https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/11/us/air-pollution-atlantic-hurricanes-climate/index.html

Reducing harmful air pollution has led to a surprising effect — more hurricanes in the North Atlantic

By Rachel Ramirez, CNN

Updated 1800 GMT (0200 HKT) May 11, 2022

As the US and Europe worked for decades to reduce air pollution for the sake of public health and the planet, scientists found an unintended and challenging consequence: an increase in tropical storms in some regions.

A new study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances found that over the past four decades, a 50% decrease in aerosols — tiny particles of air pollution — over North America and Europe led to a 33% increase in the number of tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic.
On the other side of the world, the study found that a 40% increase in aerosol pollution in China and India over the same time period sparked a 14% decline in the number of tropical cyclones in the western North Pacific. Air pollution surged significantly in China and India during that time due to the countries' economic and industrial growth.

"Decreasing aerosol emissions is something that's good for human health; but on the other hand, we found there are some bad effects when we reduce aerosol emissions — and that is hurricane activity," Hiro Murakami, the lead author of the study and a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, told CNN.
Aerosols aren't like greenhouse gases. They are tiny particles of pollution that float in the air and — unlike carbon dioxide or methane, which absorb sunlight and lead to warming — reflect sunlight back to space, which has a cooling effect. There are natural aerosols, but much of the pollution in the early to mid-20th century came from sources like industrial smokestacks and car exhaust.
Murakami found that as aerosol pollution decreased in the decades following the United States' Clean Air Act and similar actions in Europe, the ocean could absorb more sunlight, leading to warmer sea surface temperatures that fueled more storms.

Murakami warns his results don't mean we should stop controlling air pollution. Reducing aerosol emissions is kind of like quitting smoking, he said. When a person stops smoking, they improve their health and can avoid cancer. But in some cases, quitting also comes with side effects, including gaining weight and feeling stressed.
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