The lower atmosphere around our little blue island in the vastness of space is coloured brown. An astronautess recently said that one can see that the snow on the whole northern hemisphere being grey !!! and that it is very dark over the earth's northern surface, in contrast to the brilliant contrast one observes in the southern hemisphere and in Tibet for example.

Airpollution, as seen from a favourable angle. The Sun is in your back and not too low (too red) and not to high (wrong angle). When the sky is very clear it gives better contrast. White surfaces in the foreground and white clouds above are good colour references.
The Southern Hemisphere ...

... is generally much cleaner in comparison.
The way to take photos of the brown slime is to have the sun in the back...

check out this little animiation ... right-click the pic and PLAY...

It shows a view towards the east during sunset. You can see the pollution-band become visible.
Don't kid yourself. ... there is a catastrophic release of gases going on!

The picture above is of the northern hemisphere's average air-pollution, as seen from an airplane. It thins somewhat over greater stretches of uninhabited space, but since the winds take only 10 days to circle the globe, it is more or less everywhere on the northern hemisphere. Why do you think politicians are doing something now? Because they have some dreadful numbers on their desks.

Below is a picture from a less favourable angle, but you can see the airpollution too, can you? Well, the trick is

• to look on a clear day
• to have the sun is in your back
• to compare the "blue-ness" above with the colour at the horizon
• have a white surface in the foreground for comparision

Above ... the sky over Germany

But one of the most striking pictures is the following:

<<see the dirt?

Here we see part of the solution, too. But note how the air in the background looks. This thick brown "haze" is there 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. But only under the right conditions is it visible like above.

I scanned the picture from a sales brochure by the "Enercon" company, makers of gear-box-less wind-turbines.
ENERCON GmbH, Dreekamp 5, 26605 Aurich, Germany, phone: +49 4941 927-0, fax: +49 4941 927 199

If you have pictures (or movies) about air-pollution, please email: click here