Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Cloud albedo enhancement by surface-active organic solutes in growing droplets

Nature volume 401, pages 257–259 (1999)Cite this article

Abstract

Understanding the properties of clouds in the Earth's atmosphere is currently limited by difficulties at the fundamental level of adequately describing the processes of cloud droplet nucleation and growth. Small changes in droplet population may significantly influence cloud albedo1 as well as formation of precipitation. Models of cloud formation based on laboratory studies with idealized composition of nuclei suggest that organic solutes significantly lower surface tension2—one of the parameters determining droplet population—but the lack of data on composition and properties of the organic material in the atmosphere precludes realistic laboratory or model studies. Here, we report measurements on vacuum-evaporated samples of cloud water from the Po Valley, Italy, that show a large decrease in surface tension, by up to about one-third relative to pure water, for realistic concentrations of organic solutes expected to exist in growing droplets. Such large surface-tension changes, if they occur in cloud droplets near the critical size for nucleation, lead to an increase in droplet population and hence in cloud albedo. The error produced in ignoring this effect is estimated to be comparable to other calculated direct and indirect influences of aerosols on scattering and absorption of solar radiation3.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Measured change of surface tension.
Figure 2: Köhler curves given by a modified Köhler equation2.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Schwartz,S. E. & Slingo,A. in Clouds, Chemistry and Climate (eds Crutzen, P. J. & Ramanathan, V.) 191–236 (Springer, Berlin, 1996).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Shulman,M. L., Jacobson,M. C., Charlson,R. J., Synovec,R. E. & Young,T. E. Dissolution behavior and surface tension effects of organic compounds in nucleating cloud droplets. Geophys. Res. Lett. 23, 277–280 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Houghton,J. T. et al. (eds) Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change 65–131, Ch. 2 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1996).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Köhler,H. The nucleus in the growth of hygroscopic droplets. Trans. Faraday Soc. 32, 1152–1161 (1936).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chuang,P. Y., Charlson,R. J. & Seinfeld,J. H. Kinetic limitations on droplet formation in clouds. Nature 390, 594–596 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Kulmala,M., Laaksonen,A. & Charlson,R. J. Clouds without supersaturation. Nature 388, 336–337 (1997).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Seidl,W. & Hänel,G. Surface-active substances on rainwater and atmospheric particles. Pure Appl. Geophys. 121, 1077–1093 (1983).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ogren,J. A. & Charlson,R. J. Implications for models and measurements of chemical inhomogeneities among cloud droplets. Tellus B 44, 208–225 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Saxena,P. & Hildemann,L. M. Water-soluble organics in atmospheric particles: a critical review of the literature and application of thermodynamics to identify candidate compounds. J. Atmos. Chem. 24, 57–109 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Loglio,G., Pandolfini,P., Tesei,U. & Noskov,B. Measurements of interfacial properties with the axisymmetric bubble-shape analysis technique: effects of vibrations. Colloids Surf. A 143, 301–310 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Zappoli,S. et al. Inorganic, organic and macromolecular compounds of fine aerosol in different areas of Europe in relation to their water solubility. Atmos. Environ. 33, 2733–2743 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Seinfeld,J. H. & Pandis,S. N. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Wiley & Sons, New York, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Twomey,S. The influence of pollution on the short-wave albedo of clouds. J. Atmos. Sci. 34, 1149–1152 (1977).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  14. Charlson,R. J. et al. Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols. Science 255, 423–430 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Langmuir,I. The constitution and fundamental properties of solid and liquids. II. Liquids. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 39, 1848–1906 (1917).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank G. Loglio for the surface tension measurements. M.M. was supported by the ‘Abdus Salam’ International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy under the TRIL Programme.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e dell'Oceano—Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISAO-CNR), 40129, Bologna, Italy

    Maria Cristina Facchini, Mihaela Mircea & Sandro Fuzzi

  2. Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, 98195, Washington, USA

    Robert J. Charlson

  3. National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology, Bucharest, Romania

    Mihaela Mircea

Authors
  1. Maria Cristina Facchini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mihaela Mircea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sandro Fuzzi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Robert J. Charlson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Cristina Facchini.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Facchini, M., Mircea, M., Fuzzi, S. et al. Cloud albedo enhancement by surface-active organic solutes in growing droplets. Nature 401, 257–259 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/45758

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/45758

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing