Asian Wafting Air Pollution Largest Contributor to Ozone on U.S. West Coast

If you thought Asian air pollution is an Asian problem, you’re wrong. A new study published this week in journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and featured in USA Today showed that air pollution from India, China and other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea, has been wafting across the Pacific Ocean over the last 25 years. This has contributed to increased ozone levels there and even to the East Coast to a much smaller extent. In fact, the “ozone wafting” is the largest contributor to ozone in the West at 65%. Other contributors and their percentages are as follows: wildfire emissions (10%), methane (15%).

Smog levels in the western U.S. have increased each year despite a 50% reduction in U.S. emissions of smog-forming pollutants. Maybe the fuels and vehicles industries, especially those highly impacted by stringent regulations in California and elsewhere on the West Coast, ought to strongly advocate for air pollution mitigation strategies and stronger regulations in these countries as a way to reduce compliance costs and the regulatory burden at home.

Scientists measured ozone levels recorded at springtime for the past 25 years in 16 national parks in the western U.S., including Yellowstone, Yosemite and Grand Canyon. The parks’ locations farther away from cities, where smog is typically expected, made them ideal spots for the study. The team looked at levels in the spring when wind and weather patterns push Asian pollution across the Pacific Ocean. In the summer, when those weather patterns subside, ozone levels in the national parks remained well above normal.

While on the subject of air pollution, there were other items of note this week that I want to highlight to readers. First, a study featured in The Guardian this week found that black carbon in air pollution can increase the resistance of bacteria that cause respiratory disease, research has found. The study found that black carbon, produced when diesel, biomass and biofuels are burned, changes the way bacteria grow, possibly affecting their ability to survive and beat human immune systems.

Second, the World Health Organization(WHO) released its Atlas on Children’s Health and the Environment this week, noting with respect to ambient air pollution that while there have been improvements in air quality in high-income cities in North America, Europe and the Western Pacific Region, there are many cities in the Eastern Mediterranean and Western Pacific regions that are experiencing declining air quality which impact children and the elderly the most. WHO said with respect to the impacts:

“Exposure to outdoor air pollution is a major asthma trigger, exacerbating attacks and the frequency of visits to doctors and hospitals (WHO EURO, 2013b). Over time, air pollution can lead to chronic deficits in lung function and reduced lung function growth in children and adolescents (Gauderman et al, 2004; Götschi et al, 2008). Ultrafine and fine particulate matter is capable of penetrating from the lungs into the central nervous system (Suglia et al, 2008). Air pollution is a suspected neurotoxin. Infants and children living near heavily trafficked areas are more likely to have cognitive delays and asthma (Gehring et al, 2010; Jerrett et al, 2008; Perera et al, 2009; Suglia et al, 2008; Sunyer et al, 2015).

 

Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution sets the stage for a number of adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health effects observed in adulthood, including from stroke, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease and cancer, and may be a risk factor for diabetes (Beelen et al, 2014; Crouse et al, 2015; Eze et al, 2015; US EPA, 2012). Ambient air pollution, including particulate matter and diesel exhaust, is recognized as causing cancer in adults (Benbrahim-Tallaa et al, 2012; Loomis et al, 2013).”

As if to illustrate the point, the BBC released photos showing the “Garden City” of Port Harcourt in Nigeria covered in soot, forcing the government to institute a pollution emergency there.

Lastly, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang unveiled this week a series of smog mitigation measures including cutting coal use, upgrading coal-fired power plants, slashing vehicle emissions, encouraging the use of clean-energy cars and punishing government officials who ignore environmental crimes or air pollution. “Key sources” of industrial pollutants would be placed under 24-hour online monitoring in an effort to cut emissions. He vowed that  PM2.5 levels would fall “markedly” over the coming year but did not cite a specific target.