We don’t know how it would be like to live a day or two in the centre of the Siberian town of Norilsk on an awful air day. The local smelting industries are reported to produce at least 1% of the global sulphur dioxide. The poisonous gas then goes into the atmosphere. According to experts, the gas constitutes at least two million tons every year. Sulphur dioxide is unpleasant when humans breathe it. The gas washes out from the sky and falls back to earth as acid rain. The rain causes severe damages to the plant life and also degrades the quality of water in the rivers and streams. It makes the water unsafe to drink especially for the wild animals. The severity of the Norilsk’s pollution has been captured in very remarkable maps that were taken from Europe’s Sentinel -5p satellite.
The spacecraft was launched last year so that it could track the gases that were being emitted. These gases are the ones responsible for polluting the environment, sulphur dioxide being a primary culprit. The satellite will assist environmentalists to curb and arrest all culprits that contribute in environment degradation. The spacecraft was assembled in the United Kingdom. It carried the Dutch-led Tropomi instrument. The eye in the sky promises to take part in monitoring what will be transpiring in our atmospheres. The spacecraft has much higher resolution compared to its predecessors. It can also acquire more precise data in a manner that its maps can swiftly be assembled in a much-reduced duration.
Something that is unique about the Norilsk is that the data can also show the various transport path routes. Dr. Nicolas explained that the emissions trail the topography stirring around mountains. Individuals can use this information to improve the environmental impacts in the regions. The sulphur dioxide gases in the air that are over Norilsk are massive. This is probably one hundred in a thousand times than what is experienced on any other part in Europe. The Norilsk Company has been warned and asked to cut off the sulphur dioxide emissions by a margin of 75% by the year 2023. Failure to that, it will face very hefty fines. Apart from sulphur dioxide, other contributors include burning of oil and coal. When these compounds are heated, they emit sulphur dioxide. Dr. Nicolas said that the eye in the sky would assist them to capture all the pollutants of our atmosphere.
Source: http://warrenfyfeinfo.net/polluters-exposed-by-new-eye-in-the-sky-satellite/
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