NASA Releases Orbital Photos of Beijing's Air Pollution 143
skade88 writes "This story should remind us all that air pollution controls are not just about addressing global warming. They also help us have cleaner air and fewer health problems resulting from smog and haze. Starting earlier this month, Beijing, China started having worse than normal air pollution issues. On January 14, 2013 the U.S. embassy's air pollution sensors in Beijing found the density of the most dangerous small air particles, PM 2.5, at 291 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The World Health Organization's guidelines for air pollution state that PM 2.5 above 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air is dangerous to a person's health. To put the problem into perspective, NASA has released two orbital photos of Beijing showing before-and-during images of the air pollution. The photo from January 4 shows parts of Beijing still visible from space. The photo from January 14 shows nothing but a huge, thick cloud of haze with no buildings visible."
For those who don't know (Score:5, Informative)
PM 2.5 stands for particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers.
According to the Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] particles of this size cause a broad array of terrible consequences in the body.
Also on NPR (Score:3, Informative)
Re:that's what the job killing lines get you stuff (Score:5, Informative)
Nice try, but no. Beijing isn't that big of a manufacturing center (relatively speaking) - most of the pollution comes from IC engines and (especially important this time of year) the decentralized system of coal powered hot water plants that provides most of the cities heating.
Re:The US is no better (Score:5, Informative)
US standards are PM2.5 of 15ppm annually and 35ppm over 24 hour average, and regions are considered "non-compliant" and have to take corrective action if they don't meet that. China hit 800ppm on 1/12/13. And you know who's fault that is? China's. Don't even pretend their government is somehow owned by US interests. It's getting closer to the other way around.
So, yes, the US is a HELL of a lot better environmentally. Please do the tiny bit of research it takes before saying stupid shit like that.
Re:For those who don't know (Score:2, Informative)
"Also at the time of the image, the air quality index (AQI) in Beijing was 341. An AQI above 300 is considered hazardous to all humans, not just those with heart or lung ailments. AQI below 50 is considered good. On January 12, the peak of the current air crisis, AQI was 775 the U.S Embassy Beijing Air Quality Monitor—off the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency scale—and PM2.5 was 886 micrograms per cubic meter."
Re:Oh snap! (Score:4, Informative)
Not true. They may get the jobs, but we also get the pollution. The planet is a living thing, and things that happen in China don't stay in China.
Much of the particulate pollution over Los Angeles originates in China, according to the Journal of Geophysical Research. [nytimes.com]
China dust storms travel to California [nasa.gov]