http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair just how bad is it? Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:27:11 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en On 20 Sep the Olympic/Paralympic traffic restrictions (odd/even) were lifted, and then something remarkable happened: people started to talk about how nice it had been with less cars on the roads, and according to a Greenpeace poll (China Daily), even 54% of car owners wanted some sort of restrictions to ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=107 The Associated Press has a fancy site on the Olympic air quality; with daily measurements at the main stadium. BBC also continues to publish a daily picture and measurement, and the official numbers can be found at MEP as always. Let's see what they got for the last 3 days ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=106   Definition of haze on Wikipedia: Haze is traditionally an atmospheric phenomenon where dust, smoke and other dry particles obscure the clarity of the sky. This scientific model predicts a sharp drop in PM10 around noon, so we might get a blue sky afternoon; that would be nice. Forecasts for Saturday is ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=104 The IOC medical official says Beijing is meeting the WHO air quality standards "in many aspects", and goes on: "I am sure and confident that the air quality will not pose any major problem to the athletes and visitors...The WHO standards are not intended for temporary visitors... They are for permanent ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=101 Today for the first time i saw a hybrid taxi in Beijing, a Chery A5, and i took the picture below. It seems there have been 50 such hybrid taxis in Beijing since 21 June; that is great news. 40 BSG models which increase fuel efficiency by 10-15% and 10 ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=99 Today 4 August BBC reports a PM10 of 292 micrograms/m3, the highest value since it began its daily measurements on 9 July 2008 (click on 2 or go back in time until you find 4 Aug), that translates in an API of 171, what the authorities regarded as 'unhealthy' a ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=96 I found it quite ironic that the Deputy Director of BJEPB urged the public 'to analyze the data scientifically' instead of drawing conclusions from the haze. So let's look for the scientists. The European Space Agency (ESA) proudly announced on 22 July 2008 that it: 'installed a High Resolution Air Quality Forecasting ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=93 OK, Xinhua found an IOC official Gilbert Felli who 'said the low visibility doesn't necessarily mean the air quality is bad', you can watch the video here (foward to 4:00); he seems to have caught a cough, probably it is that Beijing air. So he is actually saying that with air ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=90 From the graph below, based on the official MEP numbers, we can see that the traffic restrictions have not been very successful in Beijing;  the air pollution has only increased since the restrictions started on 20 July, and for the last 4 days has been above the 100 level which Beijing ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=87 4 days into the traffic restrictions, today is even worse than yesterday, with an API of 113 for 24 July- this is equivalent to a PM10 value of about 175 micrograms/m3. Let's go back to the World Health Organisation (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines of 2005  (AQG) to understand this number. For ... http://pyongyangsquare.com/beijingair/?p=85