ORIGIN: https://www.yourweather.co.uk/news/
An instrument installed on the International Space Station by NASA has made it possible to determine the mineral composition of deserts with unprecedented precision and significantly improve estimates of the impact of atmospheric dust on the global climate.
Beyond its influence on solar radiation, mineral dust is also involved in processes as diverse as ocean fertilisation, snow darkening and cloud formation.Although it often goes unnoticed, the mineral dust lifted from arid regions such as the Sahara, the Middle East and parts of Asia is one of the most abundant components of Earth’s atmosphere.
These tiny particles travel thousands of kilometres driven by the wind and play a fundamental role in the planet’s climate system.
However, understanding exactly how they influence Earth’s energy balance has been a challenge for the scientific community for decades. Now, an international study led by Cornell University has dramatically reduced one of the main sources of uncertainty in climate models: the mineral composition of the dust circulating in the atmosphere.
The results were published on 1 June in the journal Nature Geoscience and
English