[8] Subsequently, when the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) organized a follow-up international project, the subject of study was renamed the Atmospheric Brown Cloud with focus on Asia.
A 2002 study indicated nearly two million people die each year, in Asia alone, from conditions related to the brown cloud.
[13] It highlighted regional concerns regarding: A 2011 study found that pollution is making Arabian Sea cyclones more intense as the atmospheric brown clouds has been producing weakening wind patterns which prevent wind shear patterns that historically have prohibited cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms.
[17][18] The 2008 report also addressed the global concern of warming and concluded that the brown clouds have masked 20 to 80 percent of greenhouse gas forcing in the past century.
The report suggested that air pollution regulations can have large amplifying effects on global warming.