Beijing breathes sigh of relief at lack of winter smog

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The air quality of north China, especially Beijing, has dramatically improved this winter as authorities have got to grips with the area’s notorious smog.

In December, the proportion of days with “excellent air quality” (air pollution index below 50) in Beijing has reached 71 percent, and the air has been “good” (below 100 AQI) on 89 percent of the days, according to official data reported by Chinese media iFeng website on Tuesday.

Smog has historically spiked in winter as households turn to heating powered by polluting fossil fuels. But the Beijing skies have not darkened this year as they had in the past. The city breathed “good” air for three-quarters of November, a better rate even than most Chinese coastal cities.

In the graph below, the green bars represent days with “good” air quality, while maroon represents the worst air.

Smog has decreased significantly in 2017, with only a short time in October severely polluted. /Photo via iFeng.com

Beijing was far more polluted in in 2015 and 2016, with the AQI soaring towards 500 on some days. This year, only a short time in October was severely polluted.

The transformation is attributable to two main reasons. Firstly, trade winds have brought continuous fresh air from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to north China.

Trade winds have brought continuous fresh air from the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to north China. /Photo via iFeng.com

Secondly, the local government has put tough measures in place to limit emissions from factoris and metropolitan traffic.

According to research published by NASA and University of Maryland in November, China’s sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 75 percent between 2007 and 2017, while India’s emissions increased by 50 percent.

China’s sulfur dioxide emissions fell by 75 percent between 2007 and 2017. /Photo via iFeng.com