Abstract

Cloud formation, radiative properties and cloud droplet chemistry is strongly affected by the size distribution and chemical composition of the atmospheric aerosol on which the cloud has been formed. Once a particle is incorporated into a droplet, chemical reactions in aqueous solution may occur changing the loading of air pollutants (e.g. oxidation of dissolved SO₂ under the catalytic influence of metal ions). In addition the incorporation of airborne particles into cloud droplets play an important role in determining the atmospheric residence time of air pollutants.

© 1996 Optical Society of America