PNNL confirms air pollution impacts climate

Enlarge Image

Tiny particles in air pollution can impact clouds and precipitation, according to new research.

Research out of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory provides the first clear evidence about how soot, dust and other small particles in the atmosphere can impact cloud development.

The net effect of air pollution can reduce precipitation in dry regions while increasing rain, snowfall and the intensity of storms in wet regions.

The research, led by the University of Maryland, and involving scientists at PNNL, Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, was published in the journal Nature Geoscience. "Increases in manufacturing, building of power plants and other industrial developments, together with urbanization, are often accompanied with increases in pollution whose adverse impacts on weather and climate, as revealed in this study, can undercut economic gains," said Zhanqing Li, professor at the University of Maryland who led the study, in a press release.

Cloud modeling work done at PNNL confirmed that increasing air pollution — specifically tiny particles called aerosols — can directly affect how clouds form and either handicap or enable the formation of snow or rain.

Water and ice form around the individual particles affecting the amount of precipitation.

While aerosol particles have been documented to prevent the radiation of heat back into space, contributing to global warming, proof of other climate effects caused by this type of pollution had been lacking before this study was completed.

@SustainableBzOR | christinawiliams@bizjournals.com | 503.219.3438