Submitted by: John Lambert (FG Staff Journalist)

Newswise.com reports that scientists are studying Asian Dust and Pollution impacts on North American weather. There are huge plumes of dust and pollution that float from China over Japan, across the Pacific to North America.

Scientists from the National Center of Atmospheric Research are heading the PACDEX (Pacific Dust Experiment) Project. They started their experiments last April. Project member and scientist Jeff Stith said, “We want to determine how the various particles of dust and pollutants in the plumes influence clouds and climate, and how far downwind those effects occur.”

Their plan is to fly a very sophisticated aircraft, Gulfstream-V, into these plumes and record data on clouds. They will be able to bring pollutants, dust and cloud particles into the plane itself at various altitudes.

Another PACDEX scientist, V. Ramanathan said, “It will also help us examine how the dust and soot modify storm tracks and cloud systems across the Pacific, which influence North American weather patterns in major ways. By focusing on these plumes, PACDEX will shed light on one of the major environmental issues of this decade.”

More of this story can be found from Newswise.com