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(NaturalNews) A massive cloud of pollution from Asia's fast-growing industrial economies is having wide-ranging effects on global climate and air quality. According to a study recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, tremendous plumes composed of dust, sulfates, smog, soot, nitrates and industrial gases are blowing off the coast of Asia and crossing the Pacific Ocean to the western United States.
"There are times when it covers the entire Pacific Ocean basin like a ribbon bent back and forth," said researcher V. Ramanathan.
The study was the first effort to conduct a detailed analysis of the pollution plumes, which have been monitored by satellite for several years. The researchers found that a new plume was produced every four days, and that it could be as much as 300 miles wide and six miles deep. A single plume can circle the Earth in only three weeks.
In part, the pollution from Asia comes from natural sources -- powerful east-moving winds have swept up dust from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts for centuries. But now these dust clouds are gathering pollutants from the cities of eastern Asia and carrying them across the Pacific. Nearly one-third of the air over Los Angeles and San Francisco has traveled there from Asia, bringing along as much as 75 percent of the soot that reaches the West Coast.
The most pressing issue relating to the plumes may be that of airborne solids, or aerosols, and their effect on global climate. Certain kinds of aerosols, such as sulfates, actually reflect sunlight and cause cooling. To a certain extent, these aerosols may be masking the severity of greenhouse gas buildup in the atmosphere. Meanwhile, other aerosols, such as soot, absorb solar radiation and contribute to rising temperatures.
According to a study published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in March, aerosols from Asia have other climatic effects beyond warming and cooling. The study reported that the pollution plumes are seeding ocean clouds with particulate matter, causing more powerful Pacific thunderstorms.
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