March 5, 2018

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Atmospheric physicists have found that the way wildfire smoke from Africa interacts with clouds over the Atlantic Ocean results in a net cooling effect, which is contrary to previous understanding and has implications for global climate models. The smoke particles serve as "seeds" for the clouds, making them bigger and brighter and increasing their reflectivity, which more than compensates for the warming effect caused by the dark smoke blocking the clouds from reflecting sunlight.Full Story

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University of Maryland Baltimore County

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