// Aerosols
Aerosols such as dust, sea salt, organic and black carbon, and sulfate, interact both directly and indirectly with the Earth's radiation budget and climate. As a direct effect, the aerosols scatter sunlight directly back into space. As an indirect effect, aerosols in the lower atmosphere can modify the size of cloud particles, changing how the clouds reflect and absorb sunlight, thereby affecting the Earth's energy budget. Climate modelers use observational aerosols as input to their climate models and generate output containing modeled aerosols. CDS provides access to Aerosol observational data through the ESGF data node for the purpose of comparing NASA observational data with IPCC CMIP5 Climate Model data and to the Aerosol modeled data through the WMS service and GDS. For more information, see the GMAO Aerosols Page.
Observational Data Access (obs4MIPs):
Modeled Data Access:
