Die Dreckluft in Peking<a href=www.alphagalileo.org target=_blank> soll offenbar verschwinden bis zur Olympiade, auf dass nicht alle AthletInnen mit Pseudo-Krupp heimkommen.

The economy is booming in China’s urban agglomerations, industrialisation and the transport sector are rapidly growing. This leads to an undesired side effect: air pollution is also dramatically increasing. For example, the lower layer of the atmosphere, the troposphere, over China contained 50 % more nitrogen dioxide in 2002 than it did in 1996. (...) Under the influence of sunlight, exhaust gases from cars and industry can be turned into heavily polluted substances – for example, ozone, which is often talked about in this country as “summer smog”. On the other hand, the concentration of what are known as hydroxyl radicals is interesting because they break down many pollutant gases and are therefore also referred to as “atmospheric detergents”. (...) “There are indications that the enormous and increasing emissions of atmospheric pollutants in China could be causing photochemical by-products, such as ozone and aerosols, to be affecting the climate and air quality of the entire northern hemisphere. This could also lead to an increase in the ozone concentration in Europe, for example”, emphasizes Andreas Wahner. (...) “The Chinese have a particular interest in seeing a decisive improvement in air quality before the Olympic Games 2008.”