Satellite network pinpoints sources of pollution

China will use a grid network and remote satellite sensing to better monitor and control air pollution, according to the country's top environmental authority.

The network will monitor concentrations of PM2.5 - polluting particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less - in the 28 major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster by next month, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced recently.

The region has been divided into 36,793 units, each measuring 9 square kilometers. With the help of remote sensing, 3,600 of the units with relatively high PM2.5 levels have been selected as key monitoring areas.