5.Atmospheric Visibility
Air pollution that reduces visibility is often called
“haze or smog”
Smog Original a mixture of smoke and fog in the air
But today it refers to “any mixture of air pollutants that can be seen”
Smog typically starts in cities or areas with many people, but because it travels with the wind, it can appear in rural areas as well.
“haze or smog”
One consequence of smog over any given area is that it can change the area’s climate
dark particles
such as carbon, absorb solar radiation and scatter sunlight, helping produce the characteristic haze that fills the skies over the world’s megacities.
• Air pollution that reduces visibility is often called haze or smog. The term smog originally meant a mixture of smoke and fog in the air, but today it refers to any mixture of air pollutants that can be seen. Smog typically starts in cities or areas with many people, but because it travels with the wind, it can appear in rural areas as well.
• One consequence of smog over any given area is that it can change the area’s climate. Certain dark particles, such as carbon, absorb solar radiation and scatter sunlight, helping produce the characteristic haze that fills the skies over the world’s megacities. This haze reduces the amount of the Sun’s energy reaching the Earth’s surface, sometimes by as much as 35 percent.