Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Aerosols heat up

Aerosols are thought to have a cooling effect on the atmosphere, and therefore to have mitigated some of the expected global warming over this period. This is, however, a highly uncertain conclusion, in part because the total amount and vertical distribution of solar radiation that is absorbed by aerosol particles is imperfectly known. There was an interesting article in Nature (Vol-448, 2 August 2007) under “News and Views” by Prof. Peter Pilewskie. In the same issue, Ramanathan et al. (on page 575) report that the aerosol clouds above large regions of Asia actually cause as much warming as greenhouse gases — in contradiction, at first glance, to the notion of aerosol particles as a cooling agent.



Figure 1. Smog drifts down India's populous Ganges valley and out into the Bay of Bengal. This is the source of 'atmospheric brown clouds' over the Indian Ocean, and the climatic effect of its constituent aerosol particles is investigated by Ramanathan and colleagues




For more information and understanding, please refer following two articles and references therein:

Pilewskie, P., 2007, Aerosols heat up, Nature 448, 541-542.

Ramanathan et al. 2007, Warming trends in Asia amplified by brown cloud solar absorption, Nature 448, 575-578.

4 comments:

alvinwriter said...

Yes, I think aerosols, especially the kind made of soot, do contribute much to heating or melting ice, even more so if they settle on the ice on glaciers and mountaintops themselves. This contact undoubtedly promotes more heating of the ice due to their dark color.

Check out the following news from the Voxant NewsRoom. There are more such licensed news you can use for your site. You may email jtowns@voxant.com if you wish us to be your partner in great news content.

Invisible Gases Form Most Organic Haze in Both Urban and Rural Areas: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/480759?c_id=wom-bc-ar

- Alvin from TheScienceDesk at TheNewsRoom.com

alvinwriter said...

Hi Neeraj,

I deeply appreciate your response. It's really a shame that some people are reacting negatively to the obvious, and even harshly criticizing those who show the facts on what's happening to the Earth, even mocking those who try to do what they can to help. You're one of those who can make a difference, and I recognize your efforts in your blog.

At the recent Magsaysay Awards for Asia which I was lucky to have been invited to, one of the awardees was Tang Xiyang from China. He is regarded as the pioneer of the climate camp and found renewal in nature after going through many trials. Healing nature is now his passion and he's an inspiration and a role model for many people around the world who care for the Earth.

I'd also like to mention the achievements of Palagummi Sainath of India, who was honored for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts. As a free-lance journalist and rural affairs editor of The Hindu, Sainath believes that "journalism is for people, not for shareholders."

Tang and Sainath are just a few of those who really deserve recognition for contributing to the welfare of the world. They do not give empty words that cause discord and misunderstandings. Instead, they bring a universal message to everyone that what really counts is what you do to help, never mind the arguments and debates.

Follow the link on the inspiring news report from the Voxant NewsRoom on Sainath's award.

Magsaysay Award for P. Sainath: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/554024?c_id=wom-bc-ar

May you succeed in your endeavours.

- Alvin from TheScienceDesk at the Voxant NewsRoom

Unknown said...

To Alvinwriter comment#2

It was very interesting to learn about Tang Xiyang and P Sainath.

Thanks for nice comments

Harish

Neeraj Rastogi said...

Hi Alvin,

I appreciate your thoughtfulness. Thank you very much for your wishes.
You are an impressive writer. Thanks for sharing a good news about Mr. Tang Xiyang and Mr. P. Sainath.

with best wishes and regards,
Neeraj