A Picture is Worth... Air Pollution in China
by Jeremy Elton Jacquot, Los Angeles on 02.11.08
This image, which was captured by NASA's Sea-Viewing Wide Field-of-View Sensor (i.e. SeaWiFS), dates back to January 2, 2000; it shows a layer of polluted air covering a large portion of southeastern China. The increased use of fossil fuels is largely to blame for the opaque haze. Given that China now tops the U.S. in total greenhouse gas emissions, just imagine what a satellite picture of the region would look like now...
Via ::Econbrowser: China's air pollution (blog)
Don't have to imagine, it shows up almost daily in the NASA MODIS Terra/Aqua imagery when it's not covered in clouds.
Here's some past MODIS images.
January 10, 2008 - Haze in Eastern China:
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2008-01-10
November 13, 2007 - Haze Over Eastern China:
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-11-13
October 24, 2007 - Haze over Eastern China:
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-10-24
August 20, 2007 - Haze in Eastern China:
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-08-20
July 6, 2007 - Haze over Eastern China:
http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-07-06
Pollution and smog across Central China:
http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view_rec.php?id=6516
I know other countries pollute too, but most don't continuously look like whole country is burning tires...
It just makes you wonder what the same imager will make America look like.
On the smog tinged bright side the pollution is helping combat global warming by reflecting the sunlight. Should China clean up the pollution, like America did, global warming would be greatly accelerated. Either way it's a lose-lose situation.
humans are a lose lose situation
It is a nightmare. I just wrote a short opinion piece about the effects of the solar panel industry on rural China. The article is based on a recent story in the Washington Post and my interview with a Chinese writer.
This is a tragedy.
Jim
Nearly nothing but novels: fiction and crime fiction book reviews
Chemistry for a sustainable world
OMG THEY R SOOO SILLY