The air pollution in Beijing, China is getting worse as global warming is also getting worse. The air has become smog and haze and it has become deadly for the citizens.
This winter, the Beijing pollution is unstoppable. The northern cities of China have been experiencing longer days with more smog compared to the last decade. It has risen from 45 days to 50 days, a ten percent jump, the study concluded. "Climate change increases occurrences of weather conditions conducive to Beijing winter severe haze," a team reported in the journal "Nature Climate Change". The toxic particles in the air have caused a million premature deaths in the China every year, according to an earlier research, Phys.org reported.
The toxic particle pollution is 2.5 micrometers in diameter, which is about 40 times thinner than a human hair. It is from burning of coal and vehicle emissions and dust. It causes severe respiratory problems and increases the risk of heart disease. The Beijing pollution will continue to get worse if global warming will not be stopped.
The haze and smog covering making China pollution will be 50 percent more prominent as it will last 80 percent longer during the second half of this century, the Carbon Brief stated. Dr. Wenju Cai, from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia, and Ke Li from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied these toxic air pollution in China, specifically in Beijing and other northern cities.
The haze and smog always come out when it is winter, December, January and February, because of the lack of rain to wash toxic pollution out of the atmosphere. There are the cool, dry westerly and northwesterly winds that usually wash the smog and haze away but because of extreme global warming, it has reversed. Moreover, the toxic air pollution does not go up when the lower atmosphere is hotter than the land surface.
For as long as the winter monsoon are getting weaker and weaker, the smog and haze in China and its cities like Beijing will not stop or lessen. It will always lead to the decreasing visibility that brings air and ground traffic to a standstill.
