Global PM2.5 inequality: a new framework for air pollution and ecology
EINPresswire.com / -- A pioneering study has introduced an innovative framework to evaluate global inequalities in Particulate Matte ( PM2.5) exposure and ecological possession, shedding light on the growing environmental disparities across nations. By integrating cutting-edge remote sensing data, the research reveals a troubling rise in PM2.5 levels in certain least developed countries and developing countries, while developed nations are seeing a decline. This highlights the urgent need for global collaboration to combat air pollution and ecological inequalities, with the goal of achieving sustainable development.
Air pollution, particularly Particulate Matte (PM2.5), is a leading cause of premature deaths worldwide, contributing to millions of fatalities every year. Ecological degradation compounds this crisis, with significant disparities in resource distribution across nations. As developing countries experience rapid urbanization and industrialization, they are increasingly exposed to the harmful effects of air pollution. Against this backdrop, there is an urgent need for comprehensive research on global PM2.5 exposure and ecological inequalities to inform policies that can effectively address these environmental challenges.
On January 23, 2025, researchers from Wuhan University and Emory University published a transformative study (DOI: 10.34133/remotesensing.0446) in Journal of Remote Sensing, offering an in-depth analysis of global PM2.5 exposure and ecological possession. By leveraging advanced remote sensing technology, the study provides real-time, continuous data to examine the interconnection between air pollution and ecological quality. This groundbreaking approach introduces a unified framework to assess the impact of air pollution on ecological health, with the aim of mitigating environmental risks and advancing sustainable development goals.
The study reveals that countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, and Russia are experiencing rising PM2.5 concentrations, while nations like China, the United States, and most European countries are seeing reductions. In southeastern China, a notable decrease in PM2.5 exposure risk is attributed to stringent air quality management measures. A new metric, the Ecological Quality Possession Index (EQPI), was also introduced, which highlights regions with intense competition for ecological resources. The study's findings offer a comprehensive view of global air pollution and ecological inequality, presenting a powerful tool for policymakers to guide interventions.
'Our study provides a critical lens through which to view global air pollution and ecological inequality,' said Dr. Zhenfeng Shao, the lead researcher of the study. 'By integrating remote sensing data, we offer a comprehensive framework that can guide global efforts toward sustainable development and environmental protection.'
The study utilizes a sophisticated coupling framework that integrates PM2.5 pollution data, population density metrics, and ecological indices. Datasets include LandScan population data, satellite-derived PM2.5 concentrations, and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) data, with slope analysis and the Mann-Kendall test used to assess trends from 2001 to 2020. These findings highlight a 22.54% global increase in PM2.5 concentrations, with significant reductions in East Asia and Europe. The EQPI revealed regions like South Asia and East Africa as having lower ecological possession, signifying heightened competition for resources.
This framework has immense potential to inform global environmental monitoring and policy-making. By pinpointing regions with high PM2.5 exposure and ecological stress, it offers a roadmap for targeted interventions that can reduce air pollution and foster more sustainable resource management. The study emphasizes the need for international cooperation in addressing environmental challenges, paving the way for a healthier and more equitable global future.
DOI
10.34133/remotesensing.0446
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.34133/remotesensing.0446
Funding information
This research is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2023YFB3906102), key R&D projects in Yunnan Province (202403ZC380001), and the Fundamental Research Fund Program of LIESMARS (4201-420100071).
Lucy Wang
BioDesign Research
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NASA's Parker Solar Probe captured this image showing the nightside surface of Venus. A family of asteroids share the planet's orbit, and two new studies suggest that one day the space rocks could theoretically pose a danger to Earth. Photograph by NASA/APL/NRL Venus has groupies—a family of asteroids that share its orbit, either trailing it or leading it as the planet revolves around the sun. Researchers have known that such stealthy space rocks might exist for years, but now, a pair of papers (one published in a journal, and one a pre-print undergoing peer-review) conclude that some might develop unstable orbits and, over a very long period of time, arch toward Earth. But despite what several histrionic headlines have claimed, Earth is not at risk of one of these asteroids suddenly sneaking up on us and vaporizing a city. 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Asteroids around Venus, shown in the background above during a 2012 transit, are difficult to track because they fall inside Earth's orbit and are obscured by the sun's glare. Research suggests that some of the asteroids that share Venus' orbit are large enough to take out a city on Earth. Illustration by David A. Hardy, Futures: 50 Years In Space/Science Photo Library The real problem, though, is that asteroids like this are remarkably difficult to find, and you can't protect yourself against a danger you cannot see. Fortunately, in the next few years, two of the most advanced observatories ever built are coming online. And together, they will find more asteroids—including those hiding near Venus—than the sum total already identified by the world's telescopes. 