Tag Archives for " drought "

Are your air purifiers and emergency supplies ready? Bad air quality can come from any direction!

Are your air purifiers and emergency supplies ready?  Bad air quality can come from any direction!

“Wildfire season” historically starts June 1, but the concept of a “fire year” is more accurate when fires in Canada begin in April.  This year’s fires in British Columbia and Alberta started in April, and now nearly all of Canada’s ten provinces have fires burning.  The problem for Americans, especially northern states, is that air currents carry the smoke aloft and bring it to remote places, sometimes thousands of miles away.  Certainly people on the mid-Atlantic coast did not expect to see hazy skies or low air quality, but we now know that distant events can wreak havoc on our air quality.  

Take for instance volcanoes.  According to research published in 2018 by scientists at the Imperial College of London, Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo in 1816 may have in part been caused by a volcanic eruption in Indonesia two months prior.  This eruption of Mount Tambora was the most destructive explosion on earth in the past 10,000 years, killing over 90.000 people and blasting 12 cubic miles of gasses, dust and rock into the atmosphere and over the island and surrounding area.  (Blast from the Past) The ash spewed into the air was carried even higher than it would be by winds alone, due to electrostatic forces.  Negative charges from volcano plume gave the ash a negative charge, repelling it into the air and even as high as the ionosphere, which is a layer of our atmosphere that extends from 50-400 miles above the earth and is responsible for cloud formation.  Even though the charged ash did not reach Europe, it “short-circuited” the ionosphere, initially stopping clouds from forming.  Later, however, the clouds surged back, inundating places like Waterloo which normally only had 2” of rain for the entire month of June.  On 16-18 of June 1815, however, the area received unseasonably heavy rains that made the earth very soft, slowing down cavalry and artillery movements, and delaying the battle on June 18 so that the Prussian forces arrived in time to support the Allies and defeat Napoleon.   This type of cloud suppression was documented following the eruption of another Indonesian volcano, Krakatau in 1883, and reports of ionosphere disturbance followed the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines in 1993.  

So now we know that volcanoes can interrupt flight schedules, battle plans, and…global rain clouds.  Less rain equals more drought, and more drought equals more wildfires.  When the clouds come back to a drought-damaged area, lightning can spark many fires. In Quebec, for example, fires were sparked by lightning, but officials in Alberta have said that the cause of fires there is currently unknown.  (How did the Canadian wildfires start?)   This is how volcano eruptions can change world events and weather, halfway around the world!  

So, while interruptions to daily activities in the Northeast are hopefully temporary due to the Canadian wildfires, we have to look further to be prepared for the next blanket of wildfire smoke.  Studies regarding erupting volcanoes have shown that they have different atmospheric consequences depending on which hemisphere they are located.  Here are some of the results:

  • Scientists studied 54 large explosive eruptions during 501–2000 AD including 16 in the Northern Hemisphere (NH), 25 equatorial and 13 in the Southern Hemisphere (SH).  In the first two years following an eruption, NH volcanoes decrease NH monsoon volume, and SH volcanoes decrease SH monsoon volume.  They tend to have the opposite effect on the opposite hemisphere, for example, a volcano in the NH will increase precipitation in the SH the first year, with diminished increase in the second year.  (Global monsoon precipitation responses to large volcanic eruptions)

  • Long-term, however, volcanoes near the equator tend to have greater impacts than the high-latitude eruptions on global climate because their stratospheric aerosol clouds cover a larger surface area and have a longer residence time, and because the aerosols are then transported poleward in both hemispheres and eventually cover the entire globe. (Climate response to large, high-latitude and low-latitude volcanic eruptions in the Community Climate System Model

