Unclouding the behavior of clouds

Unclouding the behavior of clouds: "Previously, scientists had thought that pollution causes larger and longer-lasting storm clouds by making thunderheads draftier through convection. But the new research, appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that pollution makes clouds linger by decreasing the size, and increasing the lifespan, of cloud and ice particles.

Most climatologists would agree that the current models that predict weather and climate don't reconstruct the lives of clouds well, especially storm clouds. Usually these models replace storm clouds with simple equations that fail to capture the whole picture. Because of these poor reconstructions, researchers have been faced with a dilemma: pollution causes the anvil-shaped clouds to linger longer than they would in clean skies - but why?"

'via Blog this'