Story from Signon San Diego – Article by Gary Robbins
The Scripps Institution of Oceanography will present fresh evidence during a science conference in San Francisco Tuesday that pollution from central Asia affects the intensity of winter storms in California’s Sierra Nevada, which provides a portion of the water consumed in San Diego County.
The new finding — which Scripps summarized online — is largely based on an analysis of two storms that occurred a week apart in the Sierra Nevada in 2009. The second storm produced 1.4 times more precipitation than the first.
“An analysis of the (cloud) particles contained in the first storm revealed large quantities of potassium and other elements created by the burning of biomass such as wood and grasses,” the summary says.
“The aerosols contained in the second storm were comprised of iron, titanium and other elements typically sent airborne by dust storms in central Asia. The difference shows the influence that pollutants from the other side of the world can have on local climate.”
