Observing air pollutants from space to protect people’s health.

Health damage by air pollution

Air pollutants cause serious damage to people's health.
When aerosol particles enter the human body, they trigger infections, allergies, and respiratory tract infections (hay fever, house dust mites). In addition, PM2.5 particles are so small that they can penetrate deep into the lungs, causing asthma and bronchitis. The World Health Organization (WHO) states that diseases caused by air pollution due to PM2.5 and other pollutants are estimated to kill about 7 million people a year, mainly in Asia and Africa.

Observing air pollutants from space to prevent health damage!

JAXA releases the website “JAXA Himawari Monitor” that displays color images of Himawari-8 and geophysical data image. JAXA contributes to preventing health damage due to air pollution by understanding the flow of aerosols and PM2.5 through earth observations from space, identifying their points of origin, and accurately disseminating pollution projection information by reinforcing the ground observation network.

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  JAXA contributes to people’s health by releasing aerosols monitoring information and enabling alerts and measure on air pollution.