Aerosols are tiny particles suspended in the atmosphere which play a key role in the formation of clouds.
With aerosols increasing due to human activities, numerous assessments by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have suggested they could have an important impact on climate change because clouds reflect sunlight and therefore keep temperatures cooler.
However, the cooling impact of aerosols on clouds is difficult to measure which has led to significant uncertainty climate change projections.
The University of Exeter study used data from the 2014 Icelandic volcano eruption to investigate the effect alongside satellite data and computer learning to study cloud cover and brightness.
It also used 20 years of satellite cloud images from two different satellite platforms from the region to compare the periods before and after the volcano eruption.
“This massive aerosol plume in an otherwise near-pristine environment provided an ideal...