Researchers have been perplexed for over a decade as to why air quality continues to decline in California despite having the strictest emissions regulations in the country. While most other cities have improved, Western cities and even rural areas with very little vehicle traffic experience the poorest air quality in the country. Researchers took to the air to discover where the pollution is coming from and found conclusivley that China and Southeast Asia are largely to blame.
"Ozone is a difficult gas to pin down," said Owen Cooper of the Earth System Research Laboratory at NOAA. "The study of intercontinental air pollution has been going on for a decade, but whether it was increasing overall was uncertain.
Pollution levels on the US west coast spike after prolonged esposure from southeastern winds, which scientists say carry ozone-causing nitrogen oxides. The emission of these gasses has gone up 50% in China over the past 10 years, while the United States has greatly reduced this kind of pollution. Southern California is subject to smog levels that exceed safe exposure levels for humans about 80 days each year.
This pollution is linked to long-term lung damage and complicates medical conditions for asthmatics and heart patients.
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