How Air Pollution can affect clouds and the possible

impact(s)

Clouds and the importance of their role

By: Venkat Madduri

To: Climate Central

Abstract
Clouds can be seen almost every day, if not at least every week. There are over ten types of
clouds. These types range from the most common cumulus cloud which is a very common like
cloud due to its fluffy nature and the cirrus clouds which look like thin white strands spread
across the sky, examples are on the cover page. They can be in altitudes from around 1,000
meters to 9,000 meters. Clouds play an important part in Earth’s weather. Clouds are large
amounts of condensed water vapor, that consist of very tiny water droplets and/or ice crystals
that float in the sky. Clouds form by the sun heating the surface but more specifically large
bodies of water. Causing the air along with the water vapor to rise and cool, which is mostly not
visible to the naked eye. Cloud formation is dependent on temperature and humidity, because as
the air gets warmer the more water vapor it can hold. When the water vapor is cooled it sticks to
tiny various particles floating in the air like dust or salt. Over time multiple amounts of water
vapor gathers around a single particle that was floating in the sky, when enough is formed a very
tiny droplet is formed, they are so tiny that they can stay afloat they usually move around a lot in
the cloud and when they do they combine with other particles to form larger drops of water or
sometimes depending on how cold it is possibly a crystal. When the water droplets become too
heavy, they fall resulting in rain or maybe even hail if it is cold enough. Clouds that form rain are
referred to as cumulonimbus clouds (Hamblyn pg.63). This process is also called the water cycle.
Clouds can even cool the earth by reflecting incoming sunlight. The tiny drops or ice particles in
clouds scatter between 20% to 90% of the sunlight that strikes them, giving them their bright
appearance, or even warm the earth by redirecting absorbed infrared radiation from the sun back
to the Earth’s surface, This helps keep the earth’s weather in temperature balanced. (Do Clouds
Warm or Cool the Climate?) How ever there is one main problem that is affecting clouds across
the world and that is excess aerosol pollution. One of the few problems that are associated with
clouds is aerosols, because aerosols can alter the clouds property.

Type: Nimbostratus

What is aerosol and how does it impact clouds?

First it is important to know what aerosol is made of, aerosol is made up of very tiny particles
and those particles can play a role in the water cycle as one of the particles the water vapor sticks
to in order to form the water droplet. Aerosol can be consisted on natural materials such as sand,
gravel, dirt, or even pollen. It can also even come from anthropogenic (Human involvement)
sources like factories or even certain vehicles. Aerosols are a vital part of the cloud formation
and the rain cycle but too much can disrupt the natural balance. (What Are Aerosols?) A normal
cloud with a regular amount or aerosols can look dark and can retain a normal amount of water
vapor with regular sized droplets. Clouds with many aerosols have numerous water droplets but
they are very tiny due to the number of particles in the cloud. Aerosol filled clouds are very
reflective and are bright white. Due to these clouds’ reflective nature sunlight can get blocked
from reaching the Earth’s surface and shading the planet, possibly even cooling the planet.
(Aerosols: Tiny Particles, Big Impact). Now one may think that aerosols could suppress
precipitation, but aerosols lead to bigger cloud formation and cause strong downpours.
Depending on the material in the aerosols such has black carbon could warm the atmosphere and
even cause cloud droplets to evaporate. (Aerosols: Tiny Particles, Big Impact)

Solution
The simplest solution is recycling hard plastic like plastic bottles, soft plastic like plastic bags,
paper, cardboard, metals, and glass items.

How
Recycling is simply turning trash into material that can be reused. Recycling can reduce the
amount of waste sent to the incinerators, burning of trash, especially plastics and metals can
release emissions in the air, these emissions can contain numerous amounts of aerosols that can
get mixed in with the cloud making process. Reusing materials also saves a lot of energy and
factories won’t have to release emissions into the air. For example, the need to burn fossil fuels
will go down, greatly reducing the amount of emissions that contain aerosols. Producing
recycled paper produces around 70% less air pollution than when made from raw materials
(Reducing Pollution).

Conclusion
In short aerosols can be good for clouds, they are a vital part of the cloud making process
because the water vapor in the air needs something to stick to in order to create a small water
droplet. But too much aerosols in the air can create an uneven cloud, aerosols can come from
natural materials like salt to manmade materials like carbon emissions from factories. The reason
this solution should be implemented is due to its simplicity, no need to make or by costly wind
turbines that can sometimes cost around to 1.3 million to 2.2 million dollars if it’s a utility scale
wind turbine. (How much do wind turbines cost?) Or the need to place solar panels all over the
roofs of houses or streetlights. All that must happen is for people to recycle more efficiently,
because if someone were to go through trash at landfills that person probably could find a lot of
waste that could be recycled. Recycling can reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to taking
five million cars off the road (Reducing Pollution).

References
Book(s):
Hamblyn, Richard, Clouds, London, Reaktion Books Ltd, 2017

Webiste(s):
Do Clouds Warm or Cool the Climate?, www-
das.uwyo.edu/~geerts/cwx/notes/chap09/rossow.html.

Tiffany Means. “10 Basic Types of Clouds and How to Recognize Them.” ThoughtCo,
ThoughtCo, 3 July 2019, www.thoughtco.com/types-of-clouds-recognize-in-the-sky-4025569.

“What Are Aerosols?” ScienceDaily, ScienceDaily, 1 Apr. 2016,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160401145037.htm

“Aerosols: Tiny Particles, Big Impact.” NASA, NASA,

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Aerosols/page4.php.

“A Simple List of What Can and Cannot Be Recycled.” EcoScraps,

www.ecoscraps.com/blogs/sustainable-living/76411652-a-simple-list-of-what-can-and-cannot-
be-recycled.

“Reducing Pollution - Recycling to Live Green (GVC1402).” Google Sites,

sites.google.com/a/gsbi.org/gvc1402/we-care/healthy-clean-air.

“How Much Do Wind Turbines Cost?” Windustry,

www.windustry.org/how_much_do_wind_turbines_cost.