09/28/2009

Nature Features DOEClimate Research Mobile Facility Deployment

Summary

An article published this week (September 23, 2009) in Nature features initial findings from a year long study in China with DOE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Climate Research Facility’s (ACRF) mobile facility. Moisture-laden clouds frequently gather over the heavy industrial regions of eastern China, yet little rain falls there. Using the ACRF data, a University of Maryland scientist and researchers in the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered one reason may be in a component of those clouds: aerosols. These data are also being used by the investigators and other scientists to improve understanding and the representation in climate models of the impact of aerosols on clouds and precipitation.

References

Atmospheric science: Cloudy, with a chance of science. Published online 23 September 2009 | Nature 461, 466-468 (2009) | doi:10.1038/461466a.