Think About The Earth

Yes, Aerosol Is Cool, But . . . (2 of 2) August 25, 2009

While the cooling aerosols remain suspended in the atmosphere for six days up to a few years, the heart-trapping greenhouse gases stay for centuries.,  and even when they produce a desirable cooling effect, man-made aerosols, especially sulfur dioxide may also pose an environmental hazard—they may induce acid-rain formation and cause lung irritation, cancer, and heard disease.  Sulfur haze also obscures horizons, a common problem observed in highly urbanized areas.

The Real Problem

Dr. Michael Mischchenko of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies said that seriously considering the cooling effect of aerosols only prevents a clear recognition of the global warming problem.  Natural aerosols may seem a remedy by partially locking off solar radiation, but they do not address the more pressing problem of accelerated greenhouse effect.  At worse, they also have been linked to ozone layer destruction as sulfates and hydrogen chlorides may increase the amount of chlorine retained in the atmosphere.

Chlorine interacts with nitrogen and contributes to ozone layer depletion.  There is also a danger of misinterpreting facts—just because aerosols produce a cooling effect does not mean that we should increase the amount of it that we deposit in the atmosphere to somehow delay global warming.  That should certainly not be the case.

Dr. Mishchenko said that we should focus more on ways to control the amount of anthropogenic aerosols—when this is done, this implies a reduced use of fossil fuels, lowered carbon emissions, and hit-on-target approach to curbing global warming.

Sources:

► Atmospheric aerosols; what are they and why are they so important?  http://oea.larc.nasa.gov/PAIS/Aerosols.html

►Bird, Deborah, Joel Block, Lindsay Patterson, Jorge Salazar.  Fewer aerosols may step up global warming.  http://earthsky.org/radioshows/51211/fewer-aerosols-may-increase-global-warming

► www.margarita-station.com/pinatubo_photos/pinatubo1.jpg

► http://newmediastudio.org/DataDiscovery/Aero_Ed_Center/Charact/A.what_are_aerosols.html

► Rosenberg, Matt. Mt. Pinatubo eruption. 5 August 2007. http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/pinatubo.htm

►Sjaak, Slanina, Aerosols. 18 December 2007. www.eoearth.org/article/Aerosols

► Sulfate aerosols and global warming.  www.washington.edu/research/pathbreakers/1969e.html