Bangalore 'among most polluted megacities in the world'

Bangalore has been rated among the world's top polluted megacity in a new survey, indicating that authorities at the city need to take action to prevent the situation worsening.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University studied pollution in 189 megacities, looking at data spanning eight years in high-profile locations including Mumbai, New York City and Tokyo.

Furthermore, Northeast China, India, the Middle East and Central Africa were found to be leading the pollution increase.

Bangalore was seen to exhibit a 34 per cent average increase in aerosol concentration between the years of 2002 and 2010, Tel Aviv University's American Friends reports.

When it comes to the good work being done on pollution, Europe and Northeast and Central North America were found to be leading the efforts.

These locations have seen the largest decreases in aerosol concentrations overall, according to the research, which was published in the American Journal of Climate Change.

Houston was found to be the cleanest city, with a 31 per cent decrease seen over the time period, while Curitiba, Brazil experienced a 26 per cent decrease, and Stockholm, Sweden, had a 23 per cent drop.

However, it was not all good news for the US, as some American cities did see an increase in pollution. Portland (53 per cent) and Seattle (32 per cent) were among these numbers.

Researchers did note that separating natural causes of pollution from man-made pollution could help them to get a more accurate picture of the problem in the future.

The data used was collected by NASA's satellites, and it is no mean feat to get an accurate record of pollution, with on-the-ground monitoring stations often failing to provide correct reports.

This follows news that pollution is at high levels in India currently due to bad weather that has prolonged the polluting effect of Diwali.