It is estimated that two-thirds of sulfur dioxide (SO2) air
pollution in North America comes from coal power plants. In a
recent scientific article published in Geophysical Research
Letters, a team of scientists have confirmed that SO2 levels in
the vicinity of U.S. coal power plants have fallen by nearly 50%
since 2005. . Courtesy NASAThis finding, using satellite
observations, confirms ground-based measurements of declining
SO2 levels. In many parts of the world, ground-based monitoring
does not exist or is not extensive; therefore, the Ozone
Monitoring Instrument (OMI) on the Aura satellite could
potentially measure levels of harmful emissions in regions of
the world where reliable ground monitoring is unavailable..
Previously, space-based SO2 monitoring was limited to plumes
from volcanic eruptions and detecting anthropogenic emissions
from large source regions as in China. A new spatial filtration
technique allows the detection of individual pollution sources
in Canada and the U.S. "What we’re seeing in