The many sources of aerosols
| Aerosols are tiny particles, either solid or liquid, which are suspended in the atmosphere. Aerosols are typically about one micrometer (one-thousandth of a millimeter) in diameter and are found throughout the atmosphere. Aerosols play an important role in the formation of clouds, as they act as seeds for the growth of individual cloud droplets. They can also act to reflect sunlight out of the atmosphere, causing the surface of the Earth to be cooler than if aerosols did not exist. Common sources of aerosols are smoke from burning forests, salt particles from ocean spray, and dust blown up from the deserts of the world. The eruption of a volcano can also send a large amount of aerosols into the atmosphere in a very short period of time. |
Credit: Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory
For more info: http://www-sage3.larc.nasa.gov/solar/text/text-learning-aerosol.html