Salty sea spray can cleanse the air of pollution, making rain as it scrubs the sky clean, Israeli scientists reported in the Science journal. Rather than all falling back into the sea, some salty drops of water go up into the atmosphere and help make raindrops - which in turn drag particles of pollution down into the water, Daniel Rosenfeld and colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem found. The team used satellite data to look at clouds forming over South Asia, finding that "huge amounts of air pollution' spilled off the continent over the Indian Ocean. This pollution is known to cause rain over land, and it contributes to storm clouds over India and Bangladesh. "They grow as high as 6 kms high over land and precipitate acid rain," Rosenfeld said.