An improved understanding of the Earth

/by

Satellite Earth observation provides objective coverage across both space and time.  Sensors can gather data from sites across the world, including places too remote or otherwise inaccessible for ground-based data acquisition.

An improved understanding of the Earth and its systems – such as weather, climate, oceans, land, geology, ecosystems, and natural and human-induced hazards – is essential if we are to effectively manage our planet and its resources. Satellite Earth observation data, and the information derived from it, are essential to this understanding.

Prior to the space age, mankind couldn’t develop a global view of the world we lived in. Fifty years later, planet Earth has been redefined through the systematic collection and analysis of vast amounts of information collected by satellites, and we can see our world as never before.

Satellite Earth observation images show the world through a wide-enough frame that large-scale phenomena can be observed to an accuracy and entirety it would take an army of ground-level observers to match.  A single satellite image has the potential to show the spread of air pollution across Australia, the precise damage done by an earthquake or forest fire, or the entire span of a 500-km cyclone from the calmness of its eye to its outermost storm fronts.

Image and article from space.gov.au

Acid rain effects

/by

Acid rain gases begin in urban areas but they can drift hundreds of miles away wreak havoc on forests and lakes.

Acid rain may not have quite as much prominence in public discourse as it did years ago, but that doesn’t mean that the problem has gone away. Acid rain effects can be devastating, particularly to forests and aquatic ecosystems, making waters toxic and depriving the soil of essential nutrients.

When fossil fuels like coal and oil are burned by power companies and other industries, sulfur is released into the air, which combines with oxygen to form sulfur dioxide. This compound, along with the nitric acid that forms due to car exhaust, dissolves into the water vapor in the air, which then pours down in the form of acid rain. While acid rain gases originate in urban areas, they can drift hundreds of miles into rural areas to wreak havoc on forests and lakes.

According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these effects are most dramatic in water environments like streams, lakes and marshes. Most bodies of fresh water have a pH between 6 and 8, meaning they are on the alkaline, or ‘base’ side of the pH scale. As acid rain falls into the water, it lowers this pH, and the surrounding soil is often unable to buffer it. The acidic water leaches aluminum from the soil, which is highly toxic to many species of aquatic organisms.

Aricle and image from MNN

New pollution record as haze chokes Singapore

/by

Pollution levels reached a new record high for a third day in a row in Singapore, as smoky haze from fires in Indonesia shrouded the city state. Many stores have run out of face masks amid soaring demand. The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 401 at 12:00 on Friday (04:00 GMT) – the highest in the country’s history. A PSI reading above 300 is defined as “hazardous”, while Singapore government guidelines say a PSI reading of above 400 over 24 hours “may be life threatening to ill and elderly persons”.

The haze is also affecting Malaysia, with another 100 schools closed in the south of the country. Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsieng Loong warned on Thursday that the haze could remain in place for weeks.

“We can’t tell how this problem is going to develop because it depends on the burning, it depends on the weather, it depends on the wind,” he said. “It can easily last for several weeks and quite possibly it could last longer until the dry season ends in Sumatra which may be September or October.”

Article and image from BBC

Plane exhaust kills more people than plane crashes

/by

There’s a new fear of flying: You’re more likely to die from exposure to toxic pollutants in plane exhaust than in a plane crash, a new study suggests. In recent years, airplane crashes have killed about a thousand people annually, whereas plane emissions kill about ten thousand people each year, researchers say. The locations with the most active airports aren’t always the ones that suffer the biggest health impacts, the study suggests. When a plane flies at cruising altitude above the clouds, wind currents can whisk the pollution far away so that prevailing winds cause the pollution to fall from the sky about 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) to the east of the plane’s route.

Article and image from National Geographic

Get the Facts

Air Pollution Facts

Land Pollution Facts

Noise Pollution Facts

Water Pollution Facts

About Poopy

Help us help you

Do you have a cool product to recommend for our shop? Have a quote, artist or something else to share?

Let us know!

Monthly Feature

Copyright © Poopy