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Combined, these characteristics describe 'potentially hazardous asteroids'—and finding them is of paramount importance. Venus appears above giant sandstone cliffs amid the sand dunes of Tassili National Park in Algeria. Photograph by Babak Tafreshi, Nat Geo Image Collection Asteroids are first found because of the sunlight they reflect. That works well for most, but there are known to be asteroids hiding interior to Earth's orbit, toward the direction of the sun. And that's a problem. Astronomers seeking out these asteroids cannot just point their telescopes directly at the sun: It would be like trying to see a lit match in front of a nuclear explosion. Instead, they look in the vicinity of the sun in the few minutes just after sunset, or just before sunrise. Not only are these surveys severely time-limited, but by aiming close to the horizon, they are peering through more of the Earth's atmosphere, which distorts what they are looking at. 'All of these factors make it hard to search for and discover asteroids near Venus' orbit,' says Sheppard. (Here's how researchers track asteroids that might hit Earth.) The invisible Venusian fleet Asteroids have occasionally been spotted in this sun-bleached corner of space. And twenty of them have been found scooting along the same orbital highway Venus uses to orbit the sun. These are known as co-orbital asteroids; similar rocks can be found either following or trailing other planets, most notably Jupiter. Co-orbiting asteroids tend to cluster around several gravitationally stable sections, known as Lagrange points, along the planet's orbital path. But over a timescale of about 12,000 years or so, it's thought that the Venus co-orbital asteroids can dramatically alter their orbits. They remain on the same orbital path as Venus, but instead of maintaining a circular orbit, they get creative: Some migrate to a different Lagrange point, while others zip about in a horseshoe pattern around several Lagrange points. Some of these new, exotic orbits become quite stretched-out and elliptical—and, in some cases, these orbits can eventually bring these asteroids closer to Earth. When they do, 'there is a higher chance of a collision,' says Carruba. In their first study, published in the journal Icarus earlier this year, Carruba and his team looked at the 20 known co-orbital asteroids of Venus. Their simulations forecast how their orbits would evolve over time and show that three of the space rocks—each between 1,000 and 1,300 feet or so—could approach within 46,500 miles of Earth's orbit. (For reference, the moon is an average of 240,000 miles from our planet.) That proximity may make them potentially hazardous asteroids. But there's no need to worry—it can take as long as 12,000 years for an asteroid to end up on an elliptical, near-Earth orbit. Perhaps they will be a problem for our very, very distant descendants. The asteroids that hang out in the orbit of Venus (shown above in simulated color) are largely unknown. This illustration shows the orbits of the binary near-Earth asteroid Didymos (labelled) and another 2,200 potentially hazardous asteroids (fainter lines) around the sun. Illustration by NASA/JPL-Caltech/Science Photo Library The team's latest study, uploaded to the pre-print server arXiv last month, delves into how easy it might be for any of Venus' co-orbital asteroids—including those astronomers have yet to find—to end up on these precarious orbits. To find out, they created virtual asteroids and simulated their many potential orbital voyages 36,000 years into the future. Many things could perturb the orbits of asteroids over that many years, so any truly accurate predictions are impossible. But the simulations came to some broad conclusions. The first is that a Venus co-orbital asteroid is more likely to approach Earth if it switches from a circular to a considerably elongated orbit—it's zooming over a larger patch of the inner solar system, including our own planet's neighborhood. The second, more surprising thing, is that some asteroids still manage to reach near-Earth space even they start out with only a mildly stretched-out orbit. It seems that their chaotic journeys through space, filled with gravitational disturbances, can still end up throwing them our way. But to be clear, these potentially worrisome orbits develop over the course of many millennia. 'This is not something to be alarmed about, as these asteroids are still relatively dynamically stable on human timescales,' says Sheppard. (These five asteroids pose the highest risk to Earth.) A new asteroid-hunting dawn For Marco Fenucci, a near-Earth object dynamicist at the European Space Agency, the paper raises awareness about these relatively mysterious asteroids in Venus' orbit. And that is a good point to make, he adds: We don't know much about these asteroids, including their population size, their dimensions, and their orbits, because we struggle to find them with today's telescopes. Two upcoming facilities are about to make this task considerably easier. The first, the U.S.-owned Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile is set to officially come online in the next few weeks. With a huge field-of-view, it can see huge swathes of the night sky at once, and its giant nest of mirrors can gather so much starlight than even the smallest, faintest objects can be seen. In just three to six months, the observatory could find as many as a million new asteroids, effectively doubling the current total. Meg Schwamb, a planetary scientist at Queen's University Belfast who was not involved with the new research, explains that Rubin will also conduct its own twilight surveys, the very sort used today to search for near-Venus asteroids. If these surveys are conducted over the next decade, 'Rubin could find as many as 40 to 50 percent of all objects larger than about [1,150 feet] in the interior-to-Venus-orbit population,' says Mario Jurić, an astronomer at the University of Washington and who was not involved with the new research. But, as with all ground-based optical telescopes, Rubin will still have the sun's glare, and Earth's atmosphere, to contend with. As long as the federal government decides to continue to fund the mission—something that is not guaranteed—NASA will also launch a dedicated asteroid-hunting space observatory, the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor, in the next few years. Unobstructed by Earth's atmosphere, it will seek out space rocks by viewing them through a highly-sensitive infrared scope, meaning it can see those hidden by the luminous sun. Even those asteroids sneaking around near Venus won't be able to hide from NEO Surveyor. And, finally, says Carruba, 'we can see if the impact threat is real, or not.'
