Year: 2008

Pollution may hit Himalayan monsoon clouds
Mon Oct 13, 2008 5:09pm EDT

By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent

OSLO (Reuters) – Higher levels of pollution in Asia may affect the formation of
clouds high in the Himalayas, perhaps disrupting monsoons and speeding a thaw of
glaciers, according to a study on Monday.

The report, by scientists in France and Italy, found microscopic particles in the
air that can be seeds for water droplets at a Nepalese mountain observatory, the
highest in the world at 5,079 meters (16,660 ft) above sea level.

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Warmer climate to dry up peatlands: study
Mon Oct 13, 2008 11:00am EDT 

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Warmer temperatures in the years ahead will dry up peatlands,
release more carbon dioxide into the world’s atmosphere and aggravate global
warming, a study in Japan has found.

Peat is the accumulation of partially decayed vegetation in very wet places and it
covers about two percent of global land mass. Peatlands store large amounts of
carbon owing to the low rates of carbon breakdown in cold, waterlogged soils.

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