Asian brown cloud

This article is about the Indian Ocean brown cloud. For China, see Air pollution in China.

The Indian Ocean brown cloud or Asian brown cloud is a layer of air pollution that recurrently covers parts of South Asia, namely the northern Indian Ocean, India, and Pakistan.[1][2] Viewed from satellite photos, the cloud appears as a giant brown stain hanging in the air over much of the Indian subcontinent and the Indian Ocean every year between October and February, possibly also during earlier and later months. The term was coined in reports from the UNEP Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX). It was found to originate mostly due to farmers burning stubble in Punjab and to lesser extent Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The debilitating air quality in Delhi is also due to the stubble burning in Punjab.[3]

The term atmospheric brown cloud is used for a more generic context not specific to the Asian region.[4]

  1. ^ Srinivasan (10 September 2002). "Asian Brown Cloud – fact and fantasy" (PDF). Current Science. 83 (5): 586–592. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 November 2004.
  2. ^ Ramanathan, Veerabhadran; Crutzen, P. J.; Lelieveld, J.; Mitra, A. P.; Althausen, D.; Anderson, J.; Andreae, M. O.; Cantrell, W.; et al. (2001). "Indian Ocean experiment: An integrated analysis of the climate forcing and effects of the great Indo-Asian haze". Journal of Geophysical Research. 106 (D22): 28371–28398. Bibcode:2001JGR...10628371R. doi:10.1029/2001JD900133.
  3. ^ Ramanathan, Veerabhadran et al. (2002) The Asian brown cloud climate and other environmental impacts: impact study Archived June 5, 2004, at the Wayback Machine Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate, United Nations Environment Programme, Nairobi Kenya, ISBN 92-807-2240-9, accessed 8 December 2008
  4. ^ Haag, Amanda Leigh (2007). "The even darker side of brown clouds". Nature Reports Climate Change. 1 (709): 52–53. doi:10.1038/climate.2007.41.