NASA released a series of images Thursday showing that air pollution across the northeastern United States has been reduced significantly over the last decade, including in New Jersey.
The agency's Aura satellite has been in orbit since 2005 collecting data, which shows along the Interstate-95 corridor that there have been significant reductions the concentration of nitrogen oxide - a yellow-brown gas known to cause respiratory issues - over the last ten years.
While specific figures for New Jersey were not released, the state is no doubt the beneficiary of significant reductions in the harmful gas in the two major cities the state is sandwiched between.
NASA reported that New York City experienced a 32 percent reduction in the harmful gas between the periods of 2005-2007 and 2009-2011, while Philadelphia saw a 26 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide.
Though progress has been made, New Jersey still has one of the higher concentrations of the harmful gas in the country and officials cautioned that additional work remains.
'While our air quality has certainly improved over the last few decades, there is still work to do - ozone and particulate matter are still problems,' said Bryan Duncan, an atmospheric scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The gas is one of six pollutants regulated by the U.S. Environmental protection agency. Nitrogen dioxide is primarily a byproduct of automobile use and the combustion of coal in power plants and, in addition to causing respiratory ailments, can combine with other pollutants to cause other adverse health effects, according to NASA.
Entities 0 Name: NASA Count: 4 1 Name: New Jersey Count: 3 2 Name: New York City Count: 1 3 Name: U.S. Count: 1 4 Name: Philadelphia Count: 1 5 Name: United States Count: 1 6 Name: Bryan Duncan Count: 1 7 Name: Greenbelt Count: 1 8 Name: Maryland Count: 1 Related Keywords 0 Name: nitrogen Score: 21 1 Name: gas Score: 21 2 Name: reduction Score: 19 3 Name: nasa Score: 17 4 Name: pollutants Score: 17 5 Name: jersey Score: 14 6 Name: harmful Score: 13 7 Name: respiratory Score: 12 8 Name: dioxide Score: 12 9 Name: significant Score: 10 Authors Media Images 0
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