Climate Change - Aerosols in the troposphere

aerosols are tiny liquid and solid particles

They enter the troposphere by:

• factory and auto emissions
• agricultural burning / wild fires
• ocean - phytoplankton produce dimethylsulphide (DMS) - DMS forms SO2 in atmosphere which in turn produces sulfate aerosols

• Aerosol concentrations are increasing with time.

Tropospheric aerosol effect on climate:

• reflects and absorbs incoming solar radiation - cooling affect at surface, can lead to warming in troposphere.
• absorbs LW radiation - warming effect (especially the black sooty aerosols emitted through fossil fuel and biomass burning)

• The net effect of tropospheric aerosols is cooling.