"California Getting 'Second-Hand Smog' From Asia, Researchers Say"

"California is suffering from 'second-hand smog' drifting in from Asia and other places, researchers said on Tuesday, even as the state's prolonged drought has made air quality worse.

About 10 percent of ozone pollution, the main ingredient in smog, in the state's San Joaquin Valley farm region comes from other countries, mostly in Asia, said Ian Faloona, an atmospheric scientist with the University of California, Davis.

'What's happening upwind strongly affects what's happening downwind,' Faloona said. If California were a human body, the area around the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco would be the mouth, 'breathing in air from across the Pacific Ocean,' he said."
 
Sharon Bernstein reports for Reuters April 1, 2015.

Source: Reuters, 04/01/2015