Scientists track Asian pollution

WASHINGTON – From 500 miles up in space, satellites track brown clouds of dust, soot and other toxic pollutants from China and elsewhere in Asia as they stream across the Pacific, taking dead aim on the Northwest and the rest of the Western United States.

A fleet of tiny, specially equipped unmanned aerial vehicles, launched from an island in the East China Sea 700 or so miles downwind of Beijing this summer, is flying through the projected paths of the pollution, taking chemical samples and recording temperatures, humidity levels and sunlight intensity in the clouds of smog.

On the summit of 9,000-foot Mount Bachelor in Central Oregon and near sea level at Cheeka Peak on the Olympic Peninsula, monitors track the pollution as it arrives onshore.

By some estimates more than 10 billion pounds of airborne pollutants from Asia – ranging from soot to mercury to carbon dioxide to ozone – reach the United States annually. The problem is expected to worsen as some Chinese officials have warned that pollution in their country could quadruple in the next 15 years if not curbed.

While some scientists are skeptical, others say the Asian pollution could destabilize weather patterns across the North Pacific, mask the effects of global warming, reduce rainfall in the American West and compromise efforts to meet air pollution standards in the United States. ....