An Extra Air Pollution Burden - NASA Earth Observatory

By correlating hospital records with air pollution data from NASA satellites and DC Department of Energy & Environment ground-based stations ... Atmosphere Heat HumanPresence Land Life Natural Events All Drought DustandHaze Earthquakes Fires Floods Landslides Man-made SeaandLakeIce SevereStorms TemperatureExtremes UniqueImagery Volcanoes WaterColor RemoteSensing Snow&Ice Water Collections ABCsfromSpace AmazonDeforestation AppliedSciences AstronautPhotography BlueMarble EarthatNight EarthfromAfar FallColors SeaLevelRise U.S.NationalParks WorldofChange EOExplorer Topics Search Images GlobalMaps Articles Blogs EOExplorer AnExtraAirPollutionBurden 2015JPEG LikemanycitiesintheeasternUnitedStates,Washington,D.C.,hasseenmajorimprovementsinairqualityinrecentdecades.Levelsoffineparticlepollution(PM2.5)havedeclinedbyroughly50percentinthecitysince2000duetopassageofaseriesofcleanairlaws. Cleanerairhasyieldedsignificanthealthbenefits.ThenumberofDCresidentskilledbydiseasesrelatedtoexposuretoPM2.5(chronicobstructivepulmonarydisease,ischemicheartdisease,lungcancer,andstroke)declinedby50percentduringthatperiod,accordingtoanewNASA-fundedanalysisofcity-wideairqualityandhealthdata. However,theresultinghealthbenefitshavenotaccruedevenly,accordingtotheresearchersfromGeorgeWashingtonUniversity,theDCgovernment,BostonUniversity,WashingtonUniversityinSt.Louis,andDalhousieUniversity.BycorrelatinghospitalrecordswithairpollutiondatafromNASAsatellitesandDCDepartmentofEnergy&Environmentground-basedstations,thescientistsshowedthatpopulationswithhigherexposuretofineparticulatepollutionandpoorairqualityhadhigherrisksofhealthproblems. “ExposuretoPM2.5andratesofcertainhealthproblemswerehighestinthesoutheastern,southwestern,andnortheasternquadrantsofthecity—areasthathavehistoricallyhadhigherpercentagesofpeopleofcolor,aswellaspeoplewithlowerhouseholdincomesandlowereducationalattainment,”explainedMariaCastillo,aresearchassociateatGeorgeWashingtonUniversity.“Thisaddstoagrowingbodyofevidencedocumentingbasicinequitiesinwhoisaffectedbyairpollution.” CastilloandcolleaguesanalyzedaerosolobservationsfromseveraldifferentNASAsatellites,aswellasground-basedairqualitysensors.Ground-basedmonitorssuggestedthatPM2.5concentrationswerehigherinareaswithlowerincomesandhigherproportionsofBlack,Latino,andotherpeopleofcolor,thoughthereareonlyahandfulofsensorslocatedthroughoutthecity. “What’sgreataboutthesatellitedataisthatithasenoughresolutionthatwecanuseittofillingapswherewedon’thavedatafrommonitoringstations,”explainedKellyCrawford,thedirectoroftheairqualitydivisionintheDistrict’sDepartmentofEnergy&Environment.Thesatellitedataindicatesthatconcentrationsoffineparticulatematterwere2microgramspercubicmeterhigherinpartsofthenortheast,southwest,andsoutheastpartsofthecitycomparedtowealthier,whiterneighborhoodsinthenorthwesternquadrant,explainedCrawford. Themapabove,derivedfromtheresearchersdata,showsareasthatgenerallyhavehigherratesofPM2.5-attributablemortality.Ratesofchronicobstructivepulmonarydisease,lungcancer,andstrokewerefivetimeshigherinDC'ssoutheasternquadrantcomparedtothosefromitsnorthwesternquadrant.Ratesofischemicheartdiseasewereninetimeshigher,andasthma-causedemergencyroomvisitswere30timeshigher. April11,2017JPEG Exposuretoairpollutionisnotthesolecontributortosuchstarkhealthdisparities.Otherfactorssuchasaccesstohealthcare,smokingrates,chronicstress,andaccesstoqualityfoodlikelyplayarole.“Thereisn’taone-to-onerelationshipbetweenpollutedairandpoorhealthoutcomes,”saidCastillo.“Butthereisalargeandgrowingbodyofevidencethatmakesclearthatairpollutionhitsdisadvantagedcommunitiesharderbecausepeopleinthesecommunitiesaremorelikelytobreathepollutedairandbecausebaselinehealthdisparitiesmakeexposuretopollutionespeciallyharmful.” Theresearcherssaythatunderstandingthenatureoftheproblemisjustthefirststep.