Air pollution is reducing the amount of rain in China

This is revealed by an international study conducted with support from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. There is a risk that the consequences will be increased drought, reduced harvests and poorer public health.

China's dramatic growth has also brought about an increase in environmental problems. At the same time as the population has more than doubled during the last century, emissions into the atmosphere have increased by 800 percent. The environmental impact has been particularly pronounced in eastern China, where most of the people live and where the emissions are greatest: it does not rain in the same way as it did before.

In some parts of eastern China the number of days with rain has diminished by 23 percent in 50 years. The consequences are increased drought and poorer harvests. A team of climate researchers from the USA, China and Sweden – including Deliang Chen, Professor of Physical Meteorology in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg – has now studied the problem and demonstrated that the reduced amounts of rainfall have a direct connection with high concentrations of air pollution.

According to the researchers, the failure of rain to appear has a direct link to the concentrations of aerosol in the atmosphere. Researchers have long been aware that aerosol, which consists of small particles surrounded by gas and water, has the capacity to “gather” raindrops around it in clouds. However, in the current study the researchers discovered that where there was a high aerosol content, the raindrops were considerably smaller – in some cases only half the normal size. As it is more difficult for smaller raindrops to coalesce into rain clouds that can release rain, the air pollution thus leads to the reduction in light rainfall (under 10 millimetres).

The study, which is based on data from 162 weather stations, is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research. http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2009/2008JD011575.shtml

Media Contact

Helena Aaberg idw

All latest news from the category: Ecology, The Environment and Conservation

This complex theme deals primarily with interactions between organisms and the environmental factors that impact them, but to a greater extent between individual inanimate environmental factors.

innovations-report offers informative reports and articles on topics such as climate protection, landscape conservation, ecological systems, wildlife and nature parks and ecosystem efficiency and balance.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Octopus inspires new suction mechanism for robots

A new robotic suction cup which can grasp rough, curved and heavy stone, has been developed by scientists at the University of Bristol. The team, based at Bristol Robotics Laboratory,…

Peptides on Interstellar Ice

A research team led by Dr Serge Krasnokutski from the Astrophysics Laboratory at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy at the University of Jena had already demonstrated that simple peptides…

A new look at the consequences of light pollution

GAME 2024 begins its experiments in eight countries. Can artificial light at night harm marine algae and impair their important functions for coastal ecosystems? This year’s project of the training…

Partners & Sponsors