Środowiskowe Seminarium Fizyki Atmosfery

Influence of atmospheric aerosols on clouds, deep convection in particular, continues to be a controversial topic. Arguably, only carefully designed numerical simulations can clearly separate impact of aerosols from effects of other factors, such as the atmospheric sounding, magnitude surface fluxes, or effects of larger-scale perturbations (e.g., waves) that affect atmospheric stability. This is virtually impossible using observations because of the insufficient accuracy of atmospheric measurements and the fundamental nature of the interaction between convection and its environment. This presentation will provide a general overview of the impact of aerosols on clouds and convection, and it will discuss results from numerical simulations supporting the above statements. In particular, I will argue that the answer to the question posed in the title is negative.