Aerosols are technically defined as a relatively stable dispersion of solid or liquid particles in a gas. However, in common usage in the atmospheric sciences the term refers to the particles themselves. Aerosols are involved in a number of important atmospheric processes. These include atmospheric electricity; visibility; cloud and precipitation formation, including acidity of the precipitation; atmospheric biogeochemical cycles; and the radiative properties of the atmosphere. In all of these processes the size distribution of the aerosols is particularly important, as is their chemical composition.
Atmospheric aerosols are generated by a number of natural processes and as a result of human activities. Aerosols may be classified as “primary” or “secondary”, depending on their production process. Primary aerosols are particles that are injected into the air directly, often by some mechanical process such as wind erosion of land surfaces (mineral aerosol), or wave breaking (sea salt...
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Cloud Climatology
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Duce, R.A. (2005). Aerosols. In: Oliver, J.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of World Climatology. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3266-8_3
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