This is REALLY Scary! Check out this Global Air Pollution (NO2) map for 2006 from ESA!

[Up2Late]

As you look at this map, you can see where most of the major cities are in the world, but check out CHINA! If you remember, China is where the 2008 Summer Olympics are to take place in just over a year!:scared:

Global NO2 pollution map for 2006

Credits:
KNMI/IASB/ESA
ID number:
SEMVKJO2UXE

<http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?b=b&type=I&collection=Observing%20the%20Earth&single=y&start=6&size=b>

Check out the larger, Hi-Res version at the link above:


Description
Mean nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution map for 2006, measured by Envisat's Scanning Imaging Absorption Spectrometer for Atmospheric Chartography (SCIAMACHY) instrument, which records the spectrum of sunlight shining through the atmosphere. NO2, a mainly man-made gas, can cause lung damage and respiratory problems in the case of excess exposure. It also plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry, because it leads to the production of ozone in the lowest part of the atmosphere – the troposphere.

[Deja Q]

1. Considering how much energy the US is said to use, I'm utterly shocked

At how teal it is in general. Some yellow and red, but some of that is in Canada's region too.

Indeed, more of Europe is glowing green and yellow than the US... (though it looks like the amount of red areas for the West is about identical...)

Still, China and S Africa are a problem...

[Mika]

3. Well, China is manufacturing what the consumer societies DEMAND. Cheap crap. n/t

[Deja Q]

15. True...

so when the world economy collapses, will it be a bad thing?

[Up2Late]

22. Just wanted to add an updated link here.

<http://www.esa.int/esa-mmg/mmg.pl?topic=&subtopic=&keyword=Global+NO2+pollution+map&subm2=GO>

[lostinacause]

9. The EPA has regulated NOx . Levels have actually fallen recently, if I am not mistaken,

especially in the east.

[gravity]

17. The United States has good emission laws

The ironic thing is one of the byproducts of reducing emissions is greenhouse gases.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Think population DENSITY. US pop'n is more spread out than Europe.

And so are our power plants. The total is still high.

Density also explains why Mexico City, Rio, Jo'berg are all hot spots.

[ClusterFreak]

2. That is fucked up...wow. n/t

[sam sarrha]

4. there is fear that the soot from coal generators in China will cause MegaStorms in the USA, it seeds

the clouds and causes severe weather

[XemaSab]

5. Interesting that large parts of Europe are worse than California

and what's up with the big spot in South Africa? :shrug:

[firefox_fan]

7. That's called "progress"

Sigh.

[XemaSab]

8. I never figured northern Italy would have worse air quality

than Bakersfield. :P

[Up2Late]

10. Yup, the smog often gets trapped against the base of the Italian Alps...

...during some parts of the year.

Here's a good example: <http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=13294>

Smog in Northern Italy

(Hi-res version at link above)

I sort of expected that area (and London too) to be bad, but I never thought The Netherlands would have such a problem. I wonder if any of that is natural due to them being lowlands.

[NNadir]

12. Especially because they banned nuclear and went renewable.

Just kidding.

[Up2Late]

16. That big red dot in southern Africa looks like it's over Swaziland...

...I may have to do some research on what's going on in that country, because it's more than just deforestation, I think.

[gravity]

18. California has the best emissions standards

I believe Europes standards are not as strict as in the US.

[Up2Late]

20. Yeah, but why is the California Central Valley so Yellow?

Do Cows and Pigs make that much NO2?

[Dogmudgeon]

21. Agriculture -- it's a high-energy industry

I used to live in Chico, a college town in the foothills at the northern end of the valley; it's a big place, and I know there are a couple of DUers who hail from there. When I'd venture down to the farm towns like Oroville, it was like there was a perpetual low-grade smog from plowdust, fields being burned, and uncontrolled emissions from farm equipment. The area is also a natural air-inversion trap, about a thousand miles long (though it tends to be "split" meteorologically into three semi-independent zones).

Good 'Publicans like Wally Herger have ruled the area with an iron fist since John Bidwell (ironically fairly liberal, like fellow 'Publican Abe Lincoln) first developed the area right after the Civil War -- and they'd poison the whole state if they thought it would piss off even one gun-grabbing, Jesus-scorning, gay-condoning Libbrul.

--p!

[NickB79]

23. Agriculture uses prodigious amounts of fossil fuels

Especially industrial-based farming.

