Icy cirrus clouds born from desert dust, massive airborne study finds

Central Asian deserts are a significant source of cirrus-cloud-seeding dust. Credit: NASA

Every year, several billion metric tonnes of mineral dust are lofted into the atmosphere from the world’s arid regions, making dust one of the most abundant types of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. Now, scientists are learning that tiny bits of dust from the hottest and driest parts of the Earth are a surprisingly large driver in forming the delicate, wispy ice clouds known as cirrus in the cold, high-altitudes of the atmosphere. 

While scientists have known that desert dust particles seed clouds, the extent of that relationship has been a long-standing question. New research, based on the largest-ever airborne atmospheric sampling mission and published this month in Nature Geoscience, sheds light on the role of dust in the climate system. 

Read more at the link below.