Earth Science Gallery
2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES
Tape Title
Record ID
Date Produced
TRT:
Synopsis
POLLUTION'S EFFECT ON STORMY SKIES
G02-032 5/1/02 00:06:21 Thunderstorms that typically deliver much-needed rain during the spring and summer may be adversely affected by the effects of pollution, says one scientist. Using instruments like the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and other NASA spacecraft, a researcher from Yale University has found that pollutant aerosols impair the formation of large cumulonimbus clouds and may alter their subsequent ability to produce rain.
TAPE CONTENTS:
ITEM (1): A Cog in The Cloud Process - The tiny airborne particles of pollution called aerosols seem to affect large thunderstorms, or cumulonimbus clouds from their very formation. Clouds require water vapor and aerosols from Earth's surface to form. Aerosols that dissolve easily in water, such as sea salt, give the excess water molecules something to cling to and are the start of the cloud. Unfortunately the pollution-produced aerosols increase the number of and depress the size of ice crystals in thunderclouds. Because the crystals are smaller, they don't fall out of the cloud as easily and evaporate instead of falling as rain. In areas like South America, home to biomass burning, the diameter of ice crystals was reduced by as much as 20%.
Another result of these smaller ice crystals in thunderstorm clouds is an increase in water vapor in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). The resulting cooler stratospheric temperatures then lead to more water vapor, a known ozone-destroyer. In this split-screen animation, aerosols from biomass burning hinder the development of a cloud, as happens naturally on the left side.
Credit: NASA
ITEM (2): Worldwide Rainfall - Steven Sherwood of Yale University was able to isolate the specific effects of aerosols on cloud formation by using 10 years of aerosol data near the ground taken by the NASA's TOMS instrument. He then used complementary data from NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) that revealed smaller crystals in the clouds. This sequence shows monthly rainfall averages for January 1998 through October 2000 from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
Credit: NASA
ITEM (3): Contributing Spacecraft -Aerosol data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument aboard the Earth Probe spacecraft provided pollution levels in the tropics. Cloud reflectivity data was obtained by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite.
Credits: NASA
ITEM (4): Factory B-Roll - Biomass burning, power plants, factories, trucks and automobiles are major contributors of soot and other particulate pollutants in the sky that affect cloud development. Aerosols are defined as any microscopic particle suspended in the air. The results of this study and another from Daniel Rosenfeld of Hebrew University last year, put to rest some long-standing debates about man-made pollutants and biomass burning as altering forces of our global climate and local weather systems.
Credits: NASA
[A Cog in The Cloud Process Animation]
[Worldwide Rainfall Movie]
NOTE: The material advertised on this page is a "Video File" and is strictly recommended for the media and production companies. This is NOT a finished production but does contain some narration.
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Earth Science Gallery
2002 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: | Synopsis |
| POLLUTION'S EFFECT ON STORMY SKIES | G02-032 | 5/1/02 | 00:06:21 | Thunderstorms that typically deliver much-needed rain during the spring and summer may be adversely affected by the effects of pollution, says one scientist. Using instruments like the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) and other NASA spacecraft, a researcher from Yale University has found that pollutant aerosols impair the formation of large cumulonimbus clouds and may alter their subsequent ability to produce rain. |
TAPE CONTENTS: |
||||
| ITEM (1): A Cog in The Cloud Process - The tiny airborne particles of pollution called aerosols seem to affect large thunderstorms, or cumulonimbus clouds from their very formation. Clouds require water vapor and aerosols from Earth's surface to form. Aerosols that dissolve easily in water, such as sea salt, give the excess water molecules something to cling to and are the start of the cloud. Unfortunately the pollution-produced aerosols increase the number of and depress the size of ice crystals in thunderclouds. Because the crystals are smaller, they don't fall out of the cloud as easily and evaporate instead of falling as rain. In areas like South America, home to biomass burning, the diameter of ice crystals was reduced by as much as 20%. Another result of these smaller ice crystals in thunderstorm clouds is an increase in water vapor in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere). The resulting cooler stratospheric temperatures then lead to more water vapor, a known ozone-destroyer. In this split-screen animation, aerosols from biomass burning hinder the development of a cloud, as happens naturally on the left side. Credit: NASA | ||||
| ITEM (2): Worldwide Rainfall - Steven Sherwood of Yale University was able to isolate the specific effects of aerosols on cloud formation by using 10 years of aerosol data near the ground taken by the NASA's TOMS instrument. He then used complementary data from NOAA's Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) that revealed smaller crystals in the clouds. This sequence shows monthly rainfall averages for January 1998 through October 2000 from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Credit: NASA | ||||
| ITEM (3): Contributing Spacecraft -Aerosol data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) instrument aboard the Earth Probe spacecraft provided pollution levels in the tropics. Cloud reflectivity data was obtained by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. Credits: NASA | ||||
| ITEM (4): Factory B-Roll - Biomass burning, power plants, factories, trucks and automobiles are major contributors of soot and other particulate pollutants in the sky that affect cloud development. Aerosols are defined as any microscopic particle suspended in the air. The results of this study and another from Daniel Rosenfeld of Hebrew University last year, put to rest some long-standing debates about man-made pollutants and biomass burning as altering forces of our global climate and local weather systems. Credits: NASA | ||||
[A Cog in The Cloud Process Animation] [Worldwide Rainfall Movie]
NOTE: The material advertised on this page is a "Video File" and is strictly recommended for the media and production companies. This is NOT a finished production but does contain some narration.
[HOME] [Return to the Earth Science Catalog] [How to order videotapes]