Experts have warned that 'haze season' and 'trash season' are now part of Earth's annual climate rhythm, disrupting ecosystems and redefining the calendar. 

The new seasons are now recurring every year, driven entirely by human activity and posing serious threats to public health, marine life, and global ecosystems.

Haze season occurs annually across parts of Southeast Asia, when thick smoke blankets the region, causing hazardous air quality and widespread health concerns. 

Most of the haze comes from intentionally set fires, massive burn-offs used to clear land for agriculture in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia. 

A similar pattern has been found in the US as California's wildfire season, once limited to the hottest months, now begins in spring and extends well into December. 

Meanwhile, in Bali, a different kind of season unfolds each year from December to March. As monsoon winds shift, ocean currents carry staggering volumes of plastic waste ashore, burying beaches under piles of garbage. 

This 'trash season' has become so consistent that locals can now predict it down to the month. 

Similar events have been seen in the Philippines, Thailand, and even along the US East Coast, where the Gulf Stream and other currents push floating debris toward Florida and the Carolinas, especially during summer.

To better understand and describe the shifting climate rhythms, the research team analyzed decades of satellite imagery, weather data, and local reports. 

They've even introduced a new vocabulary to define the evolving seasonal patterns: extinct seasons, arrhythmic seasons, and syncopated seasons. 

The haze season in Southeast Asia typically starts in June and runs through September.

The smoke often drifts across borders, enveloping cities in Singapore, Thailand, and beyond in a toxic cloud that can last for weeks.

The researchers led by the London School of Economics and Political Science said that this 'is caused by the widespread burning of tropical peatlands in regions of Malaysia and Indonesia and is now considered an annual event in equatorial Southeast Asia, impacting the health and livelihoods of millions.'

This season has also been appearing in northern India every winter, as the monsoon season ends and crop burning begins, often intensified locally by Diwali festive burning.

The US has also become accustom to hazy skies each summer as parts of the norther east were blanketed with smoke over the weekend, sparking air quality alerts in New York and New Jersey. 

In 2023, smoke from record-breaking Canadian wildfires engulfed the Midwest and East Coast, turning skies orange over New York City. 

Events like this are becoming more frequent as wildfire seasons across North America grow longer, hotter, and more intense, researchers warned.

'Looking beyond emergent atmospheric seasons of the Anthropocene, marine pollution seasons are also surfacing, quite literally, as observed on the beaches of Bali, Indonesia,' the study reads.

'Here, floating plastic waste, either washed off the land by heavy rainfall or dumped into the oceans, is blown by strong monsoonal winds onto the southern beaches of the island province from December to March.'

The new season has forced governments to employ hundreds of seasonal workers and volunteers to assist with clean-up each year.

In March, Bali revealed that over 3,000 tons of ocean debris and trash landed on its shores during the most recent monsoon season. 

Such pollution on the East Coast of the US, specifically in areas like New England estuaries, tends to peak during the summer months. 

This is likely influenced by factors like increased precipitation during this season, leading to greater runoff and transport of land-based plastics into coastal waters. 

According to the study, some traditional seasons have also vanished. In alpine regions like the Andes and the Rocky Mountains, the once-predictable winter sports season is collapsing due to a severe lack of snow. 

In the northeast of England, seabirds like kittiwakes have stopped returning to breed at their usual time, breaking a natural cycle communities have depended on for generations. 

Other seasons like spring and summers have shifted out of sync. These are 'arrhythmic' changes, when spring comes too early, or summer overstays its welcome, describing the natural cycle is falling out of sync. 

For example, breeding and hibernation cycles across Europe are now starting weeks earlier than they used to. 

Similarly, wildfire and hurricane seasons are lengthening in North America and the Pacific, disrupting planning and preparedness. 

Then there are 'syncopated' seasons, which have not vanished or moved, but have intensified. A clear case is Europe's summer. 

Ever since the 2003 French heatwave killed thousands, scientists have noted that summers across the continent are not just hotter but more dangerous. These seasons follow the usual rhythm, but with a harder, more unpredictable beat. 

In this case, the season did not disappear, it became dangerously amplified. That makes it syncopated, which is the pattern still exists, but the beat is harder and more unpredictable.