BIOLOGY 157: LIFE SCIENCE: AN ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH (Air Pollution)

1. BIOLOGY 157: LIFE SCIENCE: AN ENVIRONMENTAL APPROACH (Air Pollution)

2. AIR POLLUTION • Non-Anthropogenic ---- caused by non-human processes (volcanoes, decomposition, etc.) • Anthropogenic ----- produced by human activities • Some things which can be air pollutants: • SO2 (sulfur dioxide) • CO2, CO (carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide) • H2S (hydrogen sulfide) • CH4 (methane) • NO2, NO, N2O (various nitrogen oxides) • O3 (ozone) • HCN (hydrogen cyanide) • Lead, Selenium, Fluorine • Particulates (soot, dust) • Numerous Organic Compounds

3. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY AIR POLLUTANTS (I) • Primary Air Pollutants • those that are directly released from various activities • SO2, CO2, CO, H2S, NO, particulates • Secondary Air Pollutants • those that result from the reaction of primary with other primary or primary with various ‘normal’ constituents of the atmosphere; the sun usually catalyzes the reactions • Ozone (O3), Peroxyacyl Nitrates (PAN’s), H2SO4, HCL, HNO3 , NO2, N2O

4. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY AIR POLLUTANTS (II)

5. EMISSIONS OF MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS IN THE U.S. (I)

6. EMISSIONS OF MAJOR AIR POLLUTANTS IN THE U.S. (II)

7. SIZE OF SUSPENDED PARTICULATE MATTER

8. TYPES OF SMOG • Grey Air (= Industrial Smog, Sulfurous Smog, London Smog) • colder more moist climates • mainly results from smoke (particulates) + SO2 • London (UK); Lewiston (ID) / Clarkston (WA) • Brown Air (= Photochemical Smog, Los Angeles Smog) • warmer (and sometimes drier) climates • primary pollutants (COx, NO, Hydrocarbons) + SUN yields secondary pollutants (ozone, PAN’s) • Los Angeles; Donora (PA) near Pittsburgh, 1948

9. FORMATION OF PHOTOCHEMICAL SMOG

10. INDOOR AND OUTDOOR AIR POLLUTION • Which is the more serious problem? • Generally the indoor • what is outside tends to get inside • many different things tend to be produced / released indoors from materials / processes • things that are produced inside often are trapped there • we tend to spend much more time indoors than out

11. INDOOR AIR POLLUTANTS

12. FACTORS AFFECTING AIR POLLUTION SEVERITY • Type of pollutant (light / heavy) • Degree of Urbanization (Urban Heat Dome) • Wind (speed and direction) • Altitude • Latitude • Humidity • Terrain (Mountains / Valleys / Temp. Inversions)

13. URBAN HEAT DOME

14. TEMPERATURE INVERSIONS

15. EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION (I) • Health • lethargy (lead and others) • headaches (CO, arsenic) • temporary breathing difficulties (SO2, H2S) • emphysema (ozone, particulates) • chronic bronchitis (particulates) • bone / teeth malformation (fluorine) • mental impairment (lead, mercury)

16. EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION (II) • Deterioration of stone and metals in buildings (SO2, H2SO4, NO2, HNO3) • Breakdown of rubber products (ozone and acids) • Reduction in plant growth and plant health (ozone, acids) • Climate • - warming from greenhouse gases such as CO2, N2O, CH3, chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) • - cooling from particulates • Habitat Destruction (acidification of lakes and high mountain ecosystems) • Ozone Depletion in the Stratosphere increases UV light; increases mutations and cancers (CFC’s)

17. ACID DEPOSITION • Dry / Wet • pH of 5.6 or less • unimpacted precipitation has a pH of 5.7 • with water in the atmosphere: • ~ CO2 goes to carbonic acid • ~ SO2 goes to sulfuric acid • ~ NO2 goes to nitric acid • Acid deposition is more likely to have an effect in high mountains and in areas low in bases (little or no neutralizing capability)

18. ACID DEPOSITION

19. ACID DEPOSITION AND SOIL pH

20. AREAS IN WHICH U.S. LAKES AND STREAMS ARE ESPECIALLY VULNERABLE TO ACID DEPOSITION

21. HARMFUL EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTANTS ON TREES

22. GREENHOUSE EFFECT AND GLOBAL WARMING • Is the Earth warming? • Yes. • Is this due to the greenhouse effect or to some cycle that can affect climate? • ?????????? • What are the major greenhouse gases? • CO2, N2O, CH4, CFC’s, (H2O ?) • Could the Earth also cool from human activities and enter an ice age? • Yes - and there have been ‘recent’ short duration cooling events! • Global warming could be a positive feedback system!!!!!

23. GREENHOUSE EFFECT

24. AUTUMN EFFECT (NUCLEAR WINTER)

25. SOME POINTS CONCERNING THE EARTH’S TEMPERATURE • current average surface temp. is 150C (= 59OF) • without an atmosphere it would be -180C (= 0OF) • estimated average temp. during coldest part of last ice age was only 5OC (9OF) less than today • last major ice age ended 12,000 years ago • sea levels are 300 feet higher that at the peak of the ice age (and are still rising!) • greenhouse gases have increased dramatically since 1850 (actually since 1950!) • CO2 has gone from 280 ppm to 380 ppm since 1850(a 36% increase)

26. THE MAJOR GREENHOUSE GASES • Gas % impact compared contribution to CO2 per to global warming molecule • CO2 64 --------- • CFC’s 11 10,000 to 20,000 • CH4 19 25 • N2O 6 230

27. PROJECTED GROWTH OF GREENHOUSE GASES

28. PATTERN OF GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS (1950 & 1980)

29. PATTERN OF GLOBAL CO2 EMISSIONS (2000)

30. RISE IN ATMOSPHERIC CO2

31. INCREASE IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE

32. HUMAN ACTIVITIES THAT CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING