Science On a Sphere
ClimateBits: Air Quality
Details
Permalink to Details- Added to the Catalog
- Available for
- SOS
- Categories
- Air: Chemistry, Temperature Change
- Keywords
- Air Pollution
- Air Quality
- Anomaly
- Anthropogenic Emissions
- Atmosphere
- Emissions
- Extras
- Fossil Fuel
- Globalization
- Nitrogen Dioxide
Description
Permalink to DescriptionThis video gives a brief overview of Earth's air quality. Satellite measurements provide consistent, near-real time, global maps of pollution gas hot spots around the world.
When Earth is viewed from space at night, brightest areas show the biggest cities and industrial areas. These areas correspond to increased air pollution. An example of a common air pollutant, Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) gas is released into the air primarily by burning fossil fuels. It is unhealthy to breathe and reacts with other gases and sunlight to produce ground-level ozone, which is also unhealthy to breathe. NO2 imagery shows the greatest emissions around the world from industry, vehicle exhaust and fires due to deforestation and agricultural burning. One can see evidence of some combination of these over all continents, except Antarctica, with densely populated areas showing more pollution.
The length of this dataset is 1:58.
Notable Features
Permalink to Notable Features- Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) measurements from satellite indicate changes in air pollution levels around the world over the past decade.
- Emissions controls have successfully decreased NO2 levels in some areas, such as the United States and western Europe.
- Places with growing populations and development, such as China and India, have air pollution that has dramatically increased over the past decade.