The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topicThank you for liking
You have already liked this page, you can only like it once!
Aerosols are tiny droplets, dust particles, that are suspended in the atmosphere. Examples of aerosols include dust, sea salts, volcanic ash, smoke from wildfires, and pollution from factories. Human activity has directly impacted their presence, abundance and distribution.
Aerosols influence climate in two primary ways: by changing the amount of heat that gets in or out of the atmosphere, or by affecting the way clouds form. They also play a wider role in atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles in the Earth system, for instance, by carrying nutrients to ocean ecosystems.
Clouds and aerosols continue to contribute the largest uncertainty to estimates and interpretations of the Earth’s changing energy budget. Better long-term observations of aerosols and aerosol-cloud interactions will help to constrain climate model uncertainty.