Images
November 13, 2024 - Record Levels of Smog in Pakistan
Tweet
A thick blanket of sky-soiling smog hung over northern Pakistan in early November 2024, causing air quality to plummet, schools to close, and sending hundreds of people to the hospital. According to several news reports, the Air Quality Index in parts of the Punjab region of Pakistan spiked to more than 1,900 on November 10. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers any AQI over 300 to be “hazardous”.
Not only has the poor air quality been record-breaking at times, it has also been lingering for weeks. On October 31, Dawn.com published a document from the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority that declared smog a “calamity” and instituted emergency measures. These included banning activities likely to cause pollution including burning any crop residue, solid waste, rubber and plastic as well as banning use certain types of vehicles and stopping work at industries likely to produce smoke, dust, or pollutants. The government also directed public and private schools to give any student with a medical condition that could be triggered by poor air quality a mandatory three-month leave.
Despite the efforts to reduce pollution, on November 10, the Punjab government had expanded school closures to all students for a month. On November 12, the Punjab government website advised that the AQI for the province over last 24 hours had averaged 604—well into the Hazardous range.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of smog and fog over northern Pakistan and northwestern India on November 10. The tan haze is so thick that it completely obscures the landscape of Pakistan (located in the west) from view. Irregular patches of a lighter color indicate that fog hugs the ground underneath the haze. The city of Lahore, Pakistan—which has ranked as the most polluted city in the world in recent days—is located near the northeastern edge of the fog.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/10/2024
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.2 MB), 250m (13.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
A thick blanket of sky-soiling smog hung over northern Pakistan in early November 2024, causing air quality to plummet, schools to close, and sending hundreds of people to the hospital. According to several news reports, the Air Quality Index in parts of the Punjab region of Pakistan spiked to more than 1,900 on November 10. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers any AQI over 300 to be “hazardous”.
Not only has the poor air quality been record-breaking at times, it has also been lingering for weeks. On October 31, Dawn.com published a document from the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority that declared smog a “calamity” and instituted emergency measures. These included banning activities likely to cause pollution including burning any crop residue, solid waste, rubber and plastic as well as banning use certain types of vehicles and stopping work at industries likely to produce smoke, dust, or pollutants. The government also directed public and private schools to give any student with a medical condition that could be triggered by poor air quality a mandatory three-month leave.
Despite the efforts to reduce pollution, on November 10, the Punjab government had expanded school closures to all students for a month. On November 12, the Punjab government website advised that the AQI for the province over last 24 hours had averaged 604—well into the Hazardous range.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of smog and fog over northern Pakistan and northwestern India on November 10. The tan haze is so thick that it completely obscures the landscape of Pakistan (located in the west) from view. Irregular patches of a lighter color indicate that fog hugs the ground underneath the haze. The city of Lahore, Pakistan—which has ranked as the most polluted city in the world in recent days—is located near the northeastern edge of the fog.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 11/10/2024
Resolutions:
1km (2.2 MB), 500m (6.2 MB), 250m (13.7 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
