Abstract

Tropospheric aerosols are the dispersing agents of many biogeochemically active substances, affect the global climate and interfere with human and electronic vision. Routine satellite monitoring of backscattered solar radiation over the oceans reveals that the highest aerosol signal is near the tropics where wind-blown dust and biomass combustion from Africa and southern Asia produce 5000 km long aerosol plumes. Further aerosol belts of marine origin are observed just north of the equator and at 30-60 latitudes in both hemispheres. The backscattering in the summer hemispheres exceed the winter values by a factor of 5 to 10. Thus, the global tropospheric aerosol is a dynamic collection of independent aerosol regions, with unique sources and temporal pattern.