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"Without them, there would be no cloud cover and no rain," Andy Mussoline of State College, Pa., a meteorologist for AccuWeather, said in a telephone interview.
Mussoline explained that aerosols are fine particles of solids and liquids - but mostly solids - that are virtually minute in size. He said the atmosphere literally carries tons of these miniscule floating debris.
These aerosols comprise such things as soot and ash from fires, dust propelled into the air by gusting winds, sea spray and huge quantities of ash and droplets of gas from the eruption of volcanoes.
Mussoline said it is these floating bit particles that make the clouds. He said they provide a surface for the water vapour to condense in forming the clouds.
A cloud cannot develop naturally on its own, said the AccuWeather spokesman.
He said it requires this microscopic flotsam and jetsam.
The latter's importance therefore cannot be over-stated, said Mussoline.
Without aerosols, there can be no clouds; without clouds, there can be no precipitation; and without precipitation, there can be no life.
In terms of pollution associated with these tiny particles. Mussoline said that would be more aligned with the lower levels of the atmosphere.
He said that would entail claims of extra-high levels of man-made pollution.
As for volcanoes, he said they shoot debris high into the atmosphere.
"The dust and dirt get stuck in the upper atmosphere and block energy from reaching the surface of the Earth," said the AccuWeather spokesman.
John Cox of Sacramento, Calif. - a well-known science writer who authored the books Weather for Dummies and Storm Watchers - cited the gigantic eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in the Philippines.
Cox said Mt. Pinatubo threw so much debris high into the atmosphere that it altered the short-term global climate.
Aerosols from this single volcano filtered out sunlight, causing average surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere to decrease by approximately two degrees C, said the science writer.
This worldwide, cooling effect, caused by the volcanic eruption, lasted for almost two years, said Cox.
On the "down side," said the science writer, industrial processes and gasoline engine combustion release enormous quantities of aerosols into the air.
Cox said this is responsible for the formation of smog in large urban communities.
Mussoline said there are also aerosols that have a warming effect on the atmosphere and aerosols that have no effect at all on the atmosphere.
But these microscopic particles in the air are essential and play a major part in both the daily weather and in longer-term climate variations, said the AccuWeather spokesman.
Meanwhile, cloudy weather conditions are expected to continue today in southeastern New Brunswick.
Overcast skies with a good possibility of rainshowers are being predicted for Metro Moncton. The high is not expected to make it above the 8C (46F) mark with a projected low of only 4C (39F).
Conditions are forecast to worsen tomorrow in Moncton, featuring cloudy skies and periods of rain throughout the day and well into the evening.
The projected high in the city tomorrow is 8C (46F) with the low coming in around 5C (41F).
comet dust would be classified as an aerosol.