Haze continues to hover over northern India and Bangladesh

Ongoing haze blows across the mouths of the Ganges River and over the Bay of Bengal. Temperature inversion keeps smoke from agricultural fires and urban and industrial pollutants near the ground, rather than rising higher into the atmosphere and dispersing.

Air quality has emerged as a significant problem for India and Bangladesh in the past decade. Studies have shown that between 2002 and 2010, levels of air pollution in large Indian cities increased faster than rapidly-growing Chinese cities, with many Indian cities recording double-digit increases in pollution.

Source: EarthSnapshots