Aerosol Impacts on Climate

Particles suspended in the atmosphere, or aerosols, interact with solar and thermal infrared radiation, and their presence alters the Earth's radiative energy balance. Their spatial and temporal distributions, together with the diversity of composition and properties including their interactions involving clouds, are important factors in affecting global and regional climates e.g., atmospheric circulation, surface temperature and precipitation. Natural and human-influenced emissions have contributed to changes in atmospheric aerosol concentrations which in turn have exerted influences on the climate of the 20th and early 21st centuries. The aerosol climate effects exhibit a distinct contrast with those due to the well-mixed greenhouse gas emissions.