NEW YORK: It is not a new phenomenon but there is growing US concern over brown gunk from Asia being carried by warm winds into US cities. Scientists are now using unmanned aircraft to take chemical samples and measure the impact of the brown clouds of dust and pollution from China, India and elsewhere in Asia streaming across the Pacific.
Monitors on the summit of 9,000-foot Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and near sea level at Cheeka Peak on the Olympic Peninsula studiously track the pollution as it arrives in America and trends from computer models suggest they are driven by industrial pollution coming from Asia.
The National Academies of Sciences, backed by the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, has set up a panel to examine the problem and its impact. "We are doing an assessment study to take a look at what has been discovered by the scientific community," Laurie Geller, senior program officer at the National Academy of Sciences, told DNA.
Geller said the report is due next summer and will help policy makers understand the issue and determine how best to respond.
Environmental science expert Dan Jaffe, a member of the panel, told US media that as much as 30% of the mercury deposited in the US from airborne sources comes from Asia, with the highest concentrations in Alaska and other western states.
Geller stressed that the purpose of their work was not to point a figure at any country. "Likewise our pollution flows out over the ocean and can affect Europe and other countries downwind. So we are looking at the big picture - all countries are connected. We all have a stake in controlling pollution."
Concern in the US is mounting as studies highlight that winds can bring Asian pollutants to US shores in a matter of weeks.
Some estimates claim over 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide reach the US annually.
