SofaScience: Clouds and Corona

Did corona cause the clear blue sky?
Op de bank bij Chiel van Heerwaarden,

In this episode we discuss a striking event that occurred over our heads in the summer of 2020. It caught the attention of scientists and media worldwide. The sky was bizarrely blue in Western Europe and it was extremely sunny. The Netherlands, for example, had the sunniest spring since the measurements began in 1901. Scientists in the Netherlands measured 805 hours of sunshine in the spring. That’s almost twice the normal amount.

Absurd, many scientists thought. It could have something to do with the reduction of air pollution from corona. The air pollution (aerosols) from, for example, cars and planes would normally block the sunlight, but this would be much less due to corona. At least, that was the common theory.

Wageningen researchers remained critical and investigated what really happened. What was the influence of corona on the air and the weather? Resource sat down on the couch with one of them: cloud fanatic Chiel van Heerwaarden (MAQ). And of course we also talked about clouds.

Watch part four of Resource SofaScience now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws2zqUFT59w&ab_channel=ResourceWUR

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