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. Light absorbing aerosols in the atmosphere and cryosphere playan important role in the climate system. Their presence in ambient air andsnow changes the radiative properties of these systems, thus contributing toincreased atmospheric warming and snowmelt. High spatio-temporal variabilityof aerosol concentrations and a shortage of long-term observations contributeto large uncertainties in properly assigning the climate effects of aerosolsthrough time. Starting around AD 1860, many glaciers in the European Alps began to retreatfrom their maximum mid-19th century terminus positions, thereby visualizingthe end of the Little Ice Age in Europe. Radiative forcing by increasingdeposition of industrial black carbon to snow has been suggested as the maindriver of the abrupt glacier retreats in the Alps. The basis for thishypothesis was model simulations using elemental carbon concentrations at lowtemporal resolution from two ice cores in the Alps. Here we present sub-annually resolved concentration records of refractoryblack carbon (rBC; using soot photometry) as well as distinctive tracers formineral dust, biomass burning and industrial pollution from the ColleGnifetti ice core in the Alps from AD 1741 to 2015. These records allowprecise assessment of a potential relation between the timing of observedacceleration of glacier melt in the mid-19th century with an increase of rBCdeposition on the glacier caused by the industrialization of Western Europe.Our study reveals that in AD 1875, the time when rBC ice-core concentrationsstarted to significantly increase, the majority of Alpine glaciers hadalready experienced more than 80 % of their total 19th century lengthreduction, casting doubt on a leading role for soot in terminating of theLittle Ice Age. Attribution of glacial retreat requires expansion of thespatial network and sampling density of high alpine ice cores to balancepotential biasing effects arising from transport, deposition, and snowconservation in individual ice-core records.

19th century glacier retreat in the Alps preceded the emergence of industrial black carbon deposition on high-alpine glaciers