Pollution from the Indian Ocean increases the phenomenon of warming climate

According to a study published in the journal Nature, polluted clouds in the Indian Ocean region increase warming climate in South Asia.

Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide (CO ₂ ), are considered the main culprits in the warming of the climate, but the impact of tiny particles polluting the air has not been achieved. know exacly. These so-called aerosols can contribute to cooling the surface of the Earth and the ocean by reflecting the sun's rays but can also heat the atmosphere when absorbing light.

Brown cloud in Chinese sky (Photo: NASA)

A group of researchers led by Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan of Scripps Oceanographic Institute (San Diego) led three small unmanned reconnaissance planes to study the cloud.

Every winter, this cloud is formed in the Indian Ocean region, forming a huge ' black curtain ' made up of tiny particles from urban, industrial or agricultural areas. infection. These aircraft performed 18 missions to observe and measure this contaminated cloud at different heights.

When processing these data with digital models, the researchers concluded that this cloud increases about 50% of the warming climate due to the sun's rays in the atmosphere. Soot particles suspended in black curtain absorbed sunlight.

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