Dutch Scientists Create European Pollution Map

Using the US space agency's Aura satellite, Dutch scientists are scanning the troposphere (the lowest part of the atmosphere, where we live) for pollution and putting together a map of Europe that shows pollution levels almost in real-time. "This is the first time that we have been able to follow pollution globally from day to day. [It] will help us understand how pollution is formed and where it comes from, its sources; and where it goes to, its sinks. All this helps us understand the chemistry involved and that is important for us if we want to check our models," said Pieternel Levelt, of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. ::Omni: Ozone Monitoring Instrument, ::NASA: Aura, via ::Europe's pollution hotspots shown