Norilsk Pollution To Be Examined By Satellite

Air pollution is on the rise all over the world. There is immense need to keep a strict check on its regulation. It has been estimated that the local smelting industry produces about 1% of all the sulphur dioxide (SO₂) going into the air globally.

It sums up to almost two million tons a year. Suphur- di- oxide (SO₂) is particularly unpleasant to breathe. At the same time it washes out of the sky as "acid rain". It harms the plants badly and destroy completely the quality of water in rivers and streams. Norilsk is an Industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is located above the Arctic Circle, East of Yenisei River and South of western Taymyr Peninsula. The extent of Norilsk's pollution has been captured in remarkable new maps from Europe's Sentinel-5P satellite. To measure the gases responsible for dirty air the space craft was employed last year. SO₂ being one of the prime gas responsible for dirty air. The Dutch-led Tropomi instrument, S5P, has its expertise in monitoring the happenings in the atmosphere. It enables one to see how the emissions follow the topography, moving around the mountains. One can actually use the gathered information to better assess the environmental impact in the region. The Norilsk region has very high SO₂ concentrations. The major sources of SO₂ are burning of coal and oil; smelting etc. After a test and commissioning phase, S5P-Tropomi is about to go operational for some of its data products. These shall include pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) and carbon monoxide (CO). The SO₂ observations, however, require some work and they shall not be released until the autumn.

By: Anuja Arora

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-44705268