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Scientists: Bad Chinese Air Makes Way To Colorado

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Aug 10, 2008 5:25 pm US/Mountain

Scientists: Bad Chinese Air Makes Way To Colorado

Reporting
Dave Aguilera
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ― China's air pollution is not just a problem for Olympic athletes. Some of the pollutants actually make their way to Colorado.

CBS4 Meteorologist Dave Aguilera said it's something scientists have been studying for years in Colorado.

"It's no secret that China has a pollution problem, but what we may not yet know is how this toxic air is affecting our weather and our health," Aguilera said.

Scientists know that there is kind of "pollution pipeline" called the "westerlies." They are steering winds that flow west to east across the northern hemisphere. In the case of China, air pollution such as dust, sulfur, soot and CO2 can get caught up in the westerlies and flow out across South Korea and Japan into the North Pacific Ocean. From there the river of toxic air can spread right into North America and the western half of the United States.

In April of 2004, a huge Beijing dust storm tracked by satellite beefed up the brown cloud in Denver.

Scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder are currently studying information they have gathered in the last year by flying with the plumes of pollution from China to the U.S. The experts hope to figure out exactly how the bad air affects weather and health in Colorado.

In Steamboat Springs a weather station has been set up to monitor the air in northern Colorado. This year they discovered that the amount of mercury in the air has doubled in recent years. Scientists have been able to track that increase to air from East Asia.

"What's amazing about these westerly winds is that these air particulates can travel across the Pacific in as little as three or four days," Aguilera said.

(© MMX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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