At the CERN laboratory in Switzerland, particle physicist Jasper Kirkby studies the link between aerosols, cosmic rays and cloud formation, using the data to inform climate models. “It’s recognised by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] that human activities have changed aerosol particles in the atmosphere,” says Kirkby. “The measurements we make here are now being implemented in climate models.”
The research is part of the Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets experiment, otherwise known as CLOUD. To study the effects of different compounds on aerosol formation, Kirkby adds trace gases to a clean cloud chamber at atmospheric pressures and temperatures. The experiment even has an instrument called FLOTUS, which artificially accelerates some chemical processes by irradiating a quartz tube with intense UV light. “There are many processes where there are multiple steps, which may take several days in the atmosphere,” says Kirkby. By pre-ageing the samples, the researchers can study aerosol formation over the course of hours.
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