Air pollution by smoke can be detected by the "strange movement" of the mobile phone radio waves: Research results

When a large forest fire broke out in January 2020 in southeastern Australia, the condition of the atmosphere worsened in Melbourne.This was a sign that the residents should clearly go out.

In fact, the sign was not all.The invisible mobile phone radio waves draw a strange pattern.Scientists believe that analyzing this pattern may predict the movement of smoke.

What I can see from the strange movement of radio waves

The strange movement of radio waves in Melbourne was linked to the atmosphere of the atmosphere known as the "temperature reversal."Generally, when sunlight is hitting, the temperature is higher to the ground.However, in the case of the temperature reversal, the opposite is literally.The sunlight is absorbed by the layer of smoke and does not reach the ground, and the cold air on the surface of the earth has a dry and dry atmosphere at high temperatures.

According to Adrian Gyuyo, an atmosphere scientist at Monash University in Australia, "While the upper atmosphere is warmed, the air near the ground is warm as usual, as usual."explain.Gyuiyo is also the first author of a paper published in the AGU AGU Advances by the United States Global Physics.

Gyuyo and his colleagues are investigating the movement of radio waves between base stations, especially in communication networks, but have found strange points in the movement of radio waves that are transmitted and received between base stations installed on the roof of the building in Melbourne.The radio waves exchanged between base stations usually go almost linearly, but the reversal layer has been firmly refracted toward the ground.

These phenomena in which radio waves show different movements from normal are called "abnormal propagation"."The radio waves hit the ground and bounced back, and they go up again. In other words, Gyuyo explains, that is, the radio waves are trapped in the reverse layer," Gyuyo explains.

In this phenomenon, the radio wave does not take a linear path and repeats reflection.For this reason, the arrival time of radio waves from the antenna to the next antenna is different from normal."Because the radio waves do not always reach, the reception will be better or worse," Gyiyo says."It really appears clearly."

Can you predict air pollution by smoke?

In other words, looking at the movement of the radio waves, you can see if the reversal layer is stagnant over Melbourne during the Australian forest fire season.In the reversal layer, not only radio waves but also smoke, Melbourne air pollution Revels temporarily became the worst in the forest fire last year.

In the future, Gyuyo believes that monitoring radio waves can detect the position and degree of the reversal layer.In that case, the authorities can predict the deterioration of the quality of the atmosphere."As the temperature is reversed, the reverse layer is generated, and as the degree increases, there is a strong risk of increasing the concentration of smoke on the surface of the ground," Gyuiyo explains.

Here, let's take an example of a mixture of mixed coloring for food with the water in the pool.Despite the same amount of coloring, the color of the water should be different between small pools for children and huge pools used in swimming competitions.

The same is true for the atmosphere.If smoke stays in the thin atmosphere near the surface of the earth, the quality of the atmosphere will worsen compared to a state where there is nothing to cross over the sky.

"If there is a reverse layer, the smoke will not spread over the sky," said Rebecca Buff Holtz of the American Air Research Center (NCAR)."In other words, it is stayed and concentrated near the surface of the ground, and the atmosphere near the ground contains more pollutants that affect the human body."Buffholtz is not involved in the research of Gyuiyo.