According to new climate modelling by CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research scientist, Dr Leon Rotstayn, pollution from Asian industry is impacting on Australian rainfall:
“Elevated particle emissions resulting from increased economic activity in Asia may have increased Australia’s tropical rainfall … What we have seen in our latest climate simulations is that the ‘Asian haze’ is having an effect on the Australian hydrological cycle and generated increasing rainfall and cloudiness since 1950, especially over northwest and central Australia.
“The effect occurs because the haze cools the Asian continent and nearby oceans, and thereby alters the delicate balance of temperature and winds between Asia and Australia. It has nothing to do with Asian pollution being transported directly over Australia.”
The new research is based on simulations performed with a new low-resolution version of CSIRO’s global climate model.
The same CSIRO media release claims that representing aerosols in climate models and understanding their influence on cloud formation and rainfall is one of the biggest challenges facing climate scientists.
(from http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/reg/cli_chg/timeseries.cgi)
And I wonder what the influence of these aerosols from Asian industry is on temperature locally and globally?
UPDATE 10.45pm
This is perhaps the more relevant map. Thanks to Luke for sending it to me and also to Paul Williams for the link: http://www.bom.gov.au/silo/products/cli_chg/index.shtml .
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD has worked in industry and government. She is currently researching a novel technique for long-range weather forecasting funded by the B. Macfie Family Foundation.