The top picture was taken this morning and the bottom one was taken four days ago. Notice something different? Yeah, that’s not exactly fog in the top picture but rather the effects of increased pollution.
Pollution can be caused by many factors:
- Vehicle exhaust
- Fires burning wood, plants
- Dust kicked up by winds or heavy construction
- Factory exhaust
While not a complete list, those are some of the factors that prevented me from seeing the typical beautiful view from my apartment this morning.
Pollution levels can be measured by equipment. China does measure the levels across many areas in the country and updates those values multiple times a day. When the top picture was taken this morning, the pollution level was only measured at 172, a value associated as moderately polluted. I wrote only in italics as levels climbed above 200 in the late morning today, reaching the level of heavily polluted. For a reference value, the bottom picture was taken in a day when the AQI, air quality index, was in the 40s.
There is almost always a haze in the air here, best seen at night when street lamps and car lights seem to reflect more of the particulate material floating in the air than what natural sunlight does.
Not all is bad, however, with the pollution level today: by the time I got around to writing this blog post the readings we’re back down to the 70s. I’m guessing the wind either picked up a hit or factories proactively shut down some operations to help decrease the problem. In any case, I’m definitely happier than I was this morning!