Chemical equator

The chemical equator term and concept was coined in 2008 when researchers from University of York discovered a distinct divide between the polluted air and haze over Indonesia from the largely uncontaminated atmosphere over Australia.

This divide is distinguishable by a rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon monoxide and other pollutants from the Tropical Warm Pool region northward.

[2] Scientists at the University of York's Department of Chemistry conducted the first research that supported the concept of a 50 km wide chemical equator by comparing concentrations of atmospheric pollutants in both sides.

[1] Biomass burning within this region, particularly from Southeast Asia, is responsible for the polluted air which is uplifted by convection and dispersed into the atmosphere over the Western Pacific.

[3] Storm systems in the Tropical Warm Pool may also increase the influence of the atmospheric pollutants by acting as a pump that lifts polluted air higher up in the atmosphere where it will remain suspended for a longer period of time, as well as helping to spread it.