Monitor Air Pollution Levels In Your City Using ESA's Global Air Pollution Map

People from anywhere in the world can monitor global air pollution levels using the European Space agency's (ESA) global air pollution map now available to the public. The map also shows the city-specific air pollution levels.

Air pollution is a serious concern in many parts of the world, and the pandemic highlighted just how human actions truly impact air quality. In places like China, for instance, satellites captured the sharp drop in air pollution amid the pandemic lockdowns but levels quickly bounced back once the restrictions were eased.

Now, anyone can monitor the nitrogen dioxide concentrations at any place from anywhere in the world using the ESA's new online platform that allows people to track air pollution, whether on a global scale or for their particular regions or cities.

Upon opening the map, one will see the tropospheric nitrogen dioxide concentrations over Europe. Zooming out would show the global nitrogen dioxide concentrations while zooming in and scrolling through the map would allow people to view the nitrogen concentrations in specific countries and even specific cities.

Levels of nitrogen dioxide in the air can vary from day to day, depending on factors such as the amount of emissions and changes in weather conditions, which is why monitoring it for a longer period of time allows for accurate analysis and mapping.

What people will see in the map is the 14-day moving average of nitrogen dioxide concentrations as provided by the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite, the most recent at the time of writing this article being data from May 28 to June 11. Because the data is from a substantial period of time, it presents a better reflection of the trends in the area at a particular time than data from shorter time periods.

Nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant that's particularly harmful to the environment and human health and, primarily gets into the air from burning fuel such as from cars, off-road equipment and power plants.

It is important to monitor nitrogen dioxide levels because breathing air with high nitrogen dioxide concentrations can negatively affect the respiratory system and aggravate respiratory diseases, such as asthma. Prolonged exposure to elevated nitrogen dioxide can also increase the risk of those who don't have respiratory issues to develop them.

When nitrogen dioxide interacts with other chemicals in the atmosphere, it can harm the environment by producing ecosystem-harming acid rain, causing the air to be hazy and contributing to nutrient pollution in coastal waters.