Renyi Zhang, an atmospheric scientist at Texas A&M University, said the Pacific’s storm system had been affected by aerosols – tiny particles of pollution such as soot produced when burning coal.
"Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in Asia have caused severe air pollution over many countries, including China and India. Long-term satellite measurements have revealed a dramatic increase in aerosol concentrations over Asia," the Guardian reported Dr Zhang as writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"Warming in the polar regions has catastrophic climate consequences, such as polar ice caps shrinking and sea level rising," wrote Dr Zhang. "The change in the Pacific storm track and its associated climate impacts require further studies from a large scientific community, including investigation with global climate models."
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