acquired 2011 - 2012
acquired 2005
acquired 2005
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acquired 2006
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acquired 2007
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acquired 2008
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acquired 2009 - 2010
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acquired 2011 - 2012
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Emissions of sulfur dioxide from
power plants in India increased by more than 60 percent between 2005 and
2012 according to new analysis of data from NASA’s Aura satellite. Led by Zifeng Lu of Argonne National Laboratory, the study was published online on December 5, 2013, in Environmental Science & Technology.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is an atmospheric pollutant with both health and climate impacts. In 2010, India surpassed the United States as the world’s second highest emitter of SO2
(after China), according to estimates previously published by Lu and
other scientists from universities and the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. The same research showed that about half of India’s emissions
came from the coal-fired power sector.
The maps above depict sulfur dioxide concentrations in 2011-12 (top)
and 2005 (lower) and the relative size of power plants in India. Darker
shades of orange-brown depict greater concentrations of SO2
in the atmosphere, while the size of the circles indicates the amount of
emissions from the local power plant smoke stacks. Turn on the image
comparison tool for a better look at the difference. You can also
download maps of measurements for each year between 2005 and 2012.
While some atmospheric SO2 is produced by volcanoes and
other natural processes, a substantial amount is produced by human
activities such as the combustion of fuels with sulfur-containing
impurities and the smelting of metals such as copper and nickel. The gas
contributes to the formation of acid rain and, in high concentrations,
can cause respiratory problems. It is also a precursor for sulfate aerosols,
a type of suspended particle that can affect the properties of
clouds—an effect that is difficult to measure and remains a large point
of uncertainty in climate models.
India’s Central Pollution Control Board
noted in a 2012 report that the national mean concentration of sulfur
dioxide had declined from 2001 to 2010, an estimate based on data from
ground-based monitoring stations. However, most of the stations are
located in urban areas, where regulations have indeed reduced pollution
locally. Only some of the stations in India collect measurements near
the source of power plant emissions.
“We should know the air quality not only in populated cities, but
also in industrial areas, where coal-fired power plants truly dominate
national sulfur dioxide emissions,” said Lu. “On the one hand, local
residents are influenced by these emissions. On the other hand,
long-lifetime, sulfur-containing air pollutants such as sulfate can be
transported long distances to affect public health and the environment
at a regional scale.”
The new analysis of sulfur dioxide emissions comes two years after
researchers developed a method to observe power plant emissions using
measurements captured by an instrument on the Aura satellite. The Ozone
Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measures ozone and other key air quality
components (including sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide) and collects
data over the same locations at the same time daily.
Using OMI’s eight-year record of observations, Lu and colleagues
averaged measurements of sulfur from 65 power plants in 23 regions. Over
time, a pattern emerged that allowed scientists to distinguish nearly
constant power plant emissions from more variable background
concentrations of sulfur dioxide. Researchers used OMI data and the same
technique in a 2011 study to show that sulfur dioxide emissions from large U.S. coal-fired power plants fell from 2005-2007 to 2008-2010.
“This paper confirms that a technique shown to work in the United
States can be applied for other countries where emissions [from
ground-based measurements] are not well known,” said co-author Nickolay
Krotkov of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA images created by
Jesse Allen, using data provided by Zifeng Lu (Argonne National
Laboratory). Caption by Kathryn Hansen, NASA Earth Science News Team,
with Mike Carlowicz, NASA Earth Observatory. This research was sponsored
by NASA as part of the Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (AQAST) program.
- Instrument:
- Aura - OMI
NASA: India - Sulfur Dioxide Increasing - 12.26.13
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un seguidor si quieres, con esta
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