Images captured by NASA's Terra Satellite in December show why it's more important than ever to control air pollution in China and throughout the world.
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| Haze over China as captured by MODIS (image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response.) |
“The fog has a smooth surface on the top, which distinguishes it from mid- and high-level clouds that are more textured and have distinct shadows on their edge,” explained Rudolf Husar, director of the Center for Air Pollution Impact and Trend Analysis at Washington University. “If there is a significant haze layer on top of the fog, it appears brownish. In this case, most of the fog over eastern China is free of elevated haze, and most of the pollution is trapped in the shallow winter boundary layer of a few hundred meters.”
On the day this natural-color image was acquired by Terra, ground-based sensors at U.S. embassies in Beijing and Shanghai reported PM2.5 measurements as high as 480 and 355 micrograms per cubic meter of air respectively. The World Health Organization considers PM2.5 levels to be safe when they are below 25.
At the time of the satellite image, the air quality index (AQI) reached 487 in Beijing and 404 in Shanghai. An AQI above 300 is considered hazardous to all humans, not just those with heart or lung ailments. AQI below 50 is considered good.
In some cities, authorities ordered school children to stay indoors, pulled government vehicles off the road, and halted construction in an attempt to reduce the smog, according to news reports.
Facts about China's Pollution Situation:
1. China burns nearly half the world's coal, reaching 3.8 billion tons in 2011.
2. The highest PM2.5 level ever recorded in traffic-clogged New York in a 24-hour period was 29 micrograms per cubic meter, while the highest for Los Angeles — a city known for its beautiful, smog-enhanced sunsets — was 43. Readings in Harbin this weekend topped 1,000.
3. Researchers at Greenpeace estimate that Beijing alone suffered 2,589 deaths because of PM2.5 air pollution in 2012.
4. Beijing also lost an estimated $328 million in economic costs due to pollution in the same year.
5. PM2.5 is considered the most dangerous type of air born pollution because the particles are so fine — about 1/30 the average width of a human hair — that they get lodged deep in people's lungs. The soluble part of those particles enter the blood stream, while the insoluble part accumulates in the lungs, together leading to cardiotoxicity and a range of heart problems. Elderly folks, children, and pregnant women are most at risk.
6. PM2.5 can include heavy metal and PAH pollutants as well, which can cause placental blood toxicity "that leads to direct harm to fetus, intrauterine growth retardation and low birth weight of babies," especially when the mother is exposed during the first month of pregnancy, says Green Peace.
7. Though much of the PM2.5 comes from power plants, it's also coughed out in the exhaust of motor vehicles, and wood burning home heating systems.
8. Though China is the worst offender right now, heavy air pollution has long been a side-effect of strong economic growth. China's "environmental problems do have historical parallels," says The Economist. "With the exception of Chongqing, the largest municipality, most Chinese cities are no more polluted than Japan’s were in 1960." That doesn't bode well for the future of other developing nations.
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