NASA EYES EFFECTS OF A GIANT 'BROWN CLOUD' WORLDWIDE *PIC*

by Kaspel, Sunday, December 19, 2004, 12:37

Moffet Field CA (SPX) Dec 16, 2004
NASA scientists recently announced that a giant, smoggy atmospheric "brown cloud" that forms over South Asia and Indian Ocean has intercontinental reach, and has effects around the world.

The word "smog" was coined by blending the terms "smoke" and "fog." However, today smog means air pollution. Smog is a mix of particles and unhealthy gases including ozone that linger in the lower atmosphere, or the troposphere.

Scientists studied the intercontinental smog or ozone processes associated with the "brown cloud" using a new NASA technique to combine data acquired by satellites with ozone data measured by instruments on special weather balloons.

The brown cloud is a persistent, but moving, air mass characterized by a mixed-particle haze, typically brown in color. It also contains other pollution, such as ozone.

"The scientists found that both brown cloud pollution and natural processes could contribute to unhealthy levels of ozone in the lower atmosphere. Some ozone from the cloud rises to higher altitudes and spreads into the global atmosphere," said Robert Chatfield, a scientist at NASA Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

"The ozone that comes out of the 'brown cloud' is related to it, but strictly speaking, the visible brown cloud is only the aerosol component of this smoggy stew," Chatfield explained.

Continued:
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/climate-04zzzzj.html