Aerosols (Particulates) Blog

      Ozone is an aerosol that is a suspension of fine solid particles or liquid droplets in a gas; most of them are very small, not generally visible and are found in the Earth’s atmosphere.
      Some aerosols are natural while others are put into the air by humans. Natural sources of aerosols can come from dust in dry regions, forest fires, erupting volcanoes and salt from oceans. These aerosols can be taken to different places by wind.
      Aerosols, being a part of air pollution, are a contributing factor to climate change. While in the atmosphere, aerosols can change the amount of solar energy that is reflected back into space. They help to form clouds, and clouds help to reflect incoming sunlight back into space, potentially lowering the Earth’s temperature, causing more rainfall and strong low-front storms that can affect Earth’s ocean levels and climates.
      Aerosols affect life on Earth by potentially changing the Earth’s climate due to increases in cloud coverage. Increased cloud cover can change the climate by blocking more sunlight from reaching the ground for plants to use. In addition, more rainfall could cause flooding and colder temperatures could hurt wildlife in many of Earth’s ecosystems. Furthermore, from the aspect of human health, aerosols could cause long-term and short-term health problems through pollution, like upper respiratory infections including bronchitis, pneumonia, lung cancer and heart disease.

 

            Contributions from:

http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/cli_aerosols.htm

http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/Frames/pollution-health-effects-f.html