Air Pollution, Aerosols and Clouds in the Climate System

Indoor or outdoor air may contain thousands or even millions of microorganisms and biological particles in just one cubic meter of air. These airborne particles are collectively referred to as bioaerosols. Examples of bioaerosols include viruses, bacteria, fungi, pollen, fragmented particles from microbial cells or insects, and by-products of living organisms (e.g. animal dander, insect excrement). The size of these particles generally varies between a fraction of a micrometer (µm) to approximately 30 µm. Bioaerosols may originate from numerous natural or man-made sources such as agriculture (harvesting, storage, composting etc) and industrial activities (manufacturing, food processing etc), indoor surfaces (ceiling, wall, carpets, house plants) and water treatment plants etc. Particle size is an important factor in determining risks associated with microbial contamination. In general, particles > 20 µm (fungi, algae, pollen etc) affect Region 1, Particles Modern airborne sampling o...

Annual fall meeting of American Geophysical Union (AGU) and annual meeting of American Meteorological Society (AMS) is approaching close in December 2007 and January 2008 respectively. These are two biggest events in USA where more than 20 thousands scientist from around the world get together to discuss, show and present their research in various areas of Earth Sciences. Environment science is one of the main focus area in both meetings and several thousands research studies on the same will be presented. The next AMS (88th Annual Meeting) will be held in, New Orleans, LA, USA during 20-24 January 2008. Please click on the link to see various topics covered by AMS-2008 http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/programsandevents.html and This year AGU Fall meeting will be held in San Francisco, CA, USA during 10–14 December 2007. For more details click here http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm07/

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 is to be shared, in two equal parts, between the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Albert Arnold (Al) Gore Jr. for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change. Indications of changes in the earth’s future climate must be treated with the utmost seriousness, and with the precautionary principle uppermost in our minds. Extensive climate changes may alter and threaten the living conditions of much of mankind. They may induce large-scale migration and lead to greater competition for the earth’s resources. Such changes will place particularly heavy burdens on the world’s most vulnerable countries. There may be increased danger of violent conflicts and wars, within and between states. Through the scientific reports it has issued over the past two decades, the IPC...