Poster's note : This result apparently challenges other research which suggests rain out of injected sulphate aerosol particles would influence the formation of cirrus clouds.
http://m.sciencemag.org/content/early/2013/05/08/science.1234145 Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1234145Report Clarifying the Dominant Sources and Mechanisms of Cirrus Cloud Formation Formation of cirrus clouds depends upon the availability of ice nuclei to begin condensation of atmospheric water vapor. While it is known that only a small fraction of atmospheric aerosols are efficient ice nuclei, the critical ingredients that make those aerosols so effective has not been established. We have determined in situ the composition of the residual particles within cirrus crystals after the ice was sublimated. Our results demonstrate that mineral dust and metallic particles are the dominant source of residual particles, while sulfate/organic particles are underrepresented and elemental carbon and biological material are essentially absent. Further, composition analysis combined with relative humidity measurements suggest heterogeneous freezing was the dominant formation mechanism of these clouds. Received for publication 17 December 2012. Accepted for publication 18 April 2013. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
