Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
This cooling effect on the ocean surface usually lasts for several years as the lifetime of sulfate aerosols is about 2–3 years. [1] However, in the subsurface ocean the cooling signal may persist for a longer time and may have impacts on some decadal variabilities, such as the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). [1] [2]
Particulates or atmospheric particulate matter (see below for other names) are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air.The term aerosol refers to the particulate/air mixture, as opposed to the particulate matter alone, [1] though it is sometimes defined as a subset of aerosol terminology. [2]
Aerosols have a cooling effect on the earth's atmosphere, and global dimming has masked the extent of global warming experienced to date, with the most polluted regions even experiencing cooling in the 1970s. [1] [6] Global dimming has interfered with the water cycle by lowering evaporation, and thus has probably reduced rainfall in certain ...
The cooling period is reproduced by current (1999 on) global climate models that include the physical effects of sulfate aerosols, and there is now general agreement that aerosol effects were the dominant cause of the mid-20th century cooling. At the time there were two physical mechanisms that were most frequently advanced to cause cooling ...
The conversion of sulfur dioxide to sulfuric acid, which condenses rapidly in the stratosphere to form fine sulfate aerosols. A volcanic winter is a reduction in global temperatures caused by droplets of sulfuric acid obscuring the Sun and raising Earth's albedo (increasing the reflection of solar radiation) after a large, sulfur-rich, particularly explosive volcanic eruption.
The effect of major volcanic eruptions on sulfate aerosol concentrations and chemical reactions in the atmosphere. Major volcanic eruptions have an overwhelming effect on sulfate aerosol concentrations in the years when they occur: eruptions ranking 4 or greater on the Volcanic Explosivity Index inject SO 2 and water vapor directly into the stratosphere, where they react to create sulfate ...
Air pollution has substantially increased the presence of aerosols in the atmosphere when compared to the preindustrial background levels. Different types of particles have different effects, but overall, cooling from aerosols formed by sulfur dioxide emissions has the overwhelming impact. However, the complexity of aerosol interactions in ...
Even then, regions with high concentrations of sulfate aerosols due to air pollution had initially experienced cooling, in contradiction to the overall warming trend. [30] The eastern United States was a prominent example: the temperatures there declined by 0.7 °C (1.3 °F) between 1970 and 1980, and by up to 1 °C (1.8 °F) in the Arkansas ...