Mapping smoke and other air pollution from space

[LunaSea]

Air pollution has many sources. Some air pollution comes from local sources like cars, power plants, industry, or nearby fires. Local and regional laws limit this type of pollution as much as possible to keep air quality at healthy levels. But, says environmental engineer Jim Szykman in a new EarthSky podcast, satellites have shown that the haze that hangs in the skies over your house might not be from the local power plant: much of it might be from the next city, state, or from across the country or even the world. Pollution travels.

These images provide a case in point. Air quality plummeted to unhealthy levels in southwest Oregon on September 25, 2009. Choking smoke (gray-brown in the photo-like image) from large, lightning-ignited fires in the Cascade Mountains filled the skies. That nearby communities should experience poor air quality was to be expected, but the smoke affected air quality hundreds of kilometers away as well.





http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=40845

http://www.earthsky.org/interviewpost/earth/jim-szykman-studies-air-quality-using-satellites-in-space



Jim Szykman: Air quality is both local, regional, and global. There’s different scales that people need to have in mind when they’re thinking about this. And while we continue to make great strides and improve the conditions on a local basis, there are a lot of other things that influence it. And it’s working with agencies like NASA and NOAA to bring new data into the process to inform us, to help understand how the conditions are changing, and that information will be used to help improve conditions locally as we move into the future.

Environmental engineer Jim Szykman works for the Environmental Protection Agency. Dr. Szykman uses data from NASA’s Terra satellite to not only monitor air quality, but to produce forecasts of air pollution. He spoke with EarthSky about tracking the sources, movement, and destination of polluted air. Dr. Szykman explained why scientists are concerned about tracking air pollution.

[bbinacan]

1. That's it. We need to ban

cigarette and pot smoking. :evilgrin:

[Igel]

3. And lightning.

Don't forget lightning.

[panader0]

2. In the late 70's a friend of mine founded a group

called project Nighthawk I believe. With two small planes, he and a partner flew over polluting sites and photographed the plumes of smoke. Down here near Mexico, they targeted the copper smelters in Douglas, Az., and those in Cananea and Nacozari Mexico. The three plumes joined and wafted east in a way that was only really seen from on high.