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Permalink Reply by MacBryan Green on May 4, 2011 at 2:35pm

"The   Air Quality Index (AQI)   focuses on health effects you may experience within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air."  

One commentator emphasized that ozone damage is "like a sunburn to the lungs."

The pollutants used to calculate the EPA Air Quality Index are: ground-level ozone, particulates [basically soot], carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide [which produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid when combined with water].  These are the five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. There are many more pollutants, some of great toxicity.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Kathy Serago on May 6, 2011 at 9:58am

I would imagine the bad results for our area are due to Eastman Chemical.

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Permalink Reply by MacBryan Green on May 6, 2011 at 2:55pm

I just received from a friend the following additional info published by the National Park Service concerning Great Smoky Mountains air pollution.

(to view as the original webpage, go to : http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/air-quality.htm )

 

Air pollution is shrinking scenic views, damaging plants, and degrading high elevation streams and soils in the Great Smoky Mountains. Even human health is at risk. Most pollution originates outside the park and is created by power plants, industry, and automobiles. Great Smoky Mountains National Park has an array of air quality initiatives underway, including research and monitoring. To get an in depth look at air pollution, visit the National Park Service Air Resources web pages. Research and monitoring conducted in the parkhas shown that airborne pollutants emitted from mostly outside the Smokies are degrading park resources and visitor enjoyment. The burning of fossil fuels—coal, oil, and gas—causes most of the pollution. Inadequate pollution control equipment in power plants, factories, and automobiles is the primary problem.  Wind currents moving toward the southern Appalachians transport pollutants from urban areas, industrial sites, and power plants located both near and far. The height and physical structure of the mountains, combined with predominant weather patterns, tend to trap and concentrate human-made pollutants in and around the national park. Shrinking Views Views from scenic overlooks at Great Smoky Mountains National Parkhave been seriously degraded over the last 50 years by human-made pollution. Since 1948, based on regional airport records, average visibility in the southern Appalachians has decreased 40% in winter and 80% in summer. These degradations in visibility not only affect how far one can see from a scenic overlook, they also reduce how well one can see. Pollution causes colors to appear washed out and obscures landscape features. Pollution typically appears as a uniform whitish haze, different from the natural mist-like clouds for which the Smokies were named. The burning of fossil fuels produces tiny airborne sulfate particles which scatter light and degrade visibility. Increasingly, visitors no longer see distant mountain ridges because of this haze. Annual average visibility atGreat Smoky Mountains National Park is 25 miles, compared to natural conditions of 93 miles. During severe haze episodes, visibility has been reduced to under one mile. Sulfate concentrations increased in the region by 27% from 1984-1999. Electricity-generating power plants are the source of most sulfates.   In a 1996 survey, 74% of summer visitors to the Smokies said clean air was “extremely important” to them during their stay in the park; 84% said scenic views were “extremely important.” Ground-level Ozone Pollution Threatens People, Plants Another air quality problem, ozone pollution, threatens human health and park plants. Not to be confused with the naturally occurring, beneficial ozone layer which filters the sun’s ultraviolet rays, ground level ozone is a colorless gas created when nitrogen oxides mix with hydrocarbons in the presence of sunlight. Power plants, automobiles, and factories are the main producers of nitrogen oxides. Most ozone pollution originates outside the park and travels to the Smokies on prevailing winds.   Ozone exposures in the park are among the highest in the East and in recent years have exceeded levels that threaten human health. On average, ozone levels over the ridgetops of the park are up to two times higher than in nearby cities, including Knoxville and Atlanta.    Ozone is a powerful respiratory irritant for humans. Research shows that ozone can cause coughing, sinus inflammation, chest pains, scratchy throat, even permanent damage to lung tissue and reduced immune system functions. Children, the elderly, people with existing health problems, and active adults are most vulnerable.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by MacBryan Green on May 27, 2011 at 10:56am

Here's an informative explanation of ozone factors from

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/ost/air_quality/FAQs.htm

COMMENT/QUESTION: I found this service surfing around your website. Could someone please explain how the air quality in NYC could be so much better than the rest of the Northeast?

RESPONSE PROVIDED BY:
Ken Schere, Chief
Atmospheric Model Development Branch, Atmospheric Sciences Modeling Division
NOAA Research and EPA’s National Exposure Research Laboratory

By looking at ozone, it may seem as though the air quality is better in the middle of NYC than elsewhere around it. This is misleading though. Ozone is produced through a complex set of chemical reactions in the atmosphere. It needs the starting ingredients of nitrogen dioxide and hydrocarbons to make the reactions happen. These gases are emitted in copious amounts from urban areas, such as NYC. One usually finds higher ozone in a downwind direction from the urban area, since it takes a few hours for the chemical reactions to occur and form higher ozone concentrations. So the pollutant gases emitted within NYC may cause higher ozone to form a few hours downwind, such as in southern CT or Long Island . However, if the winds are calm, the ozone-forming reactions will occur closer to the urban source areas and cause ozone buildup in the urban cores.

A complicating factor is that one of the precursor gases emitted in urban areas, nitrogen oxide, also depletes ozone. The effect is most dramatic in the evening and overnight hours when there is little or no sunlight. The net effect of these chemical and transport processes often causes the ozone concentrations within the core of large urban areas to be lower than the surrounding areas. However the air is not "cleaner" here even if the ozone concentrations are lower. The urban core is bathed in the ozone precursor gases, which themselves can be irritating or in some cases, toxic. A host of other pollutants, including fine particles, are also released in the urban areas. And under conditions of light winds and stagnation, ozone too can build up within the urban cores.

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Permalink Reply by MacBryan Green on June 11, 2011 at 12:19pm

A fine short overview for concerned parents and all others can be read at:

 

http://www.epa.gov/airnow/aqi_brochure_08-09.pdf

 

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Permalink Reply by MacBryan Green on June 12, 2011 at 3:41pm

Relevant info from TDOT:

"THE POLLUTION PROBLEM

"Air Quality is a serious issue for Tennesseans, affecting our health, our landscape, and our economy.  ....

"Kids and Air Quality:

• Kids breathe one and a half times more air than adults do per pound of body weight. They're more active, their bodies are growing and developing, and they naturally breathe deeper and faster.
• Exposure to poisons in the air is even more dangerous for children, and can cause permanent lung tissue scarring and damage.
• Kids make up almost half of the cases of asthma in the U.S, a problem caused and exacerbated by poor air quality like Tennessee's.
• One of the most dangerous sources of air pollution for kids is the before- and after-school pick-up line. Diesel fumes from buses and emissions from idling parent vehicles near the school create heavy clouds of pollution, right at kid-level." [emphasis added]

See : http://www.cleartheairtn.org/index.php?id=37&page=The_Problem

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