Environment

 

Scientists say that accurately modelling the intensity of aerosol effects on global climate change is vital to humanity’s future however aerosol complexity makes it difficult to model and understand.

·        Aerosols are fine particulates that float in the atmosphere.

·        Whereas there has not been important change in presence of natural aerosols, human-caused aerosols have magnified rapidly.

·        An immense aerosol cloud regularly swirls over India, China and Southeast Asia, fed by particles of ash, soot and organic carbon compounds.

·        About Aerosols: Aerosols are a mixed bag of substances, liquid and solid, that differ from their gassy brethren.

·        They tend to hang in the atmosphere near their source, or move as localised or regional lots via air currents.

·        They range in size from a few atoms across to the width of a human hair.

·        They include: crystals of sulphate, balls of almost pure black carbon (commonly, though not entirely accurately, called soot), droplets of nitric or sulfuric acid, spores of pollen.

·        They may be salt freed from the crests of breaking waves, or desert sand whipped up by the wind.

·        Natural Aerosols: One of the largest natural sources of aerosols are plankton, which breathe out dimethyl sulphide (DMS), a strong-smelling chemical that gives the sea it’s familiar pungent odour.

·        DMS reacts with oxygen to produce clouds of sulfuric acid. Sulphur dioxide released by volcanoes does the same.

·        Ninety p.c of aerosols in the atmosphere are present, however their levels have remained relatively constant over time.

·        Anthropogenic Aerosols: On the opposite hand anthropogenic, or human-made aerosols are emitted from: vehicle exhausts; the smokestacks of factories, ships and coal-burning powerplants; by farmers burning field stubble and land grabbers clearing Amazon forest with fire; by gas flares on oil rigs and discarded plastic shopping bags.

·        Even the tumble driers release microplastic fibres that float skyward.

·        These sources have increased dramatically over the commercial period, roughly in step with greenhouse gases.

·        Most aerosols help cool the planet by reflecting daylight back out into space, reducing the quantity of radiant energy that reaches Earth’s surface.

·        They also help produce clouds or brighten existing clouds, by acting as condensation nuclei around which water vapour condenses.

·        Aerosols first came to public attention in the 1970s, not so much because of their cooling impact, but due to acid rain.

The worst aerosols are very fine particulates that can penetrate deep into the lungs and may even enter the blood stream exacerbating respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.