NASA Data Reveals China's Industrial Air Pollution

eldavojohn writes "China's skyrocketing industrialism comes at a price to the environment, according to Canadian scientists who used NASA data to publish a report on worldwide air pollution (PDF) in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. The biggest problem appears to be a bright red mass in Northeastern China around the Yangtze River Delta — a rapidly developing piece of China's explosive economy. There doesn't seem to be a lot of acknowledgment from the state media, but blogs are picking it up as one of the few sources of data on air pollution for the area. The sad fact is that particulate matter in the air less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter is not classified as pollution by the Chinese government, so they have no official measurements to provide. If you're in Shanghai and looking for a breath of fresh air, you've got quite the journey ahead of you."

Shanghai's Air Quality

[Rand310]

Official government website for the air quality in Shanghai. Decent records, and public.
http://www.envir.gov.cn/Eng/Airep/index.asp [envir.gov.cn]

Re:Shanghai's Air Quality

[jpapon]

And on a side note, how come Slashdot submitters link to a summary, and not the Original NASA source [nasa.gov]?

Re:Race to the Bottom

[mister_playboy]

If you look at the map, you'll see that the presence of heavy particulate pollution is highly correlated with desert areas.

Much of this type of pollution isn't necessarily man-made.

Re:Race to the Bottom

[Penguinisto]

Depends on local conditions, and at which time of year... US deserts aren't as well-known for having big dust storms (and not much sand), so it's pretty easy to see why the particulate counts are going to be low there. Same with the Altiplano (South America), where the desert floor is mostly hardpan or literal hard rock. You can't blow around what's (in many cases) literally cemented to the floor.

Re:Particulate Map

[TopSpin]

they don't have the deserts to blame the particulate levels on

Actually they do. They created it by over grazing and farming.

http://news.discovery.com/earth/desert-dust-storm-roars-through-china-blankets-korea.html

Re:Here's why:

[timeOday]

It's not just solar, China has 24 nuclear power plants [world-nuclear.org] under construction, not to mention the world's most powerful hydroelectric power plant [wikipedia.org]. So, they are embracing energy sources besides fossil fuels.

Re:Race to the Bottom

[Anonymous Coward]

China ... bastion of free enterprise? What are you talking about? China requires all foreign companies doing business in China to do it via a joint company with the Chinese Government owning the other half. Then there is the protectionist nature of Chinese regulations and tariffs that favor local companies over any trying to import goods and a number of other things and you hardly have free enterprise.

Re:Bad calibration?

[dakameleon]

Yes, and also no. If you'd read the actual fine article over at NASA [nasa.gov], you'll see Australia's white patches in the desert are more likely to be a lack of data rather than "off the scale". However, it does go on to state the following:

Wind, for example, lifts large amounts of mineral dust aloft in the Arabian and Saharan deserts

... which explains why Northern Africa has such a high concentration totally out of proportion to its industrial output.