The use of satellites is merely a part of the process to measure pollution and air quality. (Photo : Reuters)
The Chinese government is planning for an intricate network that will be tasked with detecting pollution in the sea, air and land by 2020, according to a report by China Daily.
The system will be comprised of satellites, drones and remote sensors to monitor the environment.
The national leadership already approved plans last July, and it stated that various departments and regions would need to collaborate to monitor environmental violations.
The plan gives an emphasis on the use of satellites, which will receive a boost in funding this year.
According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, it plans to accelerate research on two atmospheric environmental monitoring satellites.
In Hebei Province, where there is a serious pollution problem, authorities have cooperated with the ministry's Satellite Environment Center in order to conduct monitoring from satellites and monitoring stations.
"We used the data from the center's satellites to forecast the movement of smog during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in November," said Zhang Feng, an engineer in the Environmental Supervision Department.
The use of satellites is merely a part of the process and there are not many of them, Zhang shared.
He explained that the province still needs to build a system to analyze and process the data gathered by such environmental satellites by the end of this year.
Remote monitoring has also played an important function in locating sources of pollution, as drones aided authorities to pinpoint polluted areas in the Tengger Desert in Northern China.
The ministry also added that there will be a strengthening of the supervision of data gathered through multiple channels.
According to environmental minister Chen Jining, "it is important to keep environmental management policies effective and scientific."
