Indians, Asian region

Municipal and industrial waters are the most serious land-based pollutants entering the seawater through rivers or direct runoff. Most of the coastal cities in the region discharge their domestic and industrial wastes directly into the sea without any treatment. It has been conservatively estimated that over 90% of human sewage in both the Asian Pacific and Indian Ocean regions finds its way into coastal waters without prior treatment. 

The marine pollution from sea-based activities in the Asian region is largely associated with marine transportation and offshore mineral exploration and production activities. The Malacca and Lombok-Makassar Straits are the main shipping routes from the Indian to Pacific Ocean and in the opposite direction. Incidence of accidental oil spills have been frequently reported along these routes. In the Strait of Malacca alone, for example, 490 shipping accidents had been reported over a five year period from 1988-1992 (Figure 2). 

Heng, CK, Low, PS, Saha, N. Variations in the promoter region of the apolipoprotein A-I gene influence plasma lipoprotein(a) levels in Asian Indian neonates from Singapore. Pediatr. Res. 2001, 49 514—518. 

The general circulation in the SCS is largely seasonal and is driven primarily by the distinct seasonal monsoon winds. The annual cycle of the mean wind stress field is illustrated in Fig. 1.41. With the East Asian landmass to the north and west and the Philippine and Indonesian archipelagoes to the east and south, the SCS is at a unique geographical location, the junction of the three major northern Hemisphere summer monsoon components the Indian (or South Asian) summer monsoon, the western North Pacific summer monsoon, and the East Asia subtropical monsoon. Influenced by equatorial disturbances, and linked to the Australian winter monsoon through cross-equatorial flows, this unique geographical location of the SCS in a typical monsoon region determines the important role the SCS plays in the monsoon and climate... 

With the present issue, I have decided to put emphasis on two quite different issues. One is that of the geographical distribution of the contributing authors, where the present issue has special emphasis on Asian contributions. No less than three contributions from Indian colleagues are included and a further contribution comes from China. I hope that it demonstrates that interesting science is made also outside the more traditional scientific regions of Western Europe and Northern America. 

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