Space Sensors Show Massive Surge In Chinese Air Pollution

EARTH OBSERVATION

Tropospheric nitrogen dioxide vertical columns over northeast China as measured by SCIAMACHY on Envisat, averaged between December 2003 and November 2004. A non-linear colour scale has been used because of the large range of NO2 vertical columns. Credits: Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen et al.

Paris (AFP) Sep 01, 2005
The world's largest amount of the smog gas nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is hanging over Beijing and northeast China, according to images released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Thursday.

Levels of NO2, a pollutant released by factories, power plants and vehicle exhausts, have risen by about 50 percent over China over the past decade as a result of spectacular economic growth and are continuing to increase, ESA said.

By comparison, concentrations of NO2 have remained steady or declined over industrial parts of the United States and eastern Europe, ESA said.

Exposure to NO2 in large quantities is known to cause lung damage and respiratory problems.

The gas is also a major ingredient of smog, the ground-level pollutant typically caused by interaction between sunlight and traffic pollution.

The data was sent back by instruments aboard the ESA Earth-monitoring satellite Envisat under a joint research project, called the Dragon Programme, by European and Chinese scientists.

"China's nitrogen dioxide concentration varies according to season," said John Burrows, a University of Bremen environmental physicist who is closely involved in the project.

"There is more in the winter as a result of differing emission patterns and meteorology.

"For example, more fuel is burned for heating, and nitrogen dioxide persists longer in the atmosphere at that less sunny time of year, lasting around a day rather than hours, as in the summer."

The map of NO2 pollution can be seen on ESA's website (www.esa.int), and a text of the research was published on Thursday in the British weekly science journal Nature.

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EARTH OBSERVATION

Getting To The TOPP Of Houston's Air Pollution

Houston TX (SPX) Aug 11, 2005
As state environmental regulators prepare to implement Texas' latest plan to bring Houston into compliance with federal clean air standards, researchers from Rice University and Valparaiso University are conducting the first systematic survey of ozone levels in the air above Houston using weather balloons.

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