China air pollution impacts Pacific and US

Weather patterns over North America and storm systems over the Pacific Ocean could be affected by high levels of air pollution throughout China, according to researchers. Scientists from the US have found that Asia's air pollution - with China at the forefront - is creating a number of changes to the weather that is affecting the mid-Pacific and North America.

A team of researchers, including scientists from California, Texas and Washington, published their findings in the 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences', which show that the changes could in future lead to increasingly dramatic weather across the US. According to the team, the poor air quality arising in Asia is leading to increased precipitation, an increase in intense cyclones and a greater amount of warm air moving from the Pacific towards the North Pole.

The research made use of computer models to look at the interactions between aerosols - fine airborne particles - and clouds. Special attention was paid to man-made aerosols, which are created by coal-fired industry and vehicle exhausts. 

It was found that the polluting particles moved from Asia towards the north Pacific, allowing them to interact with airborne water droplets. This interaction leads to the creation of denser clouds, which then cause a higher degree of intense storm formations.

Dr Yuan Wang, lead author from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology, said: "Since the Pacific storm track is an important component in the global general circulation, the impacts of Asian pollution on the storm track tend to affect the weather patterns of other parts of the world during the wintertime, especially a downstream region [of the track] like North America."   

If high levels of air pollution continue to be produced across Asia, with China in particular, large areas of the US could be subjected to more intense storm formations. This could result in more damage to the environment and property.

China has made several changes to policy over the last few months in a bid to deal with the high levels of air pollution that often leave cities at a standstill due to thick smog formed of particulate pollution. The central government has now pledged to put environmental protection at the forefront of plans, prioritising it over economic development, which is the first such change in the country's environmental law since 1989.