#nitrogen dioxide

Households with gas or propane stoves regularly breathe unhealthy levels of nitrogen dioxide, a study of air pollution in U.S. homes found. “I didn’t expect to see pollutant concentrations breach health benchmarks in bedrooms within an hour of gas stove use, and stay there for hours after the stove is turned off,” said Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability Professor Rob Jackson, senior author of the May 3 study in Science Advances. Pollution from gas and propane stoves isn’t just an issue for cooks or people in the kitchen, he said. “It’s the whole family’s problem.” Among other negative health effects, breathing high levels of nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, over time can intensify asthma attacks and has been linked to decreased lung development in children and early deaths.

A research team from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz and Heidelberg University has, for the first time, used the German environmental satellite EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) to simultaneously detect the two key air pollutants carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in emission plumes from power plants -- with an unprecedented spatial resolution of just 30 meters. The newly developed method allows for tracking of industrial emissions from space with great precision and enables atmospheric processes to be analyzed in detail. The results were published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Excerpt from this Wall Street Journal story:

The coronavirus shutdowns are giving scientists an opportunity they never thought they would have: to see what would happen to the planet if the world’s economy went on hiatus.

The result has been drops in air pollutants to levels not seen in at least 70 years, easier breathing for people with respiratory ailments and consistently clear views of landmarks often obscured by smog, such as the Hollywood sign in Los Angeles and the Manhattan skyline.

“There have been some interesting pseudo-experiments, like when Beijing closed its plants for the [2008 Summer] Olympics, but only for a few days,” said Melissa Lunden, chief scientist for Aclima, a San Francisco company that measures pollution with street-level sensors. “Now, everyone on the planet can see the changes.”

The reasons, experts say, is that factories have shut down, and people who can’t go to the office, church or restaurants have stopped driving. Vehicle traffic in Los Angeles and New York has plunged about 90% from levels in January 2020, according to data analytics firm StreetLight Data Inc.

One of the biggest airborne pollutants to fall off has been nitrogen dioxide, which is a byproduct of fossil-fuel emissions that most scientists believe is contributing to climate change. Satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration show NO2 levels in the Northeastern U.S. dropped 30% during March from the previous four-year average for the month.

Google Is Mapping California's Air Pollution in Mesmerizing Detail

Google released video footage Tuesday showing how the Golden State is doing when it comes to nitrogen dioxide, a gas released in tailpipe emissions and from factories that creates smog and can fuck up your lungs. The data, which focuses on San Francisco, Los Angeles, and the Central Valley, shows how pollution clusters onto certain blocks, meaning the exact street you live on can have a major impact on the quality of air you’re breathing.

Google is hoping this information will help scientists work with policymakers to improve air quality overall.