What role do aerosols play in regulating Earths climate?
Because aerosols can reflect and absorb sunlight they can have both a warming and cooling effect on our climate. Since aerosols are not measured well, there is considerable uncertainty about the aerosols the effect have on climate and how they relate to increasing global surface temperatures. NASA is interested in the chemical reactions that form aerosols from their precursor gases (gases emitted into the atmosphere can mix with other gases and change their composition). For example nitrate aerosols and the precursor nitrogen oxides (mobile emissions from cars, trucks, buses) are related to tropospheric ozone.
