S K Satheesh is an Assistant Professor at Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. His research interests include aerosols, clouds, radiation and climate..

Our climate is strongly influenced by the manner in which solar radiation is absorbed and reflected in the atmosphere. Gases such as water vapour, carbon dioxide and methane allow most of the solar radiation to pass through but absorb most of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth. This increases the temperature of the Earth and is known as greenhouse effect. During the past 100 years the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by about 25% on account of burning of coal and oil by human beings. This has caused the surface temperature of the Earth to increase by about one degree centigrade. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is expected to increase exponentially in the next hundred years and this is expected to increase the global mean temperature by 2 to 5 degrees centigrade. The actual amount of increase will be difficult to predict on account of the influence of other factors such as clouds and aerosols. In this article the role of aerosols on climate is discussed.

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Address for Correspondence
S K Satheesh
Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012, India.
Email: satheesh@caos.iisc.ernet.in