Due to massive emissions of pollutants from factories and vehicles, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region tops the world in carbon emissions intensity, and studies of carbon dioxide and other pollutants in the air could better help China tackle smog. As described by an engineer of the Hebei Province Meteorological Bureau, meteorologists now use a plane equipped with a high precision carbon dioxide real-time monitoring system to fly at 11 different altitudes from 600 to 5,100 meters over Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province to measure carbon dioxide concentrations at different levels. China’s carbon dioxide monitoring satellite, TanSat, launched in 2016, was also set to focus on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region this week to help scientists gather more data.
CAS news release, January 9, 2019