China trying to clean air before Olympics
The U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory is working with China to clear the air before the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
The Chinese government wants to implement regional control programs to ensure that the air quality goals for 2008 will be met in Beijing, officials said.
"Air quality in Beijing in the summertime is dictated by meteorology and topography," said David Streets, a senior scientist in Argonne's Decision and Information Sciences Division.
"Our modeling suggests that emission sources far from Beijing exert a significant influence on Beijing's air quality," Streets said. "Each province's contribution varies dramatically from day to day, depending on wind direction and other meteorological factors."
U.S. environmental officials, the University of Tennessee, Tsinghua University, Peking University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are assisting Argonne in the effort to develop new emission control strategies.
Copyright 2007 by United Press International
