Air pollution caused fall in monsoon rains, says study
by The Daily Eye Team October 9 2014, 1:59 pm Estimated Reading Time: 0 mins, 43 secsEmissions produced by human activity over the past 50 years have caused decline of the annual monsoon rainfall, on which billions of people - including in India - depend, a new study suggests. In the second half of the 20th century, the levels of rain recorded during the Northern Hemisphere's summer monsoon fell by as much as 10 percent, researchers said. Changes to global rainfall patterns can have serious consequences for human health and agriculture, they said. Scientists found that emissions of tiny air particles from man-made sources, known as anthropogenic aerosols, were the cause. High levels of aerosols in the atmosphere cause heat from the Sun to be reflected back into space, lowering temperatures on the Earth's surface and reducing rainfall. Levels of aerosol emissions have soared since the 1950s, with the most common sources being power stations and cars.