I wanted this over on the Flame Board, but it’s STILL broke!!
(Just a little flame for Justin there.)
;^)
Anyway, I’ve torched eco-freaks on various boards who go on and on about how the US is destroying the global ecosystem (though I still flame about nasty diesel owners), but let’s be serious here. The USA is one of the cleanest nations on Earth (and I’ve been around this Earth a couple times, folks). Now, granted, wherever you have people, you’re gonna have a mess, but c’mon! I’ve attacked China on this issue (not in person but in posted response to knut-kases), but NASA says we may have other large suspicions.
Africa, in what appears to be the industrial communities of Kenya and South Africa.
South America, where industrialization is hitting the deep rainforest of the Amazon Basin in Brazil.
Except for South Africa, all of these heavy sources are far enough to the north to minimize the effect on the Southern Hemisphere.
Click the pic for an animation (5.770 MB mpeg file)
“These measurements show concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) at altitudes of 15,000 feet. Red colors in these images indicate highest levels of CO (450 parts per billion). Blue colors indicate lowest levels of CO (50 ppb). Terra sees CO in the atmosphere from 2-3 miles above the surface, where it interacts with other gases and forms ozone. This pollutant can move upward to altitudes where it can be blown rapidly for great distances or it can move downward to the surface. CO is an air pollutant that also produces ozone, a greenhouse gas that is a human health hazard. The data are combined with wind measurements to produce the final image sequences.
“(ABOVE PIC) Terra detected strong sources of CO in Southeast Asia during April and May 2000. The air pollution plume from this region moves over the Pacific Ocean and reaches North America, frequently at fairly high concentrations. Scientists say that fires and possibly industrial sources are major contributors to these events.”
Click the pic for an animation (5.771 MB mpeg file)
“Much of the air pollution that humans generate comes from natural sources such as smoke from large fires that travel great distances and affects areas far from the source. The most dramatic features in the first set of MOPITT global observations from March to December 2000 are the immense clouds of carbon monoxide from grassland and forest fires in Africa and South America. The plumes travel rapidly across the Southern Hemisphere as far as Australia during the dry season in this part of the world.”
Interjection here:
I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe there are any natural grasslands in the Amazon basin. This is triple- and quadruple-canopy jungle. Panama barely achieves double-canopy in places. Grassland fires? Very doubtful. I would expect this from the pampas of Argentina.
For Africa, the puffs that appear to form over Zaire could be from the grasslands further inland, perhaps around Kenya and to the south around South Africa. Without further data, I think I can let Africa slide as a natural source -- for the moment.
Click the pic for an animation (5.772 MB mpeg file)
“For the first time, scientists have a powerful new tool to track immense clouds of air pollution, shown in red, as they travel across the Earth.”
May they now pinpoint the sources and hold them accountable.
Click here for a full animation of the 3D globe (11.532 MB mpeg file)
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s News Release)
Dan
The Flamed Ecosystem . . .