Sulfur Dioxide Emissions from Smelters

The Peruvian copper smelters are among the world's largest industrial point sources of sulfur dioxide (SO₂).

A processing plant that separates copper from copper ore is called a smelter. Copper smelters emit a lot of SO₂ because copper ore is made of copper sulfide. The smelters in Peru are among the most polluting in the world.

 Aura Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)  is sensitive enough to be able to identify the copper being emitted from the La Oroya and Ilo smelters even though these produce less SO₂ than the volcanoes (notice that the vertical scales are different). In addition to air quality applications, these data provide insights into the different lifetimes, dispersal etc of volcanic vs. industrial emission plumes.

The SO₂ plume from the volcanoes extends into the Pacific because the SO₂ is released at a higher altitude where it has a longer atmospheric lifetime.

Average OMI SO₂ vertical column Sep 2004 - June 2005

Go to Aura Mission

OMI

Aura’s Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) instrument can distinguish between aerosol types, such as smoke, dust, and sulfates, and measures cloud pressure and coverage, which provides data to derive tropospheric ozone.…

Learn More