{"189671":{"#nid":"189671","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Study Shows that Gases Work with Particles to Promote Cloud Formation","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers at \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/engineering.columbia.edu\/\u0022\u003EColumbia Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E and the Georgia Institute of Technology have published a study in the online Early Edition of the journal \u003Cem\u003EProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences\u003C\/em\u003E (PNAS) showing \u2013 for the first time \u2013 that certain volatile organic gases can promote cloud formation in a way never considered before by atmospheric scientists. The study will be published during the week of February 4, 2013.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is the first time gases have been shown to affect cloud formation in this way,\u201d said V. Faye McNeill, associate professor in chemical engineering at Columbia University\u2019s Fu Foundation School for Engineering and Applied Science, and co-leader of the research team. \u201cThis is a very exciting finding that will improve our ability to model cloud formation, an important component of climate.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research team, co-led by \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.eas.gatech.edu\/people\/Athanasios_Nenes\u0022\u003EAthanasios Nenes\u003C\/a\u003E, professor and Georgia Power Faculty Scholar in the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.eas.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences\u003C\/a\u003E and the \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering\u003C\/a\u003E at Georgia Tech, has been focused on understanding the impacts of aerosols, or airborne particulate matter, on clouds, because clouds have such an significant influence over our climate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLow-level clouds cool the planet by reflecting incoming sunlight back to space, so anything that perturbs them can have a major impact on our climate,\u201d explained Nenes, adding that pollution produced by humans releases many airborne particles to the atmosphere which can act as seeds for forming cloud droplets, so clouds formed in polluted air masses have a good chance of being more reflective than their cleaner counterparts.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur study,\u201d Nenes said, \u201cshows that certain gas phase compounds tend to stick on particles, making them \u2018soapier\u2019 and promoting their ability to form cloud droplets. This mechanism has not been considered in climate models before.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EClouds form when water vapor condenses on atmospheric particulates called cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). Variations in CCN concentrations, say the researchers, can profoundly impact cloud properties with important effects on both regional and global climate. Organic matter, which makes up a significant percentage of aerosol mass in the troposphere, (the lowest layer of the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and the one in which we live) can profoundly influence the activity and concentration of CCN and cloud droplets.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this PNAS study, the researchers present evidence that two ubiquitous atmospheric trace gases, methylglyoxal and acetaldehyde, can enhance aerosol CCN activity even if they do not contribute any detectable organic mass when taken up by aerosol particles. The researchers generated aerosol particles in the McNeill Lab and exposed them to the surfactant gases methylglyoxal and\/or acetaldehyde in the lab\u2019s aerosol reaction chamber for up to five hours.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe exposed particles were then tested for their ability to form cloud droplets using a cloud chamber that was co-invented by the Nenes group. Their results showed the gas-phase surfactants may enhance the activity of atmospheric CCN, so that, as they conclude in the study, \u201cvolatile organics in the atmosphere may act as a reservoir of surfactants that can be taken up by aerosol particles and augment their CCN activity.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMcNeill and Nenes plan to do more experimental work with other organic gases under a variety of conditions that will, they say, \u201chelp us understand how general this newly discovered phenomenon is, and, most importantly, will enable us to incorporate it into models of cloud formation so we can improve the predictive power of climate models.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAdded McNeill: \u201cThe effects of aerosols on clouds is one of the greatest sources of uncertainty in our understanding of climate, so it\u0027s fun to work on a problem that is both important and intellectually fascinating.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research was funded in part by NASA, by the ACS Petroleum Research Fund, by the National Science Foundation, and by Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECITATION\u003C\/strong\u003E: Sareen, Neha et al., \u201cSurfactants from the gas phase may promote cloud droplet formation,\u201d Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2013): \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1204838110\u0022 title=\u0022www.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1204838110\u0022\u003Ewww.pnas.org\/cgi\/doi\/10.1073\/pnas.1204838110\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts\u003C\/strong\u003E: (1) Columbia Engineering: Holly Evarts, director of strategic communications and media relations (212-854-3206 office)(347-453-7408 cell)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:holly.evarts@columbia.edu\u0022\u003Eholly.evarts@columbia.edu\u003C\/a\u003E); (2) Georgia Tech: John Toon, director of research news (404-894-6986 office)(\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jtoon@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ejtoon@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter\u003C\/strong\u003E: Holly Evarts\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers have published a study in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showing \u2013 for the first time \u2013 that certain volatile organic gases can promote cloud formation in a way never considered before by atmospheric scientists.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new study shows that certain volatile organic gases can promote cloud formation in a way never considered before by atmospheric scientists."}],"uid":"27303","created_gmt":"2013-02-04 17:27:26","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:33","author":"John Toon","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-02-04T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2013-02-04T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"189661":{"id":"189661","type":"image","title":"Cloud Formation Stratocumulus","body":null,"created":"1449179848","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:57:28","changed":"1475894838","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:18","alt":"Cloud Formation Stratocumulus","file":{"fid":"196240","name":"718614main_iss034e016601_full.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/718614main_iss034e016601_full_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/718614main_iss034e016601_full_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":991839,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/718614main_iss034e016601_full_0.jpg?itok=zFPJRsC6"}},"189631":{"id":"189631","type":"image","title":"Cloud Formation 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McNeill","file":{"fid":"196241","name":"mcneill_web.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mcneill_web_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mcneill_web_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":172834,"path_740":"http:\/\/tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mcneill_web_0.png?itok=wFq8vj9p"}}},"media_ids":["189661","189631","189651","189641","189681"],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2262","name":"climate"},{"id":"57761","name":"cloud formation"},{"id":"7598","name":"clouds"},{"id":"14705","name":"droplets"},{"id":"167445","name":"School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering"},{"id":"166926","name":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"id":"3432","name":"weather"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable 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