What if I told you that scientist had found a way to see what the air was like before society polluted it?
Scientists wished to see what the air was like before human activity caused so much damage with particle pollution. To do so, they climbed 130 feet into the air in the Amazon Basin of Manaus, Brazil. Here is where the atmosphere is thought to most closely resemble pre- Industrial Revolution. What they discovered surprised them. Firstly, droplets created from the oxidation of plants made up about 85% of the particles in the air, this is completely opposite from industrialized atmospheres. In addition, researches found just a few hundred particles per cubic centimeter of pre- industrial air; in industrial areas that number is more than 10,000.
Put simply, what this means is that we have so many foreign things in our industrialized air that it's difficult to track changes in atmospheric conditions. However, by looking at untouched aerosols, one can make improved models of the water cycle and the effects of atmospheric pollution on global climate change.
The scientists used discovery science because they observed the differences between the air in the Amazon and the air in industrialized areas of the world.
This is important for humans because it can help people set a basis on how much damage we have actually done to the atmosphere.
Author: Clay Dillow
Title: 130 Feet Above the Amazon Rainforest, Scientists Sample the Last Pristine Air on Earth
Journal: Popular Science
Published: September 21, 2010
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/scientists-capture-pristine-air-particles-untouched-industry-deep-rainforest
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