Aerosol
An aerosol is a suspension of fine solid or liquid droplets in a gas. (Contrast with a smoke which is a suspension of solid particles in a gas.) The term aerosol, derives from the fact that matter "floating" in air is a suspension (a mixture in which solid or liquid or combined solid-liquid particles are suspended in a fluid). With studies of dispersions in air, the term aerosol evolved and now embraces both liquid droplets, solid particles, and combinations of these. For more information about Aerosols visit the Earth Observatory.

Anthropogenic
Anthropogenic effects, processes, objects, or materials are those that are derived from human activities, as opposed to those occurring in natural environments without human influences.

Atmosphere
The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.

Black Carbon
Black Carbon is formed through the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, biofuel, and biomass, and is emitted in both anthropogenic and naturally occurring soot. Black Carbon warms the planet by absorbing heat in the atmosphere and by reducing albedo, the ability to reflect sunlight, when deposited on snow and ice. However, Black Carbon stays in the atmosphere for only several days to weeks, whereas Carbon Dioxide (CO²) has an atmospheric lifetime of more than 100 years.

Glory
A glory is an optical phenomenon appearing much like an iconic Saint's halo about the head of the observer which is produced by light backscattered (a combination of diffraction, reflection and refraction) towards its source by a cloud of uniformly-sized water droplets. The association with a halo is not coincidental, but derivative, though a real glory has multiple colored rings. Most people see only one ring. The glory, however, can show many rings when the cloud is made of uniform water droplets. Sometimes the rings fluctuate wildly in size. This happens when a plane, for instance, skirts a canyon of clouds and its glory shadow comes and goes. (photo, right)

Irradiance
Irradiance is a radiometry term for the power of electromagnetic radiation is incident on the surface. If a point source radiates light uniformly in all directions and there is no absorption, then the irradiance drops off in proportion to the distance from the object squared, since the total power is constant and it is spread over an area that increases with the square of the distance from the source. Get more detailed infrmation about Total Solar Irradiance

Solar radiation
Solar radiation is radiant energy emitted by a sun as a result of its nuclear fusion reactions. The solar constant includes all wavelengths of solar electromagnetic radiation, not just the visible light. On Earth, solar radiation is obvious as daylight when the sun is above the horizon. When the direct radiation is not blocked by clouds, it is experienced as sunshine, combining the perception of bright white light (sunlight in the strict sense) and warming. The warming on the body and surfaces of other objects is distinguished from the increase in air temperature. The amount of radiation intercepted by a planetary body varies inversely with the square of the distance between the star and the planet.

Total Solar Irradiance
The total solar irradiance (TSI) is the amount of solar radiative energy impinging on the Earth's upper atmosphere. Get more detailed infrmation about Total Solar Irradiance