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The unreported
sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions are clusters of
coal-burning power plants, smelters and oil and gas operations
in the Middle East, Mexico and Russia that were found in an
analysis of satellite data from 2005 to 2014, NASA said in a
statement on Wednesday.
The analysis also found that the satellite-based estimates of
the emissions were two or three times higher than those reported
from known sources in those regions, NASA said.
Environment and Climate Change Canada atmospheric scientist
Chris McLinden said in a statement that the unreported and
underreported sources accounted for about 12 percent of all
human-made emissions of sulfur dioxide.
The discrepancy could have "a large impact on regional air
quality," said McLinden, the lead author of the study published
in Nature Geosciences.
A new computer program and improvements in processing raw
satellite observations helped researchers at NASA; the
University of Maryland, College Park; Dalhousie University in
Halifax, Nova Scotia; and Environment and Climate Change Canada
detect the pollution, according to the U.S. space agency.
The researchers also located 75 natural sources of sulfur
dioxide in the form of non-erupting volcanoes that are slowly
leaking the toxic gas.
Although the sites are not necessarily unknown, many volcanoes
are in remote locations and not monitored, so the
satellite-based data is the first to provide regular annual
information on these volcanic emissions, NASA said.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; Editing by Scott
Malone and Lisa Von Ahn)
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