A joint international research team led by a South Korean oceanographer has found out that air pollutants can dissolve into the sea and disturb the marine ecosystem.

Together with Swiss and U.S. researchers, a team led by professor Lee Ki-taek of Pohang University of Science and Technology, analyzed the density of nitrate in the Pacific ocean and confirmed that air pollutants from East Asia including China have dissolved in rain water and flown into the sea.

The research team forecast that an increase in nitrate in the ocean will disturb the marine ecosystem by reducing the number of small phytoplankton, while increasing the population of large plankton that causes the red tide.

The latest research was published Friday in the prominent science journal Science.