Stephanie Adams
November 14th 2008 4:57 p.m.
Satellite imagery has shown that there is a large brown haze that moves across Asia and has been named a global environmental threat by the U.N. The U.N. environment program attributes many environmental and health issues on the atmospheric brown clouds. Reduced agricultural production of rice and soybean crops is caused by the change the brown cloud has made in the climate. According to a recent report, the pollution in the air is related to 350,000 premature deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The hazy clouds are believed to be cause by fossil fuel emissions. The cloud is estimated to be around 1.8 miles thick and stretch from the Persian Gulf to Japan. This thick haze has dimmed the skies of many large cities in Asia such as Mumbai, New Delhi, Beijing and Shanghai. The particles that make up the brown haze absorb light and heat and work as a warm blanket over the earth surface. Scientist believe that the warming effect the haze has on the climate has caused the Himalayan glaciers to melt, threatening the area’s water supply. Because these clouds move across the earth’s atmosphere, they pose a threat to the environment of the entire globe. The brown cloud has also caused some strange effects on the weather, lessening the monsoon season in India and actually cooling the climate in some areas by 20’80 percent. Asia is not the only continent with a brown cloud hovering above, South America, North America, Europe and South Africa also has hazy clouds.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iiDlfwqOC5I71KgFjzSBuany-hrAD94E7CG00
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