ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the radiative and climate impact of atmospheric aerosols, air pollution, and air quality issues. Atmospheric aerosols can exert a cooling and warming on the Earth's climate through direct, semi-direct, and indirect effects. The potential for aerosol forcing of climate can vary according to regional differences in aerosol columnar concentration, chemical composition, and the age of the air mass. Aerosols are produced from natural processes and anthropogenic activities. Radiative forcing of different aerosol species are highly uncertain owing to the difficulty in determining their anthropogenic and natural fraction, and their spatiotemporal variations. The radiative effects of aerosols depend on their size, abundance, and chemical composition, and they differ for different aerosol species. Thus, some aerosol types, namely black carbon, and mineral dust, cause positive forcing, while some others, namely sulfate, and sea salt, cause negative forcing.
