14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, the capital of the Republic of China was overtaken by a massive wave of pollution, even though the authorities strongly stated in the last months that the air quality in Beijing was improving. In order to protect the population of the city from the increased levels of pollution, the Chinese government issued a warning that the citizens should protect themselves as well as they can and if possible to spend as much time possible indoors.
According to the spokeswoman of the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, this has been the worst pollution wave to hit the Chinese capital ever, as 15 out of the total 16 pollution monitors spread throughout the city measured a level five of pollution, representing the highest ranked for pollutants concentration in air quality.
Most of the pollution is manifested by particle suspension in the air, which is usually associated with emissions ejected into the atmosphere during coal burning process and automobile exhaust fumes. On top of the warning issued by the Environmental Protection Bureau, the Beijing Evening News bulletin also suggested that people should avoid the outer morning exercises in the following day, as the smog cloud would most likely hover over the city until a cold air front would move the contaminated air to regions outside the city, later during the day.
The massive pollution was mostly determined by a lack of wind gusts in the previous days, which led to the accumulation of smog in the stagnated air. This might pose a few problems for the Chinese authorities, considering the fact that Beijing is scheduled to host the Olympic Games next year, which promised a total of 245 'blue sky days', or at least days with only light pollution.
Though it was only a day short from reaching its goal, most of the time the so-called blue skies are often filled with a hazy cloud of heavy pollutants hovering in the atmosphere. International agencies responsible with monitoring the pollution rates in the world's largest cities, ranked routinely the city of Beijing as the world's most polluted city, due to increased rates of coal burning corroborated with regular dust storm that hit the city, and a growing number of automobiles as a result of economic growth.
The Chinese government's information office stated through Cai Wu that the efforts to clean the polluted air in the city of Beijing, in the last years, has resulted in improved air quality and there is no reason to worry about the period of the Olympic Games. Over the last years, the Chinese authorities have been routinely triggering artificial rains through the process of cloud seeding, which is extremely effective in ensuring required precipitations for crop growth and partially removing some of the suspensions in the air, thus improving air quality. According to statements made a few months ago, they will try to use the same strategy during the Olympic Games, in order to clear the air of unwanted pollutants.