Pollution Travels the Globe, Study Confirms

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 29 September 2009 03:23 pm ET

Smog and air pollution from factories can have a negative impact on the air in faraway regions of the world, a new report finds.

In the coming decades, man-made emissions are expected to rise in East Asia and a growing number of countries may feel the effects even as industrialized countries work to tighten environmental protection standards, according to the National Research Council report.

Researchers analyzed meteorological and chemical data and discovered that some pollutant plumes in the United States can be traced back to Asia. One study found that a polluted air mass took about eight days to travel from East Asia to central Oregon.