August 7, 2008
Beijing Olympics: Eve of the Opening Ceremonies
It is the day before the opening ceremonies and MODIS Terra shows continued cloudy and hazy skies over Beijing and the region (left). The aerosol optical depth image, available through a special agreement with NOAA NESDIS and produced by our very own Hai Zhang, shows AOD values well over 1.0 north of Beijing (right). The NO2 values from OMI continued to be high in the urban areas. The head of the International Olympic Committee praised China for "extraordinary" efforts to reduce pollution, although levels today according to the BBC were still 191 ug/m3 PM10 (credit, BBC). However, concentrations were much lower earlier in the week and the Olympics has been a positive force for improving the air quality in northeastern China.
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Ken Rahn has posted an informative “Olympic air quality watch” at: http://karws.gso.uri.edu/APIppt_files/frame.html
In it, he includes a link to the Beijing EPA website where you can get what I assume is the hourly AQI for a given day (today) at: http://www.bjepb.gov.cn/air2008/Air.aspx?time=2008-8-7 (change the date). I think their AQI is almost always driven by PM10 and an AQI of 100 = PM10 of 150 ug/m3.
See also the "room with a view" at:
http://www.asiasociety.org/beijingair/#room-with-a-view
And note the PBS broadcast from Monday 8/4/08 at:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/video/module.html?mod=0&pkg=4082008&seg=3
Thanks for the comment, Rich. I saw Ken's commentary in the Times.
If they are lucky, today the air quality will be a bit better.
Posted by: Ray Hoff at August 14, 2008 8:59 PM