Summary

This monograph provides a unique and comprehensive coverage of the nature and atmospheric role of carbonaceous aerosol particles, these big unknowns of the global atmosphere. Even the concept of carbonaceous aerosol has just recently grown out of atmospheric pollution studies, without ever being anchored to solidified nomenclature and terminology. It is beyond any doubt that no major breakthrough can be expected in resolving climate issues without a better understanding of the role carbonaceous particles play in the global atmosphere.

This monograph may serve as an indispensable reference for all those interested in virtually any aspects of global atmospheric sciences, especially for those who are stakeholders in inadvertent climate modification. Thus atmospheric chemists, physicists, meteorologists, and modellers may well find this monograph a thought-inspiring and sometimes provocative overview of all global phenomena affected by or related to carbonaceous aerosol. An anticipated advantage of this monograph is that it brings together these diverse atmospheric phenomena under the umbrella of carbonaceous aerosol in an interdisciplinary way, which is a prerequisite of resolving global scientific issues.