aerosols

One parcel of water will take about 1,000 years to travel the full length of the AMOC. Credit: Sara Levine | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Since the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) was first monitored in 2004, it has been the focus of thousands of scientific papers and even a blockbuster movie that grossed more than $552 million worldwide. …

Who knew you could see plankton from space? NASA, of course. The space agency successfully launched a new mission today called PACE — short for the Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem satellite — that will study its namesake. It’ll examine microscopic plants and particles — things so small they’re invisible to the naked eye — from hundreds of miles above Earth. The goal is to better understand how such teeny tiny things can actually impact the whole planet. “PACE will help us learn, like never before, how particles…

Plumes of sea salt aerosol entering the Ko'olau Mountains from a large swell on North Shore. Credit: Katie Ackerman Despite their tiny sizes, aerosols, such as sea salt, dust, and ash, play a giant role in shaping weather and climate. These particles scatter light, act as the starting point for cloud formation, and can even initiate or limit rainfall. A new study from atmospheric scientists at the University of Hawai'i at…

Dr. Bai Zhixuan and his colleagues launched a balloon in Golmud, Qinghai province on March 2021, as part of the SWOP campaign. Credit: Chen Zhixiong An international team led by researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has detected aerosols from the Hunga Tonga eruption in the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric westerlies for the first time.…

Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the air that can have both natural and human-made sources. They play a crucial role in our atmosphere, affecting climate, air quality, and human health.A cold sparkling water. Waves crashing on the beach. The crackle of a bonfire. Steam from a kettle.These factors not only contribute to a relaxing weekend but also add to the aerosols in our environment. While some aerosol sources may not cause significant harm, others, such as those originating from industrial facilities or even…

Laboratory experiments were conducted in the Georgia Tech Environmental Chamber (GTEC) facility to study oxidation chemistry and secondary organic aerosol formation in multi-precursor systems. Credit: Georgia Institute of Technology Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) consists of extremely small particles generated in the atmosphere from natural and human-made emissions. It is a major constituent of PM2.5 (particulate matter with…

Global contributions of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formation to cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) distributions. (a–c) Zonally mean concentrations of CCN1.0 and CCN0.2 (a–c) from the surface to the upper troposphere in the Base case; (b–d) the fractional contributions of SOA to CCN0.2 and CCN1.0, respectively. The contribution of SOA was calculated as the difference in total CCN between the Base and SOAoff simulations. Credit: Geophysical Research…

Air pollution and early morning by the Androon Dehli gate in Lahore, Pakistan. Credit: Muhammad Ahmed / Unsplash The dangerous impacts of aerosol changes on vulnerable regions should have been a priority at COP27 after climate policymakers agreed a breakthrough deal to support these parts of the world, scientists have claimed. Writing…

Fossil fuels are rapidly warming the planet, and the aerosols from their combustion kill millions of people each year. So we need to rapidly decarbonize. But in an ironic twist, those aerosols actually have one beneficial side effect: They cool the atmosphere. It creates an odd climate contradiction. If we burn less gas, oil, and coal, we’ll stop loading the sky with planet-warming carbon, but we’ll also load it with fewer planet-cooling aerosols. But exactly how much cooling we get from aerosols, and how strong that…

The findings could help improve climate change prediction models.Cloud study clarifies the effects of aerosols.According to a recent study, aerosol particles in the atmosphere have a greater influence on cloud cover than previously assumed, but less of an impact on cloud brightness. Aerosols, which are tiny particles floating in the atmosphere, are essential for the formation of clouds.Numerous assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have shown that since clouds reflect sunlight and maintain…