Mysterious Element in the Formation of Clouds

Humans apparently only know a little bit about the cloud than previous estimates and. The new cloud chamber containing air man-made and uses a particle beam transmitter to simulate cosmic rays had revealed the formation of clouds in the lower layers of the atmosphere.

Experiment showing some chemical characteristics that help researchers track down the mystery of water vapor. The result is very important because of clouds and aerosols, its precursor is an uncertainty in modeling climate change.

Researchers have found that emissions of greenhouse gases warm the Earth, while the aerosols and clouds can alleviate this effect by deflecting sunlight back into space. But the particles are so rare and not many people know, so it is difficult to calculate the climate computer modeling.

Now researchers are beginning to realize how little of what they know about cloud formation. "What we know about the aerosol was much less." said Jasper Kirkby, a particle physicist at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland. "Now we understand the problem, it is much bigger."

Kirkby heads the experiment CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) at CERN, which was undertaken to investigate whether the cosmic rays (beam of subatomic particles from space that bombard the Earth's atmosphere) affect cloud formation.

Members of the CLOUD Team

They simulate the formation of fine particles known as aerosols in a giant cloud chamber made of steel. Aerosols are the seeds of the cloud. When aerosols grow large enough, water vapor condenses around it, so the sky looks cloudy.

A sketch to illustrate the possible link between galactic cosmic rays and cloud formation

Scientists do not use ordinary air in the chamber because the air around us can not be purified to purify it from other substances. They make their own air of liquid nitrogen and liquid oxygen. Water vapor used in the chamber was cleaned in the most sophisticated refining equipment, although the result was not quite maximal.

The temperature inside the chamber was also set on the number fraction of hundred degrees Celsius, as the temperature in the atmosphere. They used a beam of light particles from the Proton Synchrotron accelerator CERN as kosmisnya light, while light ultravolet optical fiber into its sun.

"It's like cooking," says Kirkby. "We fill a pot, that is her stall, with a variety of materials that we want. And then we set the temperature."

CERN - CLOUD Experimental Chamber

In that experiment, Kirkby trying to imitate the formation of aerosols or the formation of core groups of molecules in the atmosphere to form aerosols They found that sulfuric acid and ammonia are expected to accelerate this process was not able to work well in lower atmospheric layers, around one kilometer of the earth's surface.

"The number of core formation of aerosols are visible in the chamber between a tenth and a thousandth of what is typically found in astosfer bottom," says Kirkby. "Clearly there is something missing."

CERN - CLOUD Experimental Chamber

Data obtained from the CLOUD experiment can be utilized in the modeling of global aerosol formation, which is very important in climate modeling world.

"It's like part of the jigsaw puzzle," he said. "It's like adding a small piece to understand the big picture." ***  [LIVESCIENCE | KORAN TEMPO 3638]