article thumbnail

Satellite method provides insight into ozone-NOx-VOCs sensitivity for different locations

Green Car Congress

Ozone pollution near Earth’s surface is one of the main ingredients of summertime smog. It is also not directly measurable from space due to the abundance of ozone higher in the atmosphere, which obscures measurements of surface ozone. —Jin et al.

Ozone 150
article thumbnail

UMD-led study finds China’s SO2 emissions down 75% since 2007, India’s up 50%; India may now be the top SO2 emitter

Green Car Congress

Two maps compare total annual sulfur dioxide amounts for India and China during 2005 (left) and 2016 based on Ozone Monitoring Instrument measurements. Most of the two countries’ sulfur dioxide emissions come from coal-fired power plants and coal-burning factories. Note the decrease in size of the purple region over northeastern China.

India 170
article thumbnail

Study finds power law scaling relationship between urban population and NO2 pollution

Green Car Congress

The approximate linear relationship for each region is notable, suggesting that the dependence of urban NO 2 pollution upon population follows a power law scaling with population. log relationship between NO 2 mixing ratios and the total population of urban areas for the four regions. Credit: ACS, Lamsal et al. Click to enlarge.

Pollution 261
article thumbnail

NASA satellite images highlight US air quality improvement with reduction of NO2

Green Car Congress

After ten years in orbit, the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on NASA’s Aura satellite has been in orbit sufficiently long to show that people in major US cities are breathing less nitrogen dioxide. The gas is produced primarily during the combustion of gasoline in vehicle engines and coal in power plants.

Ozone 210
article thumbnail

NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 reaches orbit

Green Car Congress

At early morning press time, NASA reported that the Observatory had passed its initial health check, established communication with both ground-based and spaceborne links, deployed its solar panels, and was “power positive”—i.e. generating its own power. GCOM-W1, Aqua, CALIPSO, CloudSat, and Aura are currently on orbit.

Carbon 240