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global air pollution - nasa satellite excerpt from nasa: "the most complete view ever assembled of the world's air pollution churning through the atmosphere and crossing continents and oceans has been produced by the mopitt (measurements of pollution in the troposphere) instrument on nasa's terra spacecraft."
pollution in china has reached worrying heights. sixteen of the world's 20 most-polluted cities are in china, and pollution from china is reaching the u.s. barry petersen reports. (cbsnews.com)
belching chimneys and cars in china are making the skies dry up. smoke particles are changing the behaviour of the atmosphere and preventing raindrops from forming.
chunsheng zhao from peking university in beijing and his colleagues studied 40 years' worth of rainfall records along with six years' satellite measurements of aerosol particles. between 1961 and 2000 they saw a decrease in rainfall of up to 0.4 per cent per year over eastern central china. the six years for which there is satellite data show a strong correlation between the lower rainfall and an increase in aerosol particles.
the increase in pollution affects rainfall in two ways. first, extra particles increase the number of tiny cloud droplets, but these repel each other, discouraging the formation of the heavy droplets needed for rain. second, black sooty particles absorb sunlight, raising the temperature in the upper atmosphere. this reduces the amount of mixing with the lower atmosphere, which decreases the likelihood of clouds forming.
already the region has been feeling the impact of reduced rainfall, and the situation for agriculture looks set to get worse. "clean air action is urgently needed," zhao says.
source
i feel bad for the chinese. one can only hope that the communist government will be replaced someday.
(http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article5949977.ece) the 5ft long robot uses a fishy, rippling movement to swim at 2mph, has navigation software and will return to an offshore recharging station once a day. while docked at the station, it will upload information on pollutants in the water obtained from its chemical sensors, which are sensitive enough to detect a small leak in a single vessel. fish shown is a much smaller prototype.
robotic fish developed by scientists at the university of essex in the u.k. are soon to evolve from engineering curio to actual tool when they go on a world-first mission off the coast of spain. as part of the larger european shoal project, the fish will be sent to swim in the sea and monitor for pollutants coming from a busy port. it's going to cost around $3.6 million to get the project off the ground, with a portion of that sum covering the cost of each robo fish--apparently a steep $30,000. though that sounds like a lot, you have to check out the video that demonstrates the prototype robots in development--the similarity to the way real fish propel themselves is nothing short of remarkable. it's a classic example of biomimicry. fish, and dolphins and sharks, have evolved to the point where their swimming efficiency is extraordinarily high. it's a vital technique to conserve precious energy reserves in a harsh eco-system, of course, and it puts most human-designed underwater propulsion systems to shame. hence the interest in developing robot fish, hat can have a higher battery lifespan as a result. the five-foot long fish in the shoal scheme will operate autonomously, swimming at will around selected areas of the ocean, only returning to their base stations every eight hours when they need a charge. they're going to be equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite that will monitor for ship-and-shore-based chemical spills and oil contamination of the surface and deeper waters off the town of gijón in asturias. their data logs are downloaded wirelessly as they charge, and collated to form a picture of when and where pollution was sourced. as the essex university press release has it: "the technology developed will enable a port authority to gain increased mobility and flexibility to monitor ship-source pollution, as well as other types of harmful contaminants and pollutants from underwater pipelines." and it's a neat justification for developing a five-foot robotic fish too. source, source
and you better love it back!
french inventor invents car that runs on compressed air. distributed by tubemogul.
