Pollution-coated particles bypass ice formation, but influence clouds
Friday, October 17, 2014 - 06:30
in Earth & Climate
Wrapped in pollution, dust diverts from its usual course and steers clear of water. The result, found researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, closes one more gap in understanding how—and when—cloud ice crystals form. They found that dust, usually a primary catalyst encouraging ice formation, when modified by pollution from combustion becomes less attractive for water vapor to initiate ice crystals under certain conditions. The "aged" dust particles, poor at catalyzing ice crystals, significantly alter the cloud environment by decreasing the number and concentration of ice crystals and ice water content.