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Beijing caught out as year's first severe dust storm goes off the scale

Capital caught by surprise as meters fail to record severity of air pollution

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Tourists visit Beijing's Jingshan Park, near the Forbidden City, during yesterday's severe dust storm. Photo: ImagineChina
Stephen Chenin Beijing

Air pollution levels in Beijing were so high they went off the Air Quality Index system scale yesterday as the capital was hit by the year's first severe dust storm.

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By noon nearly all Chinese government monitoring stations were recording AQI readings of 500, the nominal maximum of the scale. While the monitoring system at the US embassy in Beijing records AQI readings that are in the so-called Beyond Index - in January it recorded 545 - no readings were available yesterday owing to equipment failure.

Chinese internet users referred to the phenomenon as , or "busted meters".

The problem occurs when at least one type of pollutant exceeds the maximum amount that can be used in the AQI calculation. This time, relatively large fine particulate matter (PM) appeared to be the problem.

Many areas in the capital recorded nearly 1,000 micrograms of PM10 (particles 10 micrometres in diameter or less) per cubic metre of air, but most also recorded fewer than 100 micrograms of PM2.5 (of 2.5 micrometres or less), official data said.

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