Shenyang, Liaoning province, in 2014
JACKY CHEN/REUTERS
Air pollution in China and Taiwan is estimated to have resulted in the premature deaths of 30.8 million adults since 2000.
Yang Liu at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, and his colleagues used satellite imagery to quantify the amount of air pollution over mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan between 2000 and 2016. The team used imagery taken by NASA satellites to estimate the concentrations of PM2.5 – particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometres in diameter.
One measurement the satellite takes is the amount of sunlight that has been scattered or absorbed by …
You may also like
The loss of Arctic sea ice could trigger enormous additional global warming
NASA confirms that there is water on the moon that astronauts could use
The malaria parasite hides in human blood by changing the way its genes work
Covid-19 news: Oxford vaccine produces immune response in older people
Japan is stepping up its climate efforts with a net zero emissions target of 2050