Smog in India, China is changing weather patterns in US, finds study

[The Straight Story]

Man-made air pollution kills millions of people every year, but a new study suggests that poor air quality in India and China could be contributing to extreme weather patterns in the U.S. and Canada.

The study by researchers at Texas A&M, the first of its kind to focus on smog in Asia, found that air pollution originating in the region almost certainly affects global weather patterns.

How much of an effect, researchers say, remains to be seen. However, it is likely exacerbating problems already caused by climate change: increasing the intensity and frequency of storms, ice cap melting, sea level rise, and drought.

Scientists have already determined that carbon emissions, or greenhouse gases, contribute to climate change. But the smog in Asia is caused by more than just the burning of fossil fuels — it's comprised of nitrogen oxides, methane and other volatile organic compounds that combine to produce ozone.

Scientists used satellite imagery and computer models to show that man-made air pollution created in Asia is adversely affecting the Pacific Ocean storm track, which transports weather westward from Asia to the west coasts of Canada and the U.S.


http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/4/15/asia-pollution-weather.html

[dipsydoodle]

1. Chickens coming home to roost.

Historical emissions

Since carbon dioxide added to the atmosphere can stay there for centuries, historical emissions are just as important – or even more important – than current emissions. The tricky question of historical responsibility is one of the key tensions in the process of negotiating a global climate deal. The following figures from the World Resources Institute show the top 10 nations as measured by their cumulative emissions between 1850 and 2007. The US tops the list by a wide margin – though Chinese emissions have risen significantly since these data were assembled.

1. US: 339,174 MT or 28.8%
2. China: 105,915 MT or 9.0%
3. Russia: 94,679 MT or 8.0%
4. Germany: 81,194.5 MT or 6.9%
5. UK: 68,763 MT or 5.8%
6. Japan: 45,629 MT or 3.87%
7. France: 32,667 MT or 2.77%
8. India: 28,824 MT or 2.44%
9. Canada: 25,716 MT or 2.2%
10. Ukraine: 25,431 MT or 2.2%

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2011/apr/21/countries-responsible-climate-change

[Cali_Democrat]

2. What do you mean? nt

[dipsydoodle]

3. I added what I meant.

see edit above.

[The Straight Story]

4. And corporations here profited off of it while others lost jobs, homes, etc

Of course the rw will deny the science of it all.

Wanna know what they will do next? Here is what I think:

Big companies will say this is a problem we need to address (which they caused). They will propose solutions. Congress will back them. We will be made to pay for those solutions and they will profit more.

[Xithras]

5. It's been known for 10 years that Chinese desertification is cutting Sierra snow.

But, to be fair, it's not just the Chinese. Dust pollution from China and agricultural operations in the California Central Valley are changing the albedo of the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This causes Sierra snow cover to melt off faster, raising the average temperature across the mountain range. Particulate pollution has also been cited as one of the main factors behind the elimination of the remnant glaciers in Yosemite (along with the elimination of the Central Valley wetlands).

[malaise]

6. How ironic - boomerangs do come back

Outsourcing is an epic fail - jobs, quality and pollution.
They were warned.