This is a satellite-derived map of average PM 2.5 levels over a five year time-span, courtesy of NASA. PM 2.5 is a measure of particulate matter in the air that gives it appearance of being hazy and also adversely effects the health of a population.
On this map we can see how pollution levels are generally higher around major cities and areas of denser population. Northeast China is particularly bad, with northern India not far behind. Other areas you would expect are central Europe and the eastern U.S., which are relatively low compared to India and China. Areas I thought would be higher are southern California and central Mexico, two places that are notorious for hazy air. Japan and Indonesia are also lighter than I expected, since they are densely populated nations with well over 100 million people.
Areas I didn't expect PM 2.5 to be rampart are in the northern Sahara, Middle East, and western China. Anyone who knows geography knows these are arid regions with a lot of sand. Indeed, it appears that mother nature churns its own PM 2.5 factories where there are large deserts of sand- something I hadn't known before. Sand from the Sahara is actually extremely hazardous to sub-Saharan Africa, causing high levels of infant mortality rates (Neill).
Something that concerns me in the future are increasing PM 2.5 levels globally. And not just from pollution. The smoke from forest fires is another generator of PM- a threat that is increasing as global warming continues. Last year, we had the worst spell of smoky skies from forest fires in my 36 years of living here. It was so bad that we felt ill and had to buy an air purifier!
Sources:
NASA. 2010. Retrieved from https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/health-sapping.html
Neill, Pippa. 2020. Air Pollution From the Desert is Causing an 18% Increase in Infant Mortality. Airqualitynews.com. Retrieved from https://airqualitynews.com/2020/06/30/air-pollution-from-the-desert-is-causing-an-18-increase-in-infant-mortality/
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