Smoggy Areas Around The World

Smoggy Areas Around the World

We use the global air quality data of aqicn.org, a Chinese database, to highlight the smoggiest areas or countries around the world.  Our maps are just an arbitrary day during the winter.  The summer probably brings greater photochemical smog.  The website is rather slow, so I also use the HazeToday iPhone app, which is faster, but because it is, it switches to small boxes for the air quality numbers.  However, HazeToday has country and city names in English, while aqicn.org has names in the language of each country.  The colors show the severity of the smog in the locations, going from green (0-50 good) to yellow (51-100 moderate) to orange (101-150 unhealthy for some) to red (151-200 unhealthy) to blue (201-300 very unhealthy), and ending in burgundy (hazardous), which is unlimited, but over 300.

We sweep across Europe and Asia, from West to East.  The time at the top is my time, not the time on the other side of the earth.

Italy

The Balkans

Turkey

India

China

We see why 4.1 million people die a year from outdoor smog around the world.  These are from vehicles, coal plants, steel plants, and agriculture.  There must also be enormous economic losses from air pollution caused illnesses.

Another 2 million die from indoor air from organic waste, wood, or coal sources used for cooking and heating.  These are preventable by switching to kerosene or natural gas.

Most of these countries are developing vehicles and power sources which are cleaner, for their futures.

 

 

 

 

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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