Dirty air brings rain -- then again, maybe not

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Smoke from agricultural fires suppresses rainfall from a cloud over the Amazon (right). A similar size cloud (left) rains heavily on the same day some distance away in the pristine air. Image: Hebrew University photo
Smoke from agricultural fires suppresses rainfall from a cloud over the Amazon (right). A similar size cloud (left) rains heavily on the same day some distance away in the pristine air. Image: Hebrew University photo
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An international team of scientists, headed by Prof. Daniel Rosenfeld of the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has come up with a surprising finding to the disputed issue of whether air pollution increases or decreases rainfall. The conclusion: both can be true, depending on local environmental conditions.


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