Earth ID: 11547

Monitoring Air Quality

Story by Kasha Patel Released on June 26, 2014

Airborne pollutants can negatively affect our health. Such molecules can flow from city to city via wind, building a river of smog as evident around our nation’s Northeast Corridor and over flatter terrain in the eastern U.S. One major air pollutant is nitrogen dioxide, a brownish gas commonly emitted from motor vehicle exhaust and power plants. This noxious chemical causes respiratory issues and promotes the formation of other harmful air pollutants like ground-level ozone. Observations by the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard NASA’s Aura satellite show that nitrogen dioxide levels have actually decreased nationwide by four percent per year since 2005. The decline is thought to stem partly from technology improvements, especially in the energy and transportation sectors. Watch the video to see changes in nitrogen dioxide levels across the U.S. from 2005 to 2011.

Emission control devices on power plants helped Atlanta reduce nitrogen dioxide levels by 42 percent between the 2005-2007 and 2009-2011 periods.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Visualizer/Animator:
Trent L. Schindler (USRA)

Producer:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Lead Scientists:
Bryan Duncan (NASA/GSFC)
Lok Lamsal (USRA)
Yasuko Yoshida (SSAI)

Lead Writer:
Kasha Patel (Wyle Information Systems)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11547

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Earth