Pollution Increases Summer Precipitation
In summer, weaker winds move the clouds more slowly. Heat absorbed by the city and pollution's interference with raindrop formation interact to cause the clouds to intensify before producing precipitation. The onset of rainfall from a cloud leads eventually to its demise by cooling off the air near the ground. the air pollution delays the onset of precipitation, so that the intense storm clouds can build higher and larger before they start precipitating and subsequently dissipating. Therefore, these larger and more intense thunderstorm clouds produce eventually heavier rainfall on the city and the downwind areas. First is the unpolluted, then the polluted case.
This animation shows summer precipitation without the effects of pollution.
This animation shows the increase in summer precipitation related to pollution.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
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Animator
- Susan Twardy (HTSI)
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Scientist
- Daniel Rosenfeld (Hebrew University)
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Writer
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, December 9, 2003.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:56 PM EDT.