Do aerosols affect climate change through the Urban Heat Island Effect and greenhouse gases?

 Aerosols do affect the urban heat island affect. This is because of the albedo of the darker surfaces typically found on the buildings in bigger cities. This could easily be fixed by changing the colors of the roofs of buildings to lighter surfaces- for example, white. Lighter colors reflect heat back into the atmosphere where as darker colors absorb the light and reemit it back into the atmosphere. This is a prime example of long wave infrared radiation. This is also why other countries that have warmer climates usually have all white or tan buildings- it keeps the surrounding area cooler.

When aerosols aren’t absorbed, they can be stuck in the atmosphere for a long time. The Aerosol Optical Thickness that is shown in the graphs we put together show this- and this is all completely based off of temperature.

Now that we’ve discussed the urban heat island effect, it’s time to show that aerosols also affect greenhouse gases. This is because the heat that is later emitted then becomes trapped. This obviously leads to a higher temperature. According to the data we collected by going outside and taking surface temperatures, the warmer the temperature- the warmer the asphalt on the ground. It warms asphalt and concrete more so than grass.

So, overall, aerosols do undoubtedly affect the urban heat island effect and greenhouse gases. This can be proved by the data our class collected first hand. Our data is completely reliable seeing as it was collected over the course of many weeks, and on many different surfaces: the student parking lot, the bus loop, the practice football field, the student parking lot, and the softball in-field. We collected the temperatures daily, then in the end, put them all into excel and produced a graph that shows temperature, AOT, and percent transmission.