Nasa identifies link between pollution and climate
Nasa identifies link between pollution and climate
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Friday, 14, Jul 2006 12:12
New research from Nasa which has identified the link between aerosol pollution and the Earth's climate is believed to enable scientists studying climate change to "take a big step forward".
Published in the online journal Science, the research has discovered that the formation of cloud is affected by the lightness and darkness of air pollution particles. This in turn affects the Earth's climate as not only do clouds carry water around the globe, but they also regulate how much of the Sun's warmth the planet holds.
"When the overall mixture of aerosol particles in pollution absorbs more sunlight, it is more effective at preventing clouds from forming," explained Lorraine Remer of Nasa's Goddard space flight centre.
"When pollutant aerosols are lighter in colour and absorb less energy, they have the opposite effect and actually help clouds to form."
Understanding how and why clouds change will illuminate on greenhouse-gas warming and air pollution, the scientists believe, enabling researchers to better predict how climate change is changing.
It is estimated that aerosol pollution could increase worldwide cloud cover by five per cent. In polluted areas, cloud changes can change the availability of fresh water and regional temperatures.
Further research into the link between aerosol pollution and cloud cover will be carried out by Nasa through cloud-piercing instruments onboard the Cloudsat and Calipso spacecrafts.