Clouds hold key to predicting monsoon & climate change: DTE

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) Clouds hold the key to predictingmonsoon and climate change, a green body today said andasserted that a better understanding of them can help predictlightning, which is the topmost weather-related cause of deathin India. Down To Earth (DTE), the development-environmentfortnightly published by Centre for Science and Environment(CSE) which has come out with an analysis said that over30,000 people have died since the 2000 due to lightning. "Polluted clouds are capable of causing greater havoc,say scientists interviewed by DTE. Take the case of lightning.Since the year 2000, over 30,000 have died in India due tolightning strikes – making it the leading weather-relatedcause of death in the country," a CSE statement said quotingthe magazine said. "A comparison of the regions chronically affected bylightning with an aerosol emission map of India shows a strongcorrelation. The maximum number of lightning deaths comes fromthe Gangetic plains, central India and the Deccan plateau –regions that are home to the most polluting industries andburning of waste," the magazine wrote according to thestatement. Noting that clouds are a key component of the climatesystem because they help regulate the planet’s temperature,the statement said that they are responsible for both heatingup and cooling down the planet, depending on their type andwhere they are located, the magazine wrote. "Understanding this dual nature of cloud is importantbecause it shows how changes in clouds will affect the energybalance and radiation budget of the planet," the statementsaid quoting DTE writers. DTE wrote that scientists were now zeroing in onaerosols, tiny microscopic particles, as the crucial factor information and evolution of clouds. "Clouds hold the key to predicting monsoon and climatechange," the statement said quoting the magazine. Noting that the type of the aerosol and its abundance inatmosphere dictates the behaviour of the cloud, the magazinesaid that the greater the number of aerosols, larger is thenumber of cloud droplets. "As cloud water gets distributed among too many aerosols,they result in larger numbers of small droplets, which do notproduce rain. Polluted air, therefore, can suppress rainfall,"it said. PTI TDSRG