Apparently Asia is exporting more than consumer goods to our welcoming shores. Every spring, huge plumes of dust and soot are kicked up in Asia and blown across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast.
In an attempt to find out the extent of the pollution
problem, a team from UCSD's Scripps Institution of Oceanography
is tracking the annual event. Led by V. Ramanathan, a professor
of atmospheric chemistry, the team joined the National Center for
Atmospheric Research to conduct the Pacific Dust Experiment (PACDEX)
in May. A specially modified jet flew several data-gathering flights
through the giant plumes as they drifted over the ocean.
Ramanathan's group reported in the Journal
of Geophysical Research that more than three-quarters of
the soot and other forms of black carbon circulating in the
stratosphere above the West comes from Asia during spring. His
team is now looking at "dirty" snow collected in
the Sierra Nevada to see how much of the long-distance pollution
makes the mountains of California its final resting place. 
Contributors to Making Waves: Mario Aguilera, '89, Rex Graham, Raymond Hardie, Robert Monroe, Neda Oreizy, '08, Doug Ramsey
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