Cloud thought to be acid

Press, 10 March 1982, Page 1

Cloud thought to be acid

NZPA San Francisco A mysterious stratospheric cloud circling the Earth apparently is made up of tiny droplets of sulphuric acid, the remnants of a volcanic explosion somewhere in Africa or Asia, scientists said yesterday. “It’s a liquid, not dust,” said Mr Peter Waller, information officer at the Ames Research Centre, south of San Francisco “We are almost positive it’s sulphuric acid.” Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Agency facility issued their findings after studying samples of the cloud collected on Saturday by a U-2 spy plane which made passes collecting samples of the particles at 15,200 m, 16,775 m, and 18,000 m over the Gulf of Mexico. “A typical pattern with a volcano is that it ejects ash.

rock and lots of sulphurous gases,” Mr W’aller said. “Within the first week all the ash and rock falls out, leaving behind the sulphurous residue. That hangs about for months and gradually turns to sulphuric acid.” Mr Waller said the cloud has been measured from the equator to about 50deg. north about the region including Germany. The location indicates that the volcano erupted several months ago in Asia, Africa, or somewhere in the ocean. “There is a volcano in Zaire which has been acting up since December,” Mr ! Waller said. ! Mr Waller said that the ; cloud, which was invisible to : the naked eye, could cause , very slight reductions in r temperatures on Earth for a time because of the high i reflectivity of sulphuric acid , droplets.