GIS
ASSIGNMENT
AIR POLLUTION
Abjamilova Dinara, Lin Na, Mahalingam Saravanan, Martsynkevych Vladlena, Tubail Ahmed, Zheng Jie
AIR POLLUTION
Abjamilova Dinara, Lin Na, Mahalingam Saravanan, Martsynkevych Vladlena, Tubail Ahmed, Zheng Jie
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, people’s concern about the environment is raised everywhere, especially about air pollution. There are different scales of air pollution: global (CO2, CH4, N2O, CFCs), continental (SOx, NOx), regional (fly ash, photochemical smog), local (large particulates). In this research the evaluation of the air pollution was performed according to the continental scale. SO2, NOx and CO gases were chosen for this purpose. The analysis was made based on the data of 1990 and 1995 years for more convenience in description of the situation all over the world and in purpose to find and evaluate general tendencies. The data was taken from GEO Data Portal (http://geodata.grid.unep.ch) as well as the base map.
Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of the main pollutants in our atmosphere. It occurs when sulfur is burned. Sulfur exists in the most fossil fuel like coal, oil and natural gas. Without certain procedure it will contribute a lot to the acid precipitation, which will cause a lot of damage to the ecosystems. The analysis of the emission of SO2 and comparison of the values was made on the national levels. The Fig. 2 and Fig. 3 reflect the changes from 1990 to 1995. The data displayed will be calculated using TMT (Thousand Metric Tons).
Fig.1 shows the emission in 1990 and four ranges are classified. The darkest color is for the countries with biggest level of emissions. Among those, there are Russia, China and USA. Canada, India, Brazil, Australia, most European countries and some other ones in Africa and Asia are also facing a big problem from SO2.
Fig.1 The emission of SO2 in 1990
Figure 2 demonstrates that in 1995, the situation has been slightly changed. Russia is no longer one of the most polluted countries. China and USA are still the leaders of SO2 gas emission.
Fig.2: The emission of SO2 in 1995
Figure 3 highlights the changes happened during this short period. The blue color stands for countries, which decreased their emissions of SO2 and the red one draws out the countries whose emissions have been increased. It suggests obviously that China and India increased their emissions more than 1000 TMT, while USA and Russia have dropped their emission dramatically. Canada, Brazil, South Africa have increased more than 100 TMT and most other countries have raised the amount less than 100 TMT or kept stable.
Fig.3 The emission changes of SO2 from 1990 to 1995
NITROGEN OXIDES (NOx)
Fig.4 The Emission of NOx in 1990
In 1990, 4 countries contributed the highest level of NOx emission, including U S A, China, Russia and India. Some countries in Artic, South America, Africa, and some part of Asia, which are shown in light yellow color, emitted the least amount of NOx (below 30 thousand metric tons).
There is no data for 18 countries, which are shown in white color.
Fig.5 The Emission of NOx in 1995
In 1995, the same 4 countries kept the highest contribution of NOx emission. While there are 91 countries emitted NOx in the lowest level. 18 countries have no data.
Fig.6 The Changes in NOx Emission Between 1990- 1995
71 countries reduced the NOx emission in 1995 compared to 1990. Among them, 4 countries, Russia, USA, Germany and Ukraine contributed most in reducing NOx emission. Though, NOx emission in 160 countries was increased. Among them, Canada, China, India and Republic of Korea top the first 4.
CARBON MONOXIDE (CO) EMISSION
The used data show the emissions from the anthropogenic and biogenic sources in total on the national level.
Fig.7 The emission of CO in 1990
The comparison of Fig. 8 and 9 reflects the changes occurred from 1990 to 1995 years. 6 ranges were used for data analysis. The dark green color shows the range from no data value and up to 0. The lighter color shows more emissions of CO. During this time period no significant changes took place. Only the CO emissions of Canada rose greatly.
Fig.8 The emissions of CO in 1995
Fig.9 shows the general regional tendencies for the CO emissions. The developing countries of Africa, Asia-Pacific and West Asia increased their emissions (7000, 14000, 2000 TMTs accordingly), and European countries and Latin America emission trends performed the decreasing tendency (43000 and 4000 TMTs).
Fig.9 Regional CO emissions (1990-1995)
JOINT ANALYSIS
Fig.10 Regional Emission of NOx, CO, SO2 (1990-1995)
CONCLUSION
Through all the analysis above, we can draw the conclusion that although the emission amount in some region has decreased a little bit, the total emission all over the world does not change too much and we still face a serious situation of air pollution. Especially in Asia all the pollutants has increased in different levels during this period. For these developing countries, it will be a big challenge to reduce the air pollution.