Washington-. Warming in the Arctic, occurring at a faster rate than the rest of the planet, is reducing levels of ambient dust at long ranges in South Asia, a new study has revealed.
Dust can have a huge impact on local air quality, food security, energy supplies and public health, yet little is known about how global climate change is affecting levels of the stuff.
Previous research found that dust amounts are actually declining across India, particularly in northern India, the Persian Gulf coast and much of the Middle East, but the reason remains unclear.
Scientists at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences are working to understand how global climate change is affecting dust levels in the region.
The decline can be attributed to the Arctic warming much faster than the rest of the planet, a phenomenon known as Arctic amplification, experts say.
This process destabilizes the jet stream and changes storm tracks and wind patterns over the main sources of dust in West and South Asia, i.e. the Arabian Peninsula and the Thar Desert, between India and Pakistan.
Local land management, rapid urbanization and industrialization contribute to dust levels in West and South Asia, but what is new in this study is the increasingly dominant influence of circulation change in the global climate context. broader, he said
Michael B. McElroy, Professor of Environmental Studies at Harvard.
