Widespread 'Twilight Zone' Detected Around Clouds

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Because clouds change so quickly and come in so many types and sizes they play a complicated role in Earthacutes climate. The influence of cloud fields is now even more complex due to the discovery of previously undetected particles in and around the ...
Because clouds change so quickly and come in so many types and sizes, they play a complicated role in Earth's climate. The influence of cloud fields is now even more complex due to the discovery of previously undetected particles in and around them. Credit: NASA GSFC, MODIS Atmosphere Science Team.

There seems to be something new under the sun -- in the sky, specifically -- that could complicate scientists' efforts to get a fix on how much the world will warm in the future. Greenhouse gases are not the only things in the air that influence the temperature of our atmosphere. Clouds and small airborne particles called aerosols also play an important and complicated role. And now a new ingredient has been discovered: an extensive and previously unseen “twilight zone” of particles that represents a gradual transition from cloud droplets to dry particles.


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