Cloud formation study casts a shadow over certain climate models.(Report)

(From Guardian Unlimited)

Some climate models may need to be "substantially revised" in the light of new research into the airborne particles that seed clouds.

One of the most detailed studies to date of the particles, known as aerosols, has found serious shortcomings in existing descriptions of how they arise in nature. The work suggests that one or more unidentified organic gases -- produced either naturally or from human activities -- has a significant influence on the Earth's cloud cover.

The research, reported in the journal Nature , has implications for certain predictions about climate change because aerosol particles and the clouds they seed have a …