NASA has released pollution map that indicates the level of air pollution in the most polluted 195 cities around the globe. The scientists at NASA monitored the pollution levels in these cities for around ten years and developed a map that reveals the change in the pollution level during these years. The research findings say that Japan, Europe and the United States with their emission control regulations show improvement in the quality of air whereas growing industries have led to increased air pollution in countries like the Middle East, India and China.
The new findings were displayed at the San Francisco’s American Geophysical Union meeting and later on, its report was published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland’s atmospheric scientist, Bryan Duncan, headed the research team. Duncan said that the patterns of air quality change shown on the map are not random, and whenever a particular government decides to start something in areas, with high pollution, it immediately affect the pollution level in that area.
The scientists at the American Space Agency used latest global satellite maps of high resolution for indicating air quality. Researchers at NASA have tracked down North China Plain as the largest of all the air-polluted areas in the globe.
Nitrogen dioxide, a yellow-brown gas is a common pollutant emitted from industrial activities and vehicles. It is the primary pollutant present in the urban smog, causing severe respiratory problems in the cities.
Nitrogen dioxide leads to diseases such as bronchial symptoms, asthma, reduced lung function and lung inflammation. Human activities like power generation, heating and combustion processes in vehicles result in the emission of Nitrogen dioxide.
China known as one of the largest manufacturing hubs and owing to increased industrial and growth activity, there has been a massive rise of 20% to 50% of nitrogen oxide in the most populated regions of the country spanning from Beijing to Nanjing.
Researchers have taken into account several ground factors such as large power while summing up with the tentative impact of the pollution on the environment.
