Only Less Than 1% of Earth is safe from Air Pollutions
It is a well-known fact that air pollution is an ongoing issue plaguing the world today. The magnitude of its impact can hardly be overstated: recently released data reveals that no part of our planet remains immune to potentially harmful air.
About 99.82% of the global landmass is exposed to levels of particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) particles in the air that scientists have linked to lung cancer and heart disease above the recommended limit set by Word Health Organization, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in Lancet Planetary Health Journal, only 0.001% of people worldwide are actually breathing air considered safe; it's absolutely mind-blowing that such low levels is real!
Scientists in Australia and China collaborated on this investigation, revealing that over 70% of days in 2019 had daily PM2.5 concentrations exceeding the WHO-recommended limit of 15 micrograms per cubic meter - an alarming statistic across southern Asia and eastern Asia, where more than 90% of days had readings above this level.
Though any quantity of PM2.5 is potentially hazardous, scientists and administrators typically pay more attention to chronic exposure levels than they do to daily concentrations.
For decades, scientists and health officials have been on high alert to the threat posed by air pollution. With 6.7 million people died each year due to its deleterious effects; two-thirds of those casualties are attributable to fine particulate matter exposure (PM2.5).
Yuming Guo and his colleagues discarded that obstacle by marrying ground-based air pollution monitoring data collected over 5,000 stations worldwide with machine learning simulations, meteorological information, and geospatial factors to provide an estimate of daily PM2.5 concentrations globally.
When it came to gauging overall exposure across all regions, the researchers discovered that eastern Asia (50 µg/m3) faced the most intense concentrations; followed by southern Asia (37 µg/m3), and northern Africa (30 µg/m³). Residents of Australia and New Zealand had the least potential for fine particulate matter exposure, whereas Oceania along with locations in southern America displayed extremely low annual PM2.5 levels.
To gain a comprehensive understanding of the rise and fall of PM2.5 concentrations over the past two decades, scientists studied trends across a vast array of regions throughout Asia Pacific, Northern and Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania as well as Latin America & Caribbean domains. In general terms it can be deduced that an uptick has been observed in annual PM2.5 levels spurred largely by heightened forest fires; while there was also noteworthy reduction in annual PM2.5 values both within Europe (where stricter air quality standards have been put into effect) as well as North America.
The article stresses how levels of fine particulate matter vary not only throughout the year, but depending on seasonal conditions. For instance, northeastern China and northern India saw higher concentrations of PM 2.5 during December-February; possibly associated with greater usage of fossil fuel-dependent heat generators in cold winter months when people are seeking warmth indoors more often than usual. On the contrary however, South American nations like Brazil experienced elevated concentrations between August and September - possibly relating to farming practices.
Source: TIME USA