This release is available in German.
A knowledge gap exists in the area of climate research: for decades, scientists have been asking themselves whether, and to what extent man-made aerosols, that is, dust particles suspended in the atmosphere, enlarge the cloud cover and thus curb climate warming. Research has made little or no progress on this issue. Two scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Hamburg (MPI-M) and the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report in the journal Nature that the interaction between aerosols, clouds and precipitation is strongly dependent on factors that have not been adequately researched up to now. They urge the adoption of a research concept that will close this gap in the knowledge. (Nature, October 1st, 2009)
Greenhouse gases that heat up the earth's atmosphere have their adversaries: dust particles suspended in the atmosphere which are known as aerosols. They arise naturally, for example when wind blows up desert dust, and through human activities. A large proportion of the man-made aerosols arise from sulfur dioxides that are generated, in turn, by the combustion of fossil fuels.
The aerosols are viewed as climate coolers, which compensate in part for the heating up of the earth by greenhouse gases. Climate researchers imagine the workings of this cooling mechanism in very simple terms: when aerosols penetrate clouds, they attract water molecules and therefore act as condensation seeds for drops of water. The more aerosol particles suspended in the cloud, the more drops of water are formed. When man-made dust particles join the natural ones, the number of drops increases. As a result, the average size of the drops decreases. Because smaller drops do not fall to the ground, the aerosols prevent the cloud from raining out and extend its lifetime. Co
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| Contact: Dr. Annette Kirk annette.kirk@zmaw.de 49-404-117-3374 Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Source:Eurekalert |
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