With these new observations, you clearly see that air pollution is much more than a local problem. It's a global issue. The findings were presented at a scientific conference in Boston on Wednesday. Researchers from the United States and Canada are participating in the project, one of several ongoing studies of global air pollution. Emissions Influence World's Climate Increasingly, researchers are discovering air pollution is not a transient phenomenon, here today and gone tomorrow.
Emissions climb high into the atmosphere, borne on trade winds that circumnavigate the globe.
It's a whole new way of thinking global. Everybody is downwind of something. Smoke and dust in the sky can dramatically influence climate on Earth. Some pollutants, including soot, nitrates and sulfates from fossil-fuel burning, coat the planet in a fine, aerosol haze. Scientists say too many particles floating around can reflect sunlight, impair crop production in certain places and contribute to cooler temperatures in some places.