Published February 9, 2001 | Version public
Journal Article

The Indian Ocean Experiment: Widespread Air Pollution from South and Southeast Asia

  • 1. ROR icon Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
  • 2. ROR icon Scripps Institution of Oceanography
  • 3. ROR icon National Center for Atmospheric Research
  • 4. ROR icon Georgia Institute of Technology
  • 5. ROR icon University of Maryland, College Park
  • 6. ROR icon Utrecht University
  • 7. ROR icon Universität Innsbruck
  • 8. ROR icon National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • 9. ROR icon Forschungszentrum Jülich
  • 10. ROR icon Physical Research Laboratory
  • 11. ROR icon National Physical Laboratory of India
  • 12. ROR icon Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
  • 13. ROR icon University of California, Riverside
  • 14. ROR icon Stockholm University

Abstract

The Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) was an international, multiplatform field campaign to measure long-range transport of air pollution from South and Southeast Asia toward the Indian Ocean during the dry monsoon season in January to March 1999. Surprisingly high pollution levels were observed over the entire northern Indian Ocean toward the Intertropical Convergence Zone at about 6°S. We show that agricultural burning and especially biofuel use enhance carbon monoxide concentrations. Fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning cause a high aerosol loading. The growing pollution in this region gives rise to extensive air quality degradation with local, regional, and global implications, including a reduction of the oxidizing power of the atmosphere.

Additional Information

© 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 2 November 2000; accepted 10 January 2001. We are grateful for the support by many funding agencies, notably the NSF, the Department of Energy, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Indian Space Research Organization, the European Union, the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales, the Netherlands Supercomputing Facility, and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research. We thank J. Olivier for his help with emission estimates (16, 39).

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
67687
DOI
10.1126/science.1057103
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20160606-123953476

Related works

Funding

NSF
Department of Energy (DOE)
NASA
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Indian Space Research Organization
European Union
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
Netherlands Supercomputing Facility
Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)

Dates

Created
2016-06-06
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Updated
2023-02-25
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