[image: Reuters] <http://www.reuters.com> Pollution may hit Himalayan monsoon clouds - study<http://in.reuters.com/article/email/idINIndia-35943120081013> Mon Oct 13 21:10:15 UTC 2008
By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO (Reuters) - Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of glaciers, according to a study on Monday. The report, by scientists in France and Italy, found microscopic particles in the air that can be seeds for water droplets at a Nepalese mountain observatory, the highest in the world at 5,079 metres above sea level. It was the first time scientists had observed such particles forming so high, far above those seen in previous studies from Europe and Japan. "We think it's because there's a lot of pollution in the valleys which rises and meets clean air masses higher up. This creates new particles," Karine Sellegri at the Universite Blaise Pascal in France, one of the authors, told Reuters. The study, in the U.S. journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the particles might come from smoke from people burning wood in Himalayan valleys. Or some might have a natural origin, from vegetation. Still, the scientists pointed to wider risks of the cloud-forming mechanism. "Rising air pollution levels in South Asia will have worldwide environmental consequences," they wrote. "Transport of pollutants from the densely populated regions of India, Pakistan, China and Nepal to the Himalayas may lead to substantial radiative forcing (warming effect) in South Asia." In turn, that could affect the formation of monsoons, disrupt the regional climate and have "dramatic impacts on glacier retreat" in the Himalayas, they wrote. The U.N. Climate Panel said last year that Himalayan glaciers, which feed rivers on which hundreds of millions of people depend, could shrink to 100,000 square kms by 2030 from 500,000 now because of global warming. Sellegri added, however, that it was too early to know exactly what impact rising pollution would have in the Himalayas. "We need more modelling," she said. -- For Reuters latest environment blogs click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/ This service is not intended to encourage spam. The details provided by your colleague have been used for the sole purpose of facilitating this email communication and have not been retained by Thomson Reuters. Your personal details have not been added to any database or mailing list. If you would like to receive news articles delivered to your email address, please subscribe at www.reuters.com/newsmails (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world. Quotes and other data are provided for your personal information only, and are not intended for trading purposes. Thomson Reuters and its data providers shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the quotes or other data, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. -- Dr.V.N.Sharma http://canvas.nowpos.com/vnsharma
