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Aerosols Cloud the Climate Picture

from Science News

Modeling the climate just got a little more complex. A new simulation that considers chemical interactions between various gases and atmospheric aerosols is giving scientists and policy makers better estimates of the climate-altering effects of those gases, scientists report.

Some atmospheric gases--known as greenhouse gases--trap heat and boost the planet's surface temperature. This process keeps Earth habitable, but nowadays, many scientists say, the planet may be getting too much of a good thing.

Though most climate simulations include the direct, heat-trapping effects of these atmospheric constituents, which can readily be measured in a lab, few account for how their presence either increases or decreases atmospheric concentrations of planet-cooling aerosols, says Drew Shindell, a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.