Air Pollution

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Air Pollution

• London fog in the time of Dickens

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Air Pollution

• Definition A concentration of substances in the
  atmosphere that may be detrimental to health,
  infrastructure, or environmental quality.
• Scales
• Personal, Indoor, Local, Regional, Global.
• Lungs, Buildings, Cities, Areas, the World
• Smoke, Toxins, Smog, Acids, O3 / CO2

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• Real air
• pollution
• from coal
• smoke

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Air is never 100 clean
90 Natural Sources Volcanoes, Sea Spray, Spores
and Pollen, Terpenes, Dust, Soot, Smoke from
Forest Fires 10 Anthropogenic Sources Agricultur
e, Industry, Transportation By accident or
design, every chemical species contributes to air
pollution.
But Anthropogenic Pollutants Are the most
toxic. Are emitted where people live, work, and
play. Typically have the highest
concentrations. Typically cause the greatest
health problems. Are mostly controllable.
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Pure food, fresh water, clean air
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Multiplication of Adverse Effects
Toxicity x Concentration x Time x Biological
Vigor or Health Cumulative Adverse Effect on
Organism

• Since lungs are the smallest volume, toxic
  concentrations can be very high over a number of
  years, so habitual smoking or dangerous
  activities (such as coal mining) can have the
  greatest adverse health effects. This can also
  be exacerbated by respiratory infections and
  other health complications.

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• Smoking is the most hazardous pollutant to
  oneself and others.
• Smoking is a key factor in Mortality Statistics
  (Insurance Ratings).
• Nicotine is addictive, CO is toxic, and Tars are
  carcinogenic.
• Smoking is implicated in lung cancer, emphysema,
  and heart disease.
• Smoking also makes you vulnerable to other air
  pollutants (e.g. Radon).
• It makes your clothes stink, fouls your breath,
  and yellows your teeth.

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Indoor Air Pollution

• Indoor pollutants can be 10 to 1000 times more
  concentrated than the air outdoors.
• Your home can trap over 150 pollutants
• People spend about 90 of their time indoors.
• Colby came close to having sick building
  syndrome in Lovejoy in 1995 when it was painted
  and re-carpeted.

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Indoor Air Pollution
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Urban Pollution Bubble

• Factors that increase urban air pollution
• High concentration of sources vehicles,
  factories, homes.
• Lower wind speeds due to greater surface
  roughness.
• Basin drainage (many cities located in valleys).
• Temperature inversions common from heat island
  effect.

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• 1963 photo of a massive smog episode in New York
  City. (AP/Wide World Photo, EPA Journal Jan/Feb
  1990.)

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• Industrial pollution around the Siberian city of
  Troitsk (54.0N, 61.0E, the smallest of a group of
  three heavy industrial cities east of the Urals,
  the others being Magnitogorsk and Chelyabinsk.
  All have been cited as being some of the worst
  industrial polluted cities in Russia, indeed, in
  the world! Troitsk has the largest area of
  soot-blackened snow. Respiratory diseases among
  the citizens are chronic. (Photo NASA.)

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• Smog over the Yangtze River Valley in China,
  photographed by the Space Shuttle Columbia.
  (Photo NASA.)

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Temperature Inversions

• A temperature inversion is an increase in
  temperature with height.
• More likely over cities and in drainage basins.
• Lower wind speeds allow radiational cooling of
  upper layer.
• Air is stagnant.
• Can trap pollutants below.
• Allows time for chemical transformations to occur
  (Smog)
• Can cause severe health problems due to time of
  exposure.

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Formation of Photochemical Smog
PAN peroxyacyl nitrates
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• Smog over Los Angeles

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LA Smog
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The Most Polluted Cities
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Top Ten US Cities for Air Pollution

• Los Angeles, CA
• Bakersfield, CA
• Fresno, CA
• Visalia-Porterville, CA
• Merced, CA
• Houston, TX
• Sacramento, CA
• Dallas/Fort Worth, TX
• New York, NY
• Philadelphia, PA

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Morbidity Pyramid
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Populations sensitive to air pollution

• Individuals with asthma and other respiratory
  diseases
• Individuals with cardiovascular disease
• The elderly
• Children
• Smokers

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Criteria Pollutants

• ? Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• ? Ground-level Ozone (O3)
• ? Lead (Pb)
• ? Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• ? Particulate Matter (PM)
• ? Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

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Hopeful Trends
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http//www.epa.gov
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• Air Quality Index (AQI) http//airnow.gov
• History of the Clean Air Act http//www.ametsoc.or
  g/sloan/cleanair/

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• Clean air and air pollution have been public
  issues for centuries. In 1306 King Edward I of
  England issued a proclamation banning the use of
  sea coal in London due to the smoke it caused.
  Over the next few centuries, additional efforts
  were made in Great Britain to reduce the amount
  of smoke in the air. The first attempt to control
  air pollution in the United States occurred
  during the industrial revolution. The cities of
  Chicago and Cincinnati enacted clean air
  legislation in 1881. Subsequently, other cities,
  towns, and regions slowly began enforcing their
  own clean air policies. At the beginning of this
  century, the Bureau of Mines, under the
  Department of the Interior, created an Office of
  Air Pollution to control smoke emissions, but the
  office was soon eliminated due to inactivity.
  During the late 1940s serious smog incidents in
  Los Angeles and Donora, Pennsylvania raised
  public awareness and concern about this issue
  once again. In 1955, the government decided that
  this problem needed to be dealt with on a
  national level. The Air Pollution Control Act of
  1955, was the first in a series of clean air and
  air quality control acts which are still in
  effect and continue to be revised and amended.

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Next Thursday

• Air Pollution on a
• Regional (Acid Deposition)
• and
• Global (Stratospheric Ozone Depletion)
• Scale