  • Volcanoes inject a number of things into the atmosphere when they erupt.  Rocks and larger particles are the first to fall out of the atmosphere, ash can linger for several months, H20 , N2, and CO2 are the most abundant, and sulfur aerosols are responsible for reflecting light back into space and generally cooling the atmosphere. For example, the Pinatubo eruption in 1991 injected an estimated 20 metric tons of SO2 into the atmosphere, leading to a temporary (∼2 years) reversal of the late twentieth century global warming trend.  Did you know that volcanoes also inspire art?  The famous 1893 Edvard Munch painting, "The Scream," shows a red volcanic sunset over the Oslo harbor produced by the 1892 Awu eruption, and the 1815 Mount Tambora explosion inspired the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley due to the 1816 “year without a summer” which was unseasonably cold and gloomy. (Volcanic Eruptions and Climate)

  • Mount Tonga, an equatorial submarine volcano, released an enormous amount of water vapor high into the atmosphere (mesosphere) when it erupted in February 2022, which caused weather anomalies globally.  Increased rainfall in the southern hemisphere following the jet stream was recorded, and much of the northern hemisphere had drier conditions than average.  (Influence of Volcanic Activity on Weather and Climate Changes)

But non-volcanic activity can be just as dangerous... 

  • Halocarbons, used in foam insulation, refrigeration and other appliances, were released during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, amounting to 6600 metric tons.  This is an increase of 21-91% over typical levels of six halocarbons that deplete ozone, which in turn affects weather patterns.  (Deadly Japan Quake and Tsunami Spurred Global Warming, Ozone Loss)  Of course, the major headline after this earthquake was the destruction of the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear plant when the earthquake disabled the power and cooling to its three reactors.  There were no deaths or cases of radiation sickness from the nuclear accident, but over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes as a preventative measure.  (Fukushima Daiichi Accident)

  • Other natural disasters have damaged nuclear plants, like a 1998 tornado that knocked out power to the Davis-Besse plant outside Toledo, Ohio, and Hurricane Andrew, which knocked out power to the Turkey Point plant south of Miami site for five days in 1992. In 2008, Hurricane Gustav damaged the River Bend Nuclear Generation Station in St. Francisville, La.  At both Davis-Besse and Turkey Point, the plants' emergency diesel generators kept the equipment running until crews fixed the power lines. (Can U.S. Nuclear Plants Handle a Major Natural Disaster?)

  • The Carrington Event of 1859 was the most intense geomagnetic storm in recorded history.  Earth narrowly missed receiving another series of solar flares in July 2012, which may have exceeded the strength of the Carrington event and prompted widespread power and communications outages. (Carrington-class CME Narrowly Misses Earth

It just goes to show that natural disasters can have global consequences.  For the next weather changes and wildfire risks, we could look far and long, or just be prepared with extra filters, masks, food and water, and a well-sealed home.  This is prudent because unfortunately, it only takes one badly-placed volcanic eruption, solar flare, earthquake, hurricane or tornado to upset a nuclear power plant or spew toxins into the air, sending the world and its weather into chaos.  

Photo by Yosh Ginsu on Unsplash

How droughts can even impact your air

How droughts can even impact your air

It’s been an unusual year.  In the southeast US, temperatures have been above normal with extended periods of no rain.  In the west, Lake Mead and Lake Powell have lowered by nearly 75% of where lake levels once were as the country's two largest reservoirs.  The Colorado River, which supplies these lakes, is used by seven surrounding states, and for decades annually the region was taking out about 1 million acre-feet of water more than the river was providing (Los Angeles Times).  Much of the country is in drought, and the Southwest is experiencing a megadrought–one it has not seen in 1,200 years. 

