Program Information

Series: NASA Connect
Program: The Measurement of All Things: Atmospheric Detectives
Segment Number: 1 (Watch entire program)
Duration: 00:03:07
Year Produced: 1999
Description:

NASA Connect Segment that explains how the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere affects the Earth's weather conditions.

NASA CONNECT™ is a series of Emmy®-award-winning, math-focused programs. Each program supports the national math, science, and technology standards and has three components that include (1) a 30-minute television broadcast; (2) a companion educator's guide; and (3) an online activity that further explores topics presented in the broadcast. These programs establish a connection between the math, science, and technology concepts taught in the classroom to those same concepts used everyday by NASA researchers.

For more information visit: http://connect.larc.nasa.gov/

Transcript

(McCormick)
The atmosphere
consists of oxygen
and other gases
like nitrogen and water vapor,
hydrogen.

But did you know that the air
we breathe also consists
of tiny little particles
called aerosols?

Aerosols are very important
for lots of reasons.

For example,
aerosols are thought to be
important in climate by changing
the properties of clouds.

If you didn't have an aerosol,
if would be very difficult
for a cloud droplet to form.

In the air, water molecules
attach themselves to aerosols
and, as they condense,
a cloud droplet is formed.

The aerosols act as seeds
to start the formation
of the cloud droplets.

In any location, the amount
of aerosols in the atmosphere
can change:

Some aerosols are naturally
occurring in the atmosphere,
like sea salt, pollen,
and particles produced
by volcanic eruptions.

Other aerosols are human-made,
like factory pollutants,
automobile exhaust,
and smoke from biomass burning.

Can aerosols affect
the temperature here on Earth?

Sure, they can.

When aerosols like smoke
and dust and pollen
float in the air,
the air becomes hazy.

Now, if this haziness
reflects sunlight back to space,
the effect
is going to be a cooling
of the atmosphere on Earth.

But if this haziness
absorbs energy,
well, then the net effect
is going to be a warming
of the atmosphere here on Earth.

(Jennifer)
After getting tons of
information from Dr. McCormick,
we drove to NASA Langley
in Hampton, Virginia,
to talk with
Dr. Russell DeYoung,
an atmospheric scientist in the
chemistry and dynamics branch.

Hi, I'm Van.

Hi, glad to meet you.

What brings you two here today?

Well, it all started when
Van's car failed inspection.

It's because its emission
levels were too high.

Yeah, I can't believe
I got rejected
when there's so many
other things in the atmosphere
to worry about.

Can my van's
little emissions
really affect
the huge atmosphere above us?

Okay, good.

You've got a lot
of good questions,
and I think I can get
some answers for y'all.

Here at NASA Langley
in Hampton, Virginia,
and NASA Goddard
in Greenbelt, Maryland,
we study how natural
and manmade aerosols
affect the atmosphere.

You have one vehicle.

Every family on your block
has at least one vehicle.

Your city is full of vehicles.

In the U.S. alone,
there are millions of vehicles,
all burning fossil fuels.

All together,
these vehicles emit
huge amounts of particles,
called aerosols,
that are carried
long distances by the wind.

Did you know that in 1991,
Mount Pinatubo,
a volcano in the Philippines,
erupted,
releasing massive
aerosol concentrations
into the air?

These aerosols
were immediately dispersed
into the upper atmosphere.

Three months later,
these same aerosols
could be found
all over the Earth.

Okay, your van
is a small polluter.

But think about this:

Think about
the combined effect
of all the exhaust
of all the cars in the world
on the Earth's atmosphere.

Wow.

That's definitely
something to think about.