KATHMANDU, Nepal-A city of 1 million people in Europe experiences six times higher nitrogen dioxide pollution than an equally populated city of 1 million people in India of South Asia. A study carried out by a team of NASA’s scientists led by Nepali national Dr. Lok Nath Lamsal revealed the dire situation of Europe in the context of pollution.
The team directly assessed air pollution’s dependence on population in four of the planet’s major air pollution regions: the United States, Europe, China and India.
According to the report published in NASA’s website the study shows that the pollution-population relationship varies by region.
‘We show that the relationship is also applicable to pollution, NASA quoted Dr. Lamsal adding that measurement of that relationship was potentially useful for developing future inventories and formulating air pollution control policies.
The study was published June 13 in Environmental Science & Technology. Lamsal is involved in NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Previously, researchers have measured the relationship between population and several urban characteristics, such as infrastructure, employment and innovation.
NASA in its website said, the researchers focused on nitrogen dioxide, or NO2, a common pollutant from the burning of fossil fuels. The gas is a precursor to the formation of near-ground ozone, which can cause respiratory problems and is a problem in many major metropolitan areas.
Earlier, a study by researchers from the University of North Carolina concluded that over two million deaths occur annually as a direct consequence of man-made air pollution.
