“Over much of south Asia, anthropogenic air pollution has led to the formation of thick layers of haze known as atmospheric brown clouds5. The main sources of the pollution are fossil-fuel consumption and biomass burning, which deposit black carbon in the atmosphere, with serious negative consequences for human health6. This pollution produces brownish clouds of aerosol particles that can be several kilometres thick. The hazy conditions spread out over the Arabian Sea, blocking some of the Sun’s energy and preventing it from reaching the sea surface, and thus causing cooling in the upper ocean.
Evan et al.3 propose that these brown clouds have an interesting effect on tropical cyclone environments. They argue that, by inhibiting the amount of incoming solar energy at the sea surface, brown clouds can effectively reduce the warmest Arabian Sea temperatures relative to the equatorial Indian Ocean.”
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