What is drought?  Drought arises only after a prolonged (>week) period of precipitation shortage that causes soil to dry up, and these period(s) may reoccur monthly.  Further, the prominent feature of drought is water deficit in both the atmosphere and the land component (e.g., soil and vegetation), resulting from the combination of precipitation shortage and increasing evapotranspirative water loss driven in part by high temperatures.   (2017 study).  When drought hits home, it’s more than water restrictions on your lawn. Here are some of the effects: 

  • Droughts increase ozone and PM2.5. A study released in 2017 examined air quality during 4 severe droughts and found that elevated ozone and PM2.5 are attributed to the combined effects of drought on deposition, natural emissions (wildfires, biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), and dust), and chemistry. In our post “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity air pollution”,we noted the correlation between extreme heat and ozone.  Here are some other facts brought forth by the 2017 study: 

    • Meteorological conditions/extremes likely to co-occur with drought that are also associated with higher pollution levels. For example, high ozone is more likely to occur with high temperature and low RH (2016 study; 2017 study, 2016 study 2)

    • more frequent stagnation and heat waves could explain up to 40 % of the ozone and PM2.5 enhancements during drought

    • Since anthropogenic sources of ozone and PM2.5 have decreased significantly since 1990, the ozone and PM2.5 enhancements during drought are largely responses of natural processes from the land biosphere and abnormal atmospheric conditions. 

  • Droughts affect plants and their interaction with atmospheric ozone in complicated ways.  Some plants take in ground-level ozone, while other plants emit isoprene, a VOC that reacts with other atmospheric chemicals to create ozone. (Scientific American).  While studying the 2011-2015 drought in California, scientists found that: 

    • Dry conditions caused the plants to restrict water loss by closing their stomata (pores), which means taking in less ozone (ozone levels rose). Absorption did drop by about 15% during the most severe years of the drought.

    • Plants and trees were able to sustain isoprene production during the first three years by drawing on their carbon stores; isoprene helps them against heat stress. 

    • After 4 years, isoprene production dropped, and so did ozone (by 20%).  

  • Drying lakebeds (like the Great Salt Lake in Utah) expose people to toxic elements like arsenic when dust storms pick up lake bed dust, which are residuals of pesticides and agricultural chemicals that migrated into the lake over many decades.. (New York Times)  Another dried lake that causes air quality problems is Owens Lake in California, which is the country’s largest source of PM10 (geochange.er.gov).

  • Droughts can increase transmission of soil and dust-transmitted diseases like Valley Fever, which is coccidiodomycosis (Cocci for short).  Dust that is liberated from the soil during digging activities or dry, windy conditions can carry the fungus, which workers or residents can breathe in.  It causes symptoms like fever, cough and tiredness, but can occasionally be serious or deadly.

  • Trees and plants weakened by drought are more vulnerable to pests and disease, which can kill large numbers of them. Plants that succumb to drought and die cause several problems:

    • they turn from absorbing ozone and CO2 to emitting carbon via CO2.  

    • Dead plants and trees increase the risk of wildfires.

  • Droughts impact electric power generation systems (the Grid)in the following ways (americanscientist.org):

    • Hydropower is reduced because of low stream flow

    • Demand for electricity increases because increased cooling is needed in homes and offices 

    • Fossil-fuel plants (coal, natural gas) must increase production of electricity.

    • This means that air pollution increases during drought due to our electric power generation system. IF changes can be made to shift to “cleaner” generators (ie. natural gas instead of coal) during drought, it is generally better for air quality. 

In all, drought is a serious, complicated blight on both the land and the air, which we at HypoAir have felt for some time because California has been in long-term drought.  Finding ways to reduce water and energy consumption helps everyone, so don’t wait until regulations forces change–here’s a list of ways you can help your community and family before and during drought.  However, it’s the unseen increases in ozone, PM2.5, fungus and other forms of air pollution for which the public generally doesn’t prepare.  Here are some ways you can be smarter about air pollution from drought:

  • Continue to work on air sealing your home

  • Have extra MERV 13 furnace filters, air purifier filters, and filter media on hand so that you can change these more frequently

  • Have N95 respirators on hand for the immune-impaired who need to go outside 

  • Be cautious about excavation and construction work in areas where Valley Fever is a risk (wear an N95 mask if necessary)

Photo by redcharlie on Unsplash