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Aerosol loading – smoke, dust and soot
An aerosol
is a spray can that you use, right? Yes but
it's also smoke and
dust that affects people's health and pollutes
the air. Not nice, huh? Humans make a big
mess wherever they go, churning out masses
of smoke or dust aerosols
from
- car, truck, ship and aircraft engines,
- fires from cooking, heating, burning forests
- industry - burning fuels like coal
This smoke and dust
is made up of very tiny particles, which are
so light that they get wafted up into the atmosphere
where they stay for weeks or months. They are
called aerosols and they affect the climate
and people's health. Soot particles – a
major part of these aerosols – cause the
climate to warm up because they are black and
absorb heat from the sun. Sulphate particles
(from burning coal mostly, and also from large
volcanoes occasionally erupting) can cause
local cooling. A brown
haze of smoke sits permanently
over India and is called the Asian brown cloud.
It seems that this not only causes warming
but also partly blocks the life-giving monsoon
rains which Indian farmers depend on for growing
food.
Nobody knows what limits should be set for the
dusty haze of smoke, soot and sulphate particles
humans are making. It looks like it should be
a lot less than now.
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