Global Aerosol
Diversity
Prelims:
Environment & Ecology, Science &
Technology
Mains:
GS Paper III- Conservation and
Environmental Pollution
Current
relevance:
A recent study by
researchers from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), ARIES, ISRO,
NASA, and other international institutions, published in the Atmospheric
Environment Journal, has identified seven major aerosol types and mapped
their global distribution.
Highlights:
1.
Aerosols are tiny particles
suspended in the atmosphere that influence Earth's climate by scattering,
absorbing, and interacting with sunlight, thereby affecting the planet's energy
balance, clouds, weather, and rainfall.
2. Objective:
The study provides a long-term global assessment of aerosol
diversity and their radiative effects to improve climate models and enhance the
accuracy of climate predictions.
3.
The study classified aerosols into seven
major types:
i.
Pure
Dust (PD)
ii.
Dust-Dominated
Mixtures (DDM)
iii.
Pollution-Dominated
Mixtures (PDM)
iv.
Very
Weakly Absorbing (VWA)
v.
Weakly
Absorbing (WA)
vi.
Moderately
Absorbing (MA)
vii.
Strongly
Absorbing (SA)
4. South
Asia
experiences the highest Aerosol Radiative Forcing and atmospheric heating
because of the predominance of dust mixed with pollution (Dust-Dominated
Mixtures).
5. Climate
Implications:
i.
Strongly
absorbing aerosols,
particularly those rich in black carbon, absorb large amounts of solar
radiation, causing significant atmospheric heating and influencing regional
weather patterns and cloud formation.
ii.
Very
weakly absorbing aerosols
primarily scatter and reflect incoming sunlight back into space, producing a cooling
effect on the Earth's surface.
iii.
The
varying radiative properties of different aerosol types significantly influence
the Earth's energy balance, making accurate aerosol characterization
essential for understanding and predicting climate change.
6. Applications:
i.
Climate models
ii.
Satellite-based remote sensing
iii.
Air quality monitoring
iv.
More accurate aerosol retrieval algorithms
v.
Support the assessment of air pollution impacts
Source: PIB - https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2288312®=48&lang=2