In brief
Through satellite technology and AI, Al Gore's Climate TRACE initiative has launched a system to monitor soot pollution across 2,500 cities globally. This initiative aims to provide residents with real-time data about the origins and extent of air pollution in their neighborhoods. While soot pollution does not directly contribute to climate change, it is a major health risk, causing millions of deaths annually. Gore highlights cities like Karachi and Guangzhou as having the highest exposure to soot pollution, emphasizing the need for public awareness and accountability from polluters.
NEW YORK (AP) — Soon people will be able to use satellite technology and artificial intelligence to track dangerous soot pollution in their neighborhoods — and where it comes from — in a way not so different from monitoring approaching storms under plans by a nonprofit coalition led by former Vice President Al Gore.
Gore, who started Climate TRACE, which uses satellites to monitor the location of heat-trapping methane sources, on Wednesday expanded his system to track the source and plume of pollution from tiny particles, often referred to as soot, on a neighborhood basis for 2,500 cities across the world. Particle pollution kills millions of people worldwide each year — and tens of thousands in the United States — according to scientific studies and reports.
Gore’s coalition uses 300 satellites, 30,000 ground-tracking sensors and artificial intelligence to track 137,095 sources of particle pollution, with 3,937 of them categorized as “super emitters” for how much they spew. Users can look at long-term trends, but in about a year Gore hopes these can become available daily so they can be incorporated into weather apps, like allergy reports.
“It’s difficult, before AI, for people to really see precisely where this conventional air pollution is coming from,” Gore said. “When it’s over in their homes and in their neighborhoods and when people have a very clear idea of this, then I think they’re empowered with the truth of their situation.” Although soot pollution isn’t technically a climate issue because it doesn’t cause global warming, it arises from the same fossil fuel consumption processes, contributing to health hazards that claim nearly nine million lives annually.
Soot pollution is especially prevalent in populous regions, with Karachi, Pakistan, leading in exposure, followed closely by cities such as Guangzhou, China, and Seoul, South Korea. Gore's findings aim to create awareness and accountability among those responsible for high emissions, supporting individuals' right to know about their environmental health.
