Salt seeds clouds in the Amazon rainforest: Researchers track down the sources of condensation nuclei
It's morning, deep in the Amazon jungle. In the still air innumerable leaves glisten with moisture, and fog drifts through the trees. As the sun rises, clouds appear and float across the forest canopy ... but where do they come from? Water vapor needs soluble particles to condense on. Airborne particles are the seeds of liquid droplets in fog, mist, and clouds. To learn how aerosol particles form in the Amazon, researchers analyzed samples of naturally formed aerosols collected above the forest floor, deep in the rainforest. Their analysis provided essential clues to the evolution of fine particles around which Amazon clouds and fog condense, beginning with chemicals produced by living organisms. The team found that among the most important initial triggers of the process are potassium salts.