Researchers from four institutions in three western states have concluded Asian air pollution is impacting weather patterns over the Pacific ocean and United States.

The scientific team -- from Texas A&M University, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., the University of California at San Diego and the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- arrived at their conclusions after comparing air pollution data released by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for the years 1850 through 2000.

Investigators determined human-made atmospheric particulates, in other words, aerosols, traced from Asia are impacting the Pacific storm track, a critical driver of atmospheric circulation that affects weather over most of the planet.

Detailed in a recent edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers took the 150 years of statistics and fed it into an advanced global climate computer model that examines the general circulation of Earth's atmosphere.

Previous research has shown atmospheric aerosols affect the world's climate by dispersing or absorbing the sun's radiation and modifying the formation of clouds.

The latest analysis, according to a story posted online by Voice of America, generated and then compared two climate scenarios: First, weather patterns reflecting conditions in 1850, which preceded the industrial era, and, second, climatic conditions in 2000, or now.

By studying the two scenarios, the researchers deduced human-made aerosols have greatly impacted the cloud formations and mid-latitude cyclones, or, extra tropical cyclones, which are typically associated with the Pacific storm track that transports heat and moisture along its course.

The study asserts an increase in the transfer of heat and moisture happening further along in the storm track means the Pacific storm track has intensified as a result of the discharge of toxins in Asia.

Previous research has shown atmospheric aerosols affect the world's climate by dispersing or absorbing the sun's radiation and modifying the formation of clouds.

"There appears to be little doubt that these particles from Asia affect storms sweeping across the Pacific and subsequently the weather patterns in North America and the rest of the world," one of the study's authors, Renyi Zhang from Texas A&M's Department of Atmospheric Sciences, said in the Voice of America story.

Zhang noted the results in study clearly illustrate that pollution derived from "fast-growing Asian economies" impact the formation of storms, as well as the circulation of air along the Pacific storm track -- resulting in deeper, stronger, wetter and more intense storms moving over the Pacific.