US research fellows have found that air pollution from China could be a possible cause of worsening weather in North America and over the Pacific Ocean, the Guardian reported.

The findings were released by a team from Texas, California and Washington state in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The team used computer modeling to study interactions between clouds and fine airborne particles emanating from manmade sources, and discovered that pollution from Asia, much of it from China, contributes to more intense cyclones, increased precipitation and more warm air in the mid-Pacific moving toward the North Pole.

"Mid-latitude storms develop off Asia and they track across the Pacific, coming in to the west coast of the US," said Ellie Highwood, a climate physicist at the University of Reading, the Guardian reported. "The particles in this model are affecting how strong those storms are, how dense the clouds are, and how much rainfall comes out of those storms."

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang "declared war" against pollution on March 5, when delivering his government work report to the annual session of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing, and pledged to fight it with the same determination the country battled poverty.

"The construction of a good ecological environment is vital for our people's life and the future of our nation. Environmental protection is the Chinese government's top task that must be completed with great determination," Li said.

"We will declare war on pollution with the same determination we used to fight poverty," he added.

The top legislature will work to revise the Environmental Protection Law and the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law to improve the environmental protection and management system, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of NPC Standing Committee, said on March 9.

It is necessary to fully analyze the deep-rooted reasons for environmental problems and strive to fundamentally reverse environmental deterioration by improving laws and regulations, he said.

Global Times - Xinhua