PM10 particle air pollution in China

As the topic air pollution has come up a few times here, I have created some videos to help everyone find a nice spot for living healthy. First of all, AMFIC publishes measurements and forecasts of air pollution in China. Unfortunately you cannot look at past measurements comfortably, therefore I wrote a script to download all 2009 measurements and created some nice videos. Each of them shows the pm10 particle concentration in different parts of China, including Hong Kong / Guangzhou area, Beijing, Shanghai and Eastern China. pm10 particles are particles smaller than 10 micrometers but larger than 2.5 micrometer. Unfortunately they don’t publish <=2.5 μm measurements. In general, the smaller and lighter a particle is, the longer it will stay in the air. Larger particles (greater than 10 micrometers in diameter) tend to settle to the ground by gravity in a matter of hours whereas the smallest particles (less than 1 micrometer) can stay in the atmosphere for weeks and are mostly removed by precipitation. As a rule of thumb, smaller particles are more likely to cause cancer in your precious body.

Beijing pm10 particle air pollution 2009

Shanghai pm10 particle air pollution 2009

HK / Guangzhou area pm10 particle air pollution 2009

Eastern China pm10 particle air pollution 2009

As you can see, Kozen in Hong Kong enjoys superb air quality and that place can be a place of choice, unlike the nearby Guangzhou. MKL in Taiwan also made a great choice, as Taiwans air is definitely above average for such a large urban area. Keep in mind that air in Europe rarely surpass the green readings. You will find yellow air quality readings in Europe only in large industrial areas during long periods without rain. Just to keep things in perspective. Microparticles may lead to cancer, alzheimers, atherosclerosis and permanent declines in lung capacity (among other nasty things). For those in Beijing, there is a Twitter Channel called Beijing Air for pm2.5 particles. Readings during last few days are almost entirely composed of very unhealthy. Mind you, the highes level on that scale is hazardous, which happens also frequently, but no toxic level as the scale is intended to be used in Europe and Northern America where the level mediocre is never exceeded.

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