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03/28/2024 12:35:50 pm

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Natural Cloud Seeding From Trees Can Unlock Clues About Earth's Climate

Trees can trigger natural cloud seeding.

(Photo : Pexels) Trees can trigger natural cloud seeding.

Artificial cloud seeding is used to make rainclouds for regions of land that are drying up however, a natural way form of this process can apparently reveal important clues about the planet's climate processes. 

In two new studies, scientists demonstrate how cloud formation is apparently aided by a chemical process from trees, revealing that molecules that are emitted by tress have the ability to seed clouds.

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When these studies are confirmed, this would mean that the planet could have had cloudier weather during pre-industrial revolution times, which can also suggest that current climate studies have underestimated the role of clouds on the planet's environment in this period.

It was also previously thought that cloud formations were first triggered by the presence sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, where these latest studies now challenge this theory. When acid is produced with carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion, this chemical was first believed to enable the production of clouds, which is an effect observed in historical records when it comes to the development of climate models.

According to the studies, climate scientists first assumed that during the pre-industrial era, there has been a significant increase in cloud cover, that is also first thought to be a by-product from a global cooling effect from reflected sunlight that bounces right back to space. Scientists then assumed that this overall cooling effect was covering up the climate's sensitivity to existing carbon dioxide levels. 

Since clouds are predominantly made from ice crystal or tiny liquid water particles, this moisture  would require a nucleus to trigger the condensation process to form clouds. Aerosols can come from man made sources from land, water and even in the atmosphere.

If this was true, this pre-industrial period would have been significantly cloudier than expected, where this masking effect is much more prevalent than current estimates and measures or, global warming in the beginning if the Industrial Revolution would not be as severe as first thought.

These two new studies are published in the journal Nature.

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