China's smog problem has become so dire, it's now visible from space.
In new photos released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, large patches of grey clouds cover China's landscape, illustrating the severity of the choking smog that caused the northern city of Harbin to shut down schools and public transportation last week.
"Heavy smog has shrouded much of eastern China, and air quality levels have been dropped to extremely dangerous levels," the NOAA wrote on its site. "The heavy smog is caused by industrial pollution, coal and agricultural burning, and has been trapped by the mountains to the west and wind patterns. The thick haze of smog is clearly visible, as [seen in] the murky grey color in this true VIIRS image from the Suomi NPP satellite."
The city of Harbin was cloaked in a haze of PM2.5 - the name for tiny, invisible particulate matter that scientists declared a cancer-causing hazard in a report published by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer days before reports of the haze came to light.
PM2.5 reached levels of 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, surpassing WHO's suggested safety levels 40 times. Photos and video from Harbin bore images of grim citizens moving like ghosts amid the murky air, most wearing face masks and scarves to shield themselves.
The worsening smog in Harbin, coupled with the release of the WHO study that explicitly quantified safe levels of smog exposure while drawing a direct link between cancer and pollution, has put pressure on the Chinese government to take action. Some of Beijing, Tianjin and other areas of northern China have installed an "air pollution coordination control mechanism," which allows a reduction in coal use -reportedly, one of the main contributors to pollution. Members of the State Council met recently to discuss scaling back on pollutant levels in the next few years.
A Dutch designer has also announced that he created a device that will reportedly remove pollutants from Beijing's smog-dotted skies. Using an electromagnetic field generated by copper coils which pull particles in the air to the ground, Daan Roosegaarde says smog can be removed in a controlled area.
Roosegaarde's struck up a deal with the Beijing government, who has agreed to allow the designer to set up his mechanism in a small park for a trial run.
