Title: Air Pollution
1Air Pollution
- London fog in the time of Dickens
2Air 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
3- Real air
- pollution
- from coal
- smoke
4Air 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.
5Pure food, fresh water, clean air
6Multiplication 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.
7- 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.
8Indoor 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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10Indoor Air Pollution
11Urban 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.
12- 1963 photo of a massive smog episode in New York
City. (AP/Wide World Photo, EPA Journal Jan/Feb
1990.)
13- 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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15- Smog over the Yangtze River Valley in China,
photographed by the Space Shuttle Columbia.
(Photo NASA.)
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18Temperature 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.
19Formation of Photochemical Smog
PAN peroxyacyl nitrates
20 21LA Smog
22The Most Polluted Cities
23Top 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
24Morbidity Pyramid
25Populations sensitive to air pollution
- Individuals with asthma and other respiratory
diseases - Individuals with cardiovascular disease
- The elderly
- Children
- Smokers
26Criteria Pollutants
- ? Carbon Monoxide (CO)
- ? Ground-level Ozone (O3)
- ? Lead (Pb)
- ? Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
- ? Particulate Matter (PM)
- ? Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
27Hopeful Trends
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30http//www.epa.gov
31- Air Quality Index (AQI) http//airnow.gov
- History of the Clean Air Act http//www.ametsoc.or
g/sloan/cleanair/
32- 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.
33Next Thursday
- Air Pollution on a
- Regional (Acid Deposition)
- and
- Global (Stratospheric Ozone Depletion)
- Scale