Air pollution in China and other Asian countries is having far-reaching impacts on weather patterns across the Northern Hemisphere, a study suggests.

 

Researchers have found that pollutants are strengthening storms above the Pacific Ocean, which feeds into weather systems in other parts of the world.

 

The effect was most pronounced during the winter.

 

The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

 

Lead author of the study said that the effects are quite dramatic. The pollution results in thicker and taller clouds and heavier precipitation.

 

Parts of Asia have some of the highest levels of air pollution in the world.

 

In China's capital, Beijing, pollutants frequently reach hazardous levels, while emissions in the Indian capital, Delhi, also regularly soar above those recommended by the World Health Organization.

 

This has dire consequences for the health of those living in these regions, but there is growing evidence that there are other impacts further afield.

 

To analyze this, researchers from the US and China used computer models to look at the effect of Asia's pollution on weather systems.

 

The team said that tiny polluting particles were blown towards the north Pacific where they interacted with water droplets in the air.

 

This, the researchers said, caused clouds to grow denser, resulting in more intense storms above the ocean.

 

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 like North America.

 

There have also been suggestions that aerosols over the North Atlantic effect storms over the North Atlantic, and that aerosols in the monsoon region over South Asia can affect circulation around the whole of the world.