Continental aerosol refers to the heterogeneous mixture of particulate matter suspended in the atmosphere over landmasses, typically dominated by mineral dust, organic and black carbon, secondary inorganic aerosols (sulfate, nitrate, ammonium), biological particles, and anthropogenic pollutants. As a substance class, continental aerosols exhibit wide size distributions from nanometer-scale nucleation particles to coarse-mode dust and sea-salt transported inland, with complex morphology and hygroscopicity. Their chemical composition reflects terrestrial sources such as soil resuspension, biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion, industrial emissions, and biogenic precursors, strongly influencing their optical properties, cloud-nucleating ability, and reactivity in atmospheric chemical processes.
Glaciers can reveal vast archives of information about Earth's environmental past, but deciphering the origins of the matter within them can be a challenge. Now, using a novel technique that enables researchers to directly ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 16, 2026
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Winter winds lofted clouds of dust from the Sahara Desert, carrying it north toward the Mediterranean and dispersing it widely across Europe in March 2026. When the dust combined with moisture-laden weather systems, a dirty ...
Environment
Mar 12, 2026
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Particles in the atmosphere, known as aerosols, cool the climate by acting as cloud condensation nuclei. The more cloud droplets form around these particles, the less sunlight penetrates a cloud. This cools the climate, although ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 27, 2026
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Tiny aerosol particles in the air play a big role in regulating how much sunlight our planet absorbs or reflects, and how clouds form above us. In a recent study, researchers found that extreme heat waves can trigger new ...
Antarctica plays a crucial role in Earth's climate system by reflecting solar radiation back into space. The large white ice surfaces and clouds play a decisive role in this process. However, how clouds actually form in Antarctica, ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 20, 2026
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Solar radiation warms and illuminates our planet. It is the primary driver behind the movement of clouds and wind, helps keep us warm, and governs activity through daily and seasonal cycles. However, over the past 30 years, ...
Environment
Feb 17, 2026
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The Earth is warming more rapidly than before, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more intense. While global warming is mainly driven by carbon dioxide emissions, it is also influenced by air pollution. ...
Environment
Feb 12, 2026
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Large-scale melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet is irreversible and happening at a rapid rate, and now a new international study is the first to understand why. A University of Waterloo scientist and a team of international ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 28, 2026
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Organic matter carried in rivers to the Russian part of the Arctic Ocean may be creating more clouds and keeping the region cooler, a new study has found.
Earth Sciences
Jan 22, 2026
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Tiny airborne particles known as aerosols, from biomass burning, urban pollution, and industrial emissions, can dramatically alter rainfall, cloud formation, and atmospheric stability. A new study led by Professor Kyong-Hwan ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 16, 2025
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