Editing Asian brown cloud (section)

==Impacts==

===Health problems===
One major impact is on [[health]]. A 2002 study indicated nearly two million people die each year, in Asia alone, from conditions related to the brown cloud.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ahmad |first=K. |title=Pollution cloud over south Asia is increasing ill health |journal=[[Lancet (journal)|Lancet]] |year=2002 |volume=360 |issue=9332 |pages=549 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(02)09762-3 |pmid=12241664 |s2cid=35909421 }}</ref>

===Regional weather===
A second assessment study was published in 2008.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.unep.org/pdf/ABCSummaryFinal.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2008-11-18 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20081118220650/http://www.unep.org/pdf/ABCSummaryFinal.pdf |archive-date=2008-11-18 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> It highlighted regional concerns regarding:
* Changes of rainfall patterns with the Asian [[monsoon]], as well as a delaying of the start of the Asian monsoon, by several weeks.<ref>[http://www.nepalitimes.com/news.php?id=15452 Brown cloud delaying monsoon].</ref><ref>[http://zc.iap.ac.cn/uploadpdf/tac2012_Rashed_Li_BC.pdf Paper reporting the delaying of the monsoon being caused by brown cloud]{{Dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The observed weakening Indian monsoon and in China northern drought and southern flooding is influenced by the clouds.
* Increase in rainfall over the [[Australia]]n [[Top End]] and [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] regions. A [[CSIRO]] study has found that by displacing the [[thermal equator]] southwards via cooling of the air over East Asia, the [[monsoon]] which brings most of the rain to these regions has been intensified and displaced southward.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Rotstayn|first1=Leon|title=Have Australian rainfall and cloudiness increased due to the remote effects of Asian anthropogenic aerosols?|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research|volume=112|issue=D09202|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184533/http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006JD007712.shtml|archive-date=2007-09-30|url=http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2006JD007712.shtml|date=2 May 2007|doi=10.1029/2006JD007712|pages=D09202|last2=Cai|first2=Wenju|last3=Dix|first3=Martin R.|last4=Farquhar|first4=Graham D.|last5=Feng|first5=Yan|last6=Ginoux|first6=Paul|last7=Herzog|first7=Michael|last8=Ito|first8=Akinori|last9=Penner|first9=Joyce E.|last10=Roderick|first10=Michael L.|last11=Wang|first11=Minghuai|bibcode=2007JGRD..11209202R|display-authors=8|hdl=2027.42/94749|hdl-access=free}}</ref>
* Retreat of the [[List of glaciers of Pakistan|Hindu Kush]]-[[List of glaciers of India|Himalaya]]n glaciers and snow packs. The cause is attributed to rising air temperatures that are more pronounced in elevated regions, a combined warming effect of greenhouse gases and the Asian Brown Cloud. Also [[Deposition (Aerosol physics)|deposition]] of [[black carbon]] decreases [[albedo|the reflection]] and exacerbates the retreat. Asian glacial melting could lead to water shortages and floods for the hundreds of millions of people who live downstream.
* Decrease of crop harvests. Elevated concentrations of [[smog|surface ozone]] are likely to affect crop yields negatively. The impact is crop specific.

===Cyclone intensity in Arabian Sea===
A 2011 study found that pollution is making [[Arabian Sea]] cyclones more intense as the atmospheric brown clouds has been producing weakening wind patterns which prevent wind shear patterns that historically have prohibited cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms. This phenomenon was found responsible for the formation of stronger storms in [[Cyclone Gonu|2007]] and [[Cyclone Phet|2010]] that were the first recorded storms to enter the [[Gulf of Oman]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=122072&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click|title=Link Between Air Pollution and Cyclone Intensity in Arabian Sea |publisher=[[National Science Foundation]]|date=2011-11-02|access-date=2011-11-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=Arabian Sea tropical cyclones intensified by emissions of black carbon and other aerosols |first1=Amato T.|last1= Evan|first2=James P.|last2=Kossin|first3=Chul|last3=Chung|first4=V.|last4=Ramanathan|journal=Nature|issue=7371|pages=94–97 |date=2011-11-03|doi=10.1038/nature10552 |pmid=22051678 |volume=479|bibcode = 2011Natur.479...94E |s2cid=4423931}}</ref>

===Global warming and dimming===
The 2008 report also addressed the global concern of [[global warming|warming]] and concluded that the brown clouds have masked 20 to 80 percent of [[greenhouse gas]] forcing in the past century. The report suggested that air pollution regulations can have large amplifying effects on global warming.{{clarify|date=November 2023}}

Another major impact is on the polar ice caps. [[Black carbon]] ([[soot]]) in the Asian Brown Cloud may be reflecting sunlight and dimming Earth below but it is warming other places by absorbing incoming radiation and warming the atmosphere and whatever it touches.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Biello|first=David|title=Brown Haze from Cooking Fires Cooking EarthToo.The brown haze over Asia warms the atmosphere just as much as greenhouse gases.|journal= Scientific American|url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=brown-haze-from-cooking-fires-cooking-earth|date= August 1, 2007}}</ref> Black carbon is three times more effective than carbon dioxide—the most common greenhouse gas—at [[melting]] polar ice and snow.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Biello|first=David|title= Impure as the Driven Snow: Smut is a bigger problem than greenhouse gases in polar meltdown.|journal= Scientific American|url= http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=impure-as-the-driven-snow|date= June 8, 2007}}</ref> Black carbon in snow causes about three times the temperature change as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. On snow—even at concentrations below five parts per billion–dark carbon triggers melting, and may be responsible for as much as 94 percent of [[Arctic warming]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Boswell |first=Randy |title=Burning crops darken Arctic sky, speed polar melt. |journal=Canwest News Service |url=http://www.canada.com/technology/Burning+crops+darken+Arctic+speed+polar+melt/1635692/story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206215104/http://www.canada.com/technology/Burning%2Bcrops%2Bdarken%2BArctic%2Bspeed%2Bpolar%2Bmelt/1635692/story.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 6, 2010 |date=October 19, 2009 }}</ref>