Monsoon raises pollution to new heights

Scientists at the University of York have played a key role in new international research which demonstrates how one of the world's great natural phenomena is helping to increase pollution in the upper atmosphere.

Researchers in the department of chemistry at York were part of a team that used a satellite to provide important data revealing the growing impact of the Asian monsoon on pollution of the stratosphere.

New research published in the latest issue of Science Express shows that the monsoon is drawing hydrogen cyanide (HCN), a pollutant caused by biomass burning, into the stratosphere far more quickly than previously thought.

The Asian monsoon is like a huge funnel which sucks up pollution into the stratosphere.

The research has been carried out by an international team which also included the National Centre for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, the Department of Physics in the University of Toronto and the School of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Peter Bernath, who headed the research at York, said the Asian monsoon circulation provided a pathway for pollution to reach the stratosphere.