many examples of the pollution that is affecting this atmosphere, but the smoke from forest fires is not a significant contributor. Some of those pollutants figure among environmental effects of coal burning. Due to low deposition rates, these pollutants are not yet