Aerosol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Technically, an aerosol is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas. Examples
are smoke, oceanic haze, air pollution, smog and CS gas. In general conversation, aerosol usually
refers to an aerosol spray can or the output of such a can. The word aerosol derives from the fact that
matter "floating" in air is a suspension (a mixture in which solid or liquid or combined solid-liquid
particles are suspended in a fluid). To differentiate suspensions from true solutions, the
term solevolved—originally meant to cover dispersions of tiny (sub-microscopic) particles in a liquid.
With studies of dispersions in air, the term aerosol evolved and now embraces both liquid droplets,
solid particles, and combinations of these.

Contents
[hide]

• 1 Effect on climate

• 2 See also

• 3 References

• 4 External links

[edit]Effect on climate

Global aerosol optical thickness

 Aerosols over the Amazon each September for four burning seasons (2005 through 2008). The aerosol scale
(yellow to dark reddish-brown) indicates the relative amount of particles that absorb sunlight.

Some anthropogenic aerosols, particularly sulfate aerosols from fossil fuel combustion, exert a cooling
influence on the climate[1] which partly counteracts the warming induced by greenhouse gases such as
carbon dioxide. This effect is accounted for in many climate models.[2] Recent research suggests that
aerosol diffusion of light may have increased the carbon sink in the Earth's ecosystem.[3]

Recent studies of the Sahel drought[4] and major increases since 1967 in rainfall over the Northern
Territory, Kimberley,Pilbara and around the Nullarbor Plain have led some scientists to conclude that
the aerosol haze over South andEast Asia has been steadily shifting tropical rainfall in both
hemispheres southward.[5] The latest studies of severe rainfall declines over southern Australia since
1997[6] have led climatologists there to consider the possibility that these Asian aerosols have shifted
not only tropical but also midlatitude systems southward.

Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the atmosphere are a form of pollution which can give rise to smog and act
as a greenhouse gas. Their persistence in the atmosphere is affected by aerosol droplets of water. In
1964 long chain fatty acids, either naturally produced from marine organisms dispersed into the
atmosphere by wave action or man-made, were found to coat these droplets. In 2006 there was a
study of the effect of the LCFA on the persistence of NOx, but the long term implications, although
thought to be significant, have yet to be determined.[7]

Currently, the net effect of the most common short-lived aerosol pollutants on climate change is small,
as the radiative forcing of different species nearly cancels. Reduced emissions of sulphur dioxide,
leading to lower concentrations of cooling sulphates, combined with projected increases in emission
ofblack carbon aerosols (assuming no worldwide shift to a green economy) will lead to a net warming
effect from these species. In the long run, regional effects resulting from emissions patterns are
projected to average out, with this warming following the geographic distribution of warming from well-
mixed greenhouse gases.[8]