[eppur_se_muova]

6. Much NOx is produced by internal combustion engines, so large urban centers

with very high concentration of autos/trucks are NOx hot spots. Coal-burning plants are presumably the major producers in China, which is notoriously lax in enforcing anti-pollution laws (inter alia). Their counterparts in the rest of the world burn large amounts of coal with less pollution presumably because use of stack-scrubber technology is enforced. Also, trains -- often burning COAL -- are China's main form of transport for both passengers and freight.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6271773.stm

http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18069/page1/

[Greyskye]

11. I work with folks

who regularly take business trips to China. The pictures they bring back from cities like Shanghai are incredible - in the sense that you can barely see anything during the day because the polution is so bad.

I've seen pictures taken from hotel rooms in skyscrapers - you can't even see the ground as the particulate matter in the atmosphere is so bad.

Evidently, this is a good day - you can see the ground:


Here is another example:

Both of these are of Shanghai.

[Up2Late]

13. Yuck! That's about as bad a smog problem that I've seen, and I've been too...

...New York and L.A. plenty of times.

You can even see it from Space some days, here's a link to a bunch of NASA pictures:

<http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?search=Haze&date=>

Date: 2007/037 - 02/06
04 :45 UTC
Haze over east central Asia
Satellite: Aqua

Pixel size:
2km | 1km | 500m | 250m


Date: 2005/253 - 09/10
03 :15 UTC
Haze over eastern China
Satellite: Terra

Pixel size:
1km | 500m | 250m

[ramapo]

14. Amazingly bad

And to think China wants to build many, many more coal plants.

The map is absolutely stunning...the pictures depressing.

What will it take to stop this madness?

[Up2Late]

24. Here's a March 2007 MODIS photo of Eastern China from NASA

<http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-03-26>

March 26, 2007 - Haze over China

(High Res pictures at the link above)

Thick haze collected over the Beijing region in late March 2007. Earlier that month,
the BBC News reported that an international team of scientists had documented how
increasing pollution in China led to decreasing rainfall over the region.

The MODIS flying onboard the Aqua satellite captured these images of the Beijing region
on March 22, 2007. If you move your mouse over the main image, you will see a “true-color”
picture, similar to a digital photo. The main “false-color” image uses a combination of
visible and infrared light to more clearly show vegetation, water, and clouds. Even
sparse vegetation appears bright green, while water appears deep blue (bright blue when
tinged with sediment). Clouds dominated by water droplets appear white, while clouds made
of ice crystals appear light blue.

The false-color image highlights water bodies, perhaps aqua-culture ponds, that are all
but invisible in the true-color image, especially along the shores of the Bo Hai. While
vegetation and water show up more clearly in the false-color image, haze is much more
transparent. Although dingy gray haze dominates the true-color picture, it is all but
invisible in the false-color view. The haze “disappears” in the infrared-enhanced image
because tiny haze particles do not reflect longer-wavelength infrared light very well,
making this type of image useful for distinguishing haze from clouds. The bank of clouds
in the upper right corner shows up clearly in both pictures.

As China industrializes, factories, power plants, and automobiles all contribute to
pollution in the region. In examining pollutants and rainfall, the team of scientists
examined records covering more than 50 years, concluding that pollution decreased
precipitation at Mount Hua near Xi’an in central China. They concluded that when
conditions are so hazy that visibility is reduced to less than 8 kilometers (5 miles),
hilly precipitation can drop by 30 to 50 percent. When moist air passes over mountains,
it usually cools and forms raindrops, but heavy pollutant concentrations cause the clouds
to hang on to their moisture.

[XemaSab]

25. I work for a large engineering/environmental consulting firm

and I posted the graphic on the wall of my cube at work. We do a lot of remediation work of contaminated sites, and we work for large oil and energy companies, so the people at my office are far from naive.

People were APPALLED at China's NOX emissions.

[Up2Late]

26. I'm still kind of amazed that even the people in your line of work are surprised at this.

Can you imagine if the Cable "news" actually reported this!?! CNN might have to stop covering Anna Nicol Smith finally.

[kurth]

27. The smog in China has to be seen to be believed

I spent one miserable month in China last year. Never saw a clear blue sky ONCE, and the natives were kinda insulted whenever I used the word "smog". It was just "foggy", they said. More romantic-sounding, I suppose... They're literally polluting themselves to death - well, they're polluting us all.