The US and Chinese scientists have developed a novel computer model that can help accurately predict air pollution levels in the region a season in advance.<br />” <br />” The statistical model, described in the journal Science Advances, uses certain climatic patterns related to the oceans which have a regulatory effect on the wintertime air pollution over northern India.<br />” <br />” Researchers said the new model could allow the government to forecast aerosol pollution conditions in winter and accordingly improve plans for pollution control.<br />” <br />” Meng Gao from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University in the US said the statistical prediction model, uses two autumn temperature variation patterns as predictors.<br />” <br />” The study found that the inter-annual variability of wintertime aerosol pollution over northern India is regulated mainly by a combination of El Nino — a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns — and the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), a low-frequency mode of atmospheric variability of the southern hemisphere.<br />” <br />” Both El Nino sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and AAO-induced anomalies can persist from autumn to winter, offering prospects for a pre-winter forecast of wintertime aerosol pollution over northern India, the researchers wrote in the research paper.<br />” &nbsp;<br />