Airborne minerals and related aerosol particles: effects on climate and the environment.

摘要: Aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the troposphere and exert an important influence on global climate environment. They affect through scattering, transmission, absorption of radiation as well by acting nuclei for cloud formation. A significant fraction aerosol particle burden consists minerals, most remainder— whether natural or anthropogenic—consists materials that can be studied same methods used fine-grained minerals. Our emphasis is study character individual particles. Sulfate main cooling agents among aerosols; we found remote oceanic atmosphere a aggregated with soot, material diminish effect sulfate. results suggest oxidization SO2 may have occurred soot surfaces, implying even marine provided heterogeneous sulfate Sea salt dominant species (by mass) above oceans. In addition to being light scatterers contributors condensation nuclei, sea-salt also provide large surface areas atmospheric reactions. Minerals comprise mass burden. As all geologists know, they highly mixture. However, scientists commonly treated fairly uniform group, one whose interaction widely assumed unpredictable. Given their abundances, total areas, reactivities, role influencing will require increased attention models refined.