Images taken by a new European satellite show the levels and distribution of air pollutants around the world, including ash spewing from a volcano in Indonesia.
The European Space Agency released images made by its Sentinel-5P satellite that also show high concentrations of nitrogen dioxide in parts of Europe on November 22.
One of the #FirstImages from @CopernicusEU #Sentinel5P shows #NitrogenDioxide over #Europe on 22 November 2017: high emissions over #PoValley in #Italy???????? & over western #Germany????????. https://t.co/Lhd2kzFiuw #Tropomi pic.twitter.com/iDf6RYwzbJ
— ESA EarthObservation (@ESA_EO) December 1, 2017
Nitrogen dioxide is mainly caused by vehicle emissions and industrial processes.
Another image shows high levels of carbon monoxide, commonly produced by fires, in Asia, Africa and South America.
#Sentinel5P captures #Balivolcano eruption – one of the first images from @CopernicusEU Sentinel-5P atmospheric monitoring mission #Tropomi shows sulphur dioxide from #MountAgung on 27 November https://t.co/O3XjsJWRF3 pic.twitter.com/mDUtdQjHNU
— ESA (@esa) December 1, 2017
A series of images also show sulphur dioxide, ash and smoke from the Mount Agung volcano in Bali last month.
Sentinel-5P, launched on October 13, can map levels of nitrogen dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and other pollutants that can be hazardous to human health or contribute to global warming.
