Forecasts From www.beijingairquality.cn Don’t Match Up With Reality
Posted by Jimmie R. Markham | July 28, 2008
As those of you who frequent this website know, I’ve been recreating the forecasts from the www.beijingairquality.cn website here on 400meteroval.com for the past 5 days. I reported that the website "is a collaboration between the National Remote Sensing Centre of China and the European Space Agency, so it’s probably not completely suspect." I also resolved to find out "what kind of readings we get in the days leading up to the Olympic Games (Cough! Cough!)," knowing that I would most likely be doing a follow-up report that wasn’t favorable.
As the start of the Olympics draws closer, I’ve noticed a trend toward better air quality. These forecasts don’t seem to be matching reality, however, which probably means that the website is more a propaganda tool for the Chinese government than an honest attempt to provide the public with accurate and reliable data. Now I’m not accusing anybody of anything here (frankly, I don’t want to get sued), but take for instance this report about Sunday’s air quality in Beijing and compare it to the forecast on the site, which called for "good air quality next to busy roads and slightly polluted elsewhere." In contrast to that cheerful report, the news from Free Press News Service reads like this:
The Chinese capital was shrouded in thick gray smog on Sunday, just 12 days before the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games. One expert warned that drastic measures enacted to cut vehicle and factory emissions in the city were no guarantee skies would be clear during competitions.
The pollution was among the worst seen in Beijing in the past month, despite traffic restrictions enacted a week ago that removed half of the city’s vehicles off roads.
Visibility was a half mile in some places. During the opening ceremony of the Athletes’ Village on Sunday, the housing complex was invisible from the nearby main Olympic Green.
"No, it doesn’t really look so good, but as I said, yesterday was better," said Gunilla Lindberg, an International Olympic Committee vice president from Sweden who is staying in the Athletes’ Village. "The day I arrived, Tuesday, was awful."
Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but, to me, "shrouded in thick gray smog" and "among the worst seen in Beijing in the last month" sound dramatically different from "good air quality next to busy roads and slightly polluted elsewhere." The quote from Lindberg, the Swedish IOC VP, gives us some clues about previous days, too. "Yesterday [Saturday] was better," she says. But the archived forecast from the www.beijingairquality.cn website reads "slightly polluted everywhere." The site’s forecast for the previous Tuesday also called for "slightly polluted everywhere," yet Lindburg reports that it "was awful." Sounds to me like she clearly (if I can use such a word to describe Beijing’s pollution) knew the difference between Saturday’s and Tuesday’s air quality, yet the forecast for both days was the same on the www.beijingairquality.cn website.
The New York Times reports that "for the past five days, Beijing has been a soupy cauldron of humid, gray skies. Local pollution ratings have exceeded the national standard for acceptable air since last Thursday, despite a temporary air pollution control plan that began on July 20." Now isn’t that a coincidence! I’ve been conducting this experiment for the same period of five days in which "Beijing has been a soupy cauldron." The same article also reports that "the authorities are considering emergency measures during the Games." Perhaps they should begin by shutting down their useless website, which only adds to the confusion.
So there you have it, what appears to be an actual propaganda website meant to put the Beijing Olympics in a favorable light by the Communist Chinese government. What worries me is that the European Space Agency is collaborating with them. Of course, I don’t have to tell you that I’m taking down my recreation of this apparently bogus forecast from my own site. I refuse to be associated with it in any way. If "the authorities are considering emergency measures during the Games," perhaps they should begin by shutting down their useless website, which only adds to the confusion.
Topics: Beijing Air Quality, Blog |