India overtakes China as top emitter of sulfur dioxide

Measurements from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite conclude that after decades of being the top emitter of toxic sulfur dioxide (SO2), China has been surpassed by India. NASA’s measurements helped confirm that strict policies and pollution control measures put into place in China beginning in the early 2000s have reduced its SO2 emissions by 75%, whereas India’s emissions grew by 50% during the same time.

Data Sources: Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)

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NASA
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NASA

Publications

Li, C., McLinden, C., Fioletov, V., Krotkov, N., Carn, S., Joiner, J., Streets, D., He, H., Ren, X., Li, Z., and Dickerson, R.: India is overtaking China as the world’s largest emitter of anthropogenic sulfur dioxide, Scientific Reports, DOI:10.1038/s41598-017-14639-8, 2017.

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