Aerosols and Global Warming

The current information known about aerosols can be somewhat conflicting depending on what sources the information is from. According to articles we read in class, aerosols have tremendous potential-- they reflect the sun's energy and prevent it from reaching earth's surface, which could be helpful or harmful, depending on how we choose to improve the current situation of our atmosphere which is currently being destroyed by global warming. Global warming is caused by the sun's heat getting trapped within our atmosphere by materials with a high rate of absorption. Aerosols have a high rate of albedo, meaning that when the sun's energy reaches a layer of aerosols, they will primarily bounce off, back into space and away from earth's surface. If global warming continues negatively, this will be helpful in cooling the earth's surface. If we are to ever reverse the trend of global warming, aerosols could drop surface temperatures too far. However, this seems to be an impossible goal in the current shape of the global warming situation, so it is less likely to happen. In that case, aerosols could offset the effects of global warming by reflecting the sun's energy away from the surface and decreasing the trapping of heat in our atmosphere.