“Ihopethatstudieslikethisreminddecision-makersthattherearewayswecanaddresssomeoftheselongstandinginequities.Weshouldlookcarefullyatwhereschools,seniorcenters,roads,andpollutingindustriesarebuilttominimizeexposureforvulnerablepopulations.” Crawford,whowasanenvironmentalengineeratNASA’sGoddardSpaceFlightCenterbeforetakingajobwiththeDCgovernment,drawsvaluablepragmaticlessonsfromtheresearch.“Thestudyunderscoreshowessentialitisthatthecitycontinuetodemonstrateprogressonairquality.Weneedtocontinuetomovetowardelectrificationandmakesurethatthevehiclesontheroadarerunningascleanlyaspossibleandthatindustriesareusingcleantechnologies.” ThesatellitePM2.5datausedinthestudywasdevelopedbyresearchersfromWashingtonUniversityinSt.LouisandDalhousieUniversity.ItisbasedontwodecadesofobservationsfromNASA’sModerateResolutionImagingSpectroradiometer(MODIS),Multi-angleImagingSpectroRadiometer(MISR),andSea-viewingWideField-of-viewSensor(SeaWIFS).ItalsoincorporatesinformationfromtheGEOS-Chemmodel,aglobal3-Dmodelofatmosphericchemistry. NASAEarthObservatoryimagebyJoshuaStevens,usingdatacourtesyofCastillo,M.,D.,etal(2021).StorybyAdamVoiland. ViewthisareainEOExplorer NewresearchshowsthatneighborhoodsinWashington,D.C.,withmorepeopleofcolorareexposedtomoreairpollutionandhavehigherratesofdisease. ImageoftheDayforNovember9,2021 Instruments: InsituMeasurement Model Photograph AppearsinthisCollection: AppliedSciences ImageoftheDay Atmosphere Land Life HumanPresence RemoteSensing ViewmoreImagesoftheDay: Nov8,2021 Nov10,2021 References&Resources AmericanLungAssociation(2012O)DisparitiesintheImpactofAirPollution.AccessedNovember5,2021. Castillo,M.etal.(2021)Estimatingintra-urbaninequitiesinPM2.5-attributablehealthimpacts:AcasestudyforWashington,DC.Geohealth,5(11),e2021GH000431. DistrictofColumbia(2020)AmbientAirQualityreport.AccessedNovember5,2021. D.C.PolicyCenter(2020,October15)ThegeographyofenvironmentaltoxinsintheDistrictofColumbia.AccessedNovember5,2021. EnvironmentalProtectionAgencyAirQualityTrendsShowCleanAirProgress.AccessedNovember5,2021. EnvironmentalHealthNews(2021,July20)MeasuringHouston’senvironmentalinjusticefromspace.AccessedNovember5,2021. Hammer,M.etal.(2020)GlobalEstimatesandLong-TermTrendsofFineParticulateMatterConcentrations(1998-2018).EnvironmentalScience&Technology,54(13),7879-7890. NASAEarthObservatory(2016,March29)PavingWashington.AccessedNovember5,2021. Tessum,etal.(2021,April28)PM2.5pollutersdisproportionatelyandsystemicallyaffectpeopleofcolorintheUnitedStates.PNAS,116(13),6001-6006. Yitshak-Sade,M.(2020)Raceorracialsegregation?ModificationofthePM2.5andcardiovascularmortalityassociation.PLOSONE,15(7),e0236479. UnionofConcernedScientists(2019)InequitableExposuretoAirPollutionfromVehiclesintheNortheastandMid-Atlantic.AccessedNovember5,2021. vanDonkelaar,A(2019)RegionalEstimatesofChemicalCompositionofFineParticulateMatterusingaCombinedGeoscience-StatisticalMethodwithInformationfromSatellites,Models,andMonitors.EnvironmentalScience&Technology,53(5),2595-2611. TheWashingtonPost(2021,August4)ABlackcommunityinNortheastD.C.issurroundedbyindustrialpollution.Thecityplanstoaddmore.AccessedNovember5,2021. Youmightalsobeinterestedin    (viewall) Subscribetoournewsletters Image HellwiththeLidTakenOff Airpollutionfarmoreseverethanwhat’scommontodayusedtoplaguemanyAmericantownsandcities. ImageoftheDay Atmosphere Image MappingtheFlowofSmoke SmokefromfiresinsouthwesternOregondriftedovermuchofOregoninthistruecolorimagefromlateSeptember2009.TheassociatedaerosolimagerevealsthatthesmokereachedasfareastaseasternMontanaandcentralCanada,illustratingthatpollutiontravelslongdistances. ImageoftheDay Atmosphere Image HazeoverFrance AnoutbreakofseverepollutionpromptedofficialsinParistobarhalfofallvehiclesfromtheroads. ImageoftheDay Atmosphere HumanPresence Image TheGlobalTollofFineParticulateMatter Fineparticlesofpollutionlodgedeepinthelungs,wheretheycauseserioushealthproblems.Scientistsareworkingtotallytheglobalconsequences. ImageoftheDay Atmosphere HumanPresence Subscribe toournewsletters