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April 30, 2010

Pollution Amplifies Global Warming

Himalayan glaciers are melting, affecting the rivers that supply water to people who are living downstream.

Scientists have concluded that the global warming trend caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases is a major contributor to the melting of Himalayan and other tropical glaciers. Now, a new analysis of pollution-filled "brown clouds" over south Asia by researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., offers hope that the region may be able to arrest some of the alarming retreat of such glaciers by reducing its air pollution.

This image accompanied NSF press release, "'Brown Cloud' Particulate Pollution Amplifies Global Warming."

Credit: Nicolle Rager Fuller, National Science Foundation


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