May 12, 2006

Greenhouse Effect + Intercontinental Pollution => More frequent droughts in India

Polluted "atmospheric brown clouds" (ABC) travelling from one continent to another interact with oceanic warming and increase variability in the monsoon over the Indian subcontinent, according to recent studies sketched in ScienceDaily. The result may be an increased frequency of drought conditions affecting 2 billion people.

The recent studies from various sources including the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Field observations used in the study were obtained as part of the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), a $25 million international campaign funded by the NSF, the U.S. Dept. of Energy and NOAA.

Scripps scientist V. Ramanthan is quoted in a ScienceDaily article: "About five to 10 years ago we used to think about pollution as an urban problem. Now we have discovered, with new observations including satellite data, that these pollution clouds travel quickly and can cover an entire ocean. Scientists have shown that in a matter of five days pollution traveled from China to the United States, and in a matter of three to four days it can travel from the U.S. to Europe."

"The greenhouse gases are pushing in one direction, warming the ocean and trying to make more rain, and the aerosols are pushing in another direction for cooler oceans and less rain. The net effect is to drive the monsoon rain system away from South Asia into the equatorial and southern oceans," said Ramanathan. "Some years the aerosols might win and in some years the greenhouse effect may win. So we are concerned that in coming decades the variability between the two will become large and it will be difficult to cope with rapid changes from year to year."

ScienceDaily: Pollution, Greenhouse Gases And Climate Clash In South Asia (May 12, 2006)

DougSimpson.com/blog

Posted by dougsimpson at May 12, 2006 08:33 PM