Worldwide Air Pollution Barrier Discovered
A “chemical equator,” a 31-mile-(50-kilometer) wide boundary separating the Northern Hemisphere’s dirty air from that of the less polluted Southern Hemisphere has been discovered. A “barrier” that can block air pollution from traveling southward. The discovery is reported in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres.
This “barrier” cannot block everything, however. Chemicals that remain intact in the air on a timescale of around one year will eventually cross the barrier. Carbon Monoxide and aerosols will be kept out but carbon dioxide, will not.
Now we know we have a barrier but the study is just the tip on an iceberg and there remains more questions than answers as of the moment. The implications of this discovery will only be known when atmospheric chemistry and weather interaction is understood.
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