Comparative Analysis for Environmental Issue in Salt Lake City - Term Paper Example

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL/EARTH ISSUE IN SALT LAKE INTRODUCTION It has in the recent past been observed that the human population is on the increase and is predicted to continue rising in the next few years. Due to this rapid and sudden increase in human population, globalization has also been fully embraced by a majority of nations around the world, including third world nations (Bailey, Chase, Cassano & Noone 2001). One would expect that since man has come to embrace technological advances which are some of the benefits brought about by globalization and industrialization, he would be wise enough to protect and take care of his surroundings. It is rather unfortunate that the more advanced man becomes, the more careless he is, regarding environmental issues. As it has also been observed, there are presently a number of environmental activists and campaigns making efforts to bring environmental issues awareness to the public, and highlight on the various hazards associated with environmental/earth systems issues such as air pollution, water pollution, global warming as well as land degradation (Chiras 2009). Recent studies have revealed that a majority of people’s most pressing environmental issues are as a result of numerous and interacting human activities together with natural changes taking place in the Earth system (Duffy 2001). ESSAY Throughout its history Earth’s climate has been transformed time and again when the Earth receives more or less sunlight as a result of subtle shifts in its orbit, or when the energy of the Sun is varied (Thompson & Turk 2006). It is estimated that the Earth’s climate temporarily warms up every 100,000 years (Vallero 2009). However the Earth’s climate has in the recent past been highly influenced and affected by humanity, especially with the recent increase in population and industrialization. Additionally Earth’s current inter-glacial warm period resulting from global warming has completely altered and affected the environment, as well as the distribution and diversity of ecosystems (Bailey, et al. 2001). Recent studies have shown that since 1860A.D. global temperatures have rapidly increased due to Industrial Revolution which leads to the release of large amounts of hazardous gases, and which in turn result to the Greenhouse Effect (Chiras 2009). Environmental/ Earth Systems Issue in Wasatch Front Majority of nations around the world have been affected by the sudden change in the environment especially with regards to climate. Abnormal temperature changes have been experienced in various countries with those that seem to be most affected being the developed countries (Thompson & Turk 2006). The United States is considered the most developed country in the world, after having embraced Industrialization long before other nations gained their individual sovereignties. It is thus not surprising to observe that a majority of countries within the United States suffer from numerous environmental/earth systems issues, where thousands of dollars are currently being spent as a way of curbing the problem (Vallero 2009). One of the major environment issue that some of the nations in the United States such as Denver, Salt Lake City and Portland are having to deal with is temperature inversions due to climatic changes resulting from Global Warming. A temperature inversion can be defined as a thin layer of the atmosphere where normal decrease in temperature with height changes, and instead increases with height (Duffy 2001). In other words it is an increase in air temperature with height above the surface of the earth (Bailey, et al. 2001). Temperature inversions also happen to be extremely stable layers of atmosphere that tend to prevent upward motion of air. As a result of this, a number of weather related effects are experienced, for instance the trapping of pollutants below the inversion which allows such pollutants to build up (Chiras 2009). Inversions also prevent clouds and rain showers formation, spreading out clouds and making them take on a flattened appearance. Temperature inversions hinder the formation of thunderstorms, apart from instances when they are brought about by warm fronts which then can contribute to severe tornadoes and thunderstorms (Vallero 2009). Additionally the ability of inversions to trap pollutants at ground level results in public health consequences where recent studies have confirmed a direct connection between human diseases and temperature inversion activity. Temperature inversions are commonly experienced in the Salt Lake Valley and especially along the Wasatch Front during winter (Thompson & Turk 2006). As earlier mentioned temperature inversions take place when cold temperatures form a dense layer of cold air that is trapped under a layer of warmer air. Such warm air acts like a cap that traps pollutants, near the Valley floor (Duffy 2001). Temperature inversions that form along the Wasatch Front stay until a storm front or wind comes through (Bailey, et al. 2001). Some of the climatic changes that become visible during this time along the Valley include, formation of smog that tends to envelop the Valley, absence of snowfall as convective clouds cannot grow high enough to bring about precipitation and colder temperatures than usual (Chiras 2009). The presence of unique topography and weather patterns in the Wasatch Front are a leading contributor of temperature inversions that trap air pollutants within the area. While the Cache Valley is described by a number of individuals as a bucolic agriculturally based small town, the Wasatch Front is viewed as a congested urban neighbor (Thompson & Turk 2006). These two regions have similar characteristics with regards to the topography and temperature inversions. However, stronger and more persistent temperature inversions are usually experienced in the Valley as compared to the Wasatch Front which possesses a larger population and more large industry pollution sources (Vallero 2009). Being an industrialized and globalized region, the Wasatch Front is not only largely populated but also possesses a large number of vehicles. As pollutants from these vehicles, industry and residential fireplaces are released into the atmosphere. The inversion traps such pollutants near the ground resulting to poor air quality (Duffy 2001). A strong temperature inversion confines pollutants to a shallow vertical layer resulting in the elevation of PM2.5 concentration levels in Wasatch Front (Bailey, et al. 2001). Particulate Matter which is also known as PM or particle pollution comprises of a complex mixture of extremely small dust and soot particles, which due to their minute size are capable of becoming imbedded in the human lung tissue (Chiras 2009). This imbedding leads to respiratory diseases as well as other related cardiovascular health issues in man. Numerous scientific research studies have been done regarding the issue of temperature inversion in areas such as Salt Lake City in Utah, Denver and other parts of the world especially the European nations. According to some of these researches, as clean air moves across the Earth’s surface, it collects products of natural events such as volcanic eruptions and human activities such as, gaseous emissions from vehicles along its path (Thompson & Turk 2006). These pollutants are in turn mixed, dispersed and diluted by the moving current in the troposphere (Vallero 2009). In urban centers for example Utah and Denver, the majority of pollutants enter the atmosphere from power plants and factories and from vehicles which are large in number in such regions (Duffy 2001). As a result, temperature inversions tend to have a huge impact on the populations residing in industrialized nations especially with regards to health. Air Quality in Salt Lake City in comparison to other American South-West Cities The quality of air in a majority of developing and third world nations is considered more favorable and conducive with regards to human health, unlike that of the United State countries. This is due to the rapid industrialization and lack of concern for the environment by most individuals and companies within such regions. As earlier mentioned, the Wasatch Front tends to experience worst air pollution problems as compared to other parts of the United States (Bailey, et al. 2001). In the Salt Lake City region, temperature inversions usually trap pollutants near ground level, leading to production of a dense smog-like cover (Chiras 2009). A recent peer-reviewed article by Bailey, et al (2011) talks about how global temperature inversions affect air quality, and yet there is little knowledge on their frequency variability as well as intensity with time to dynamical transformations with climate (Thompson & Turk 2006). Inversion statistics for 6 upper-air stations in the American Southwest were obtained according to this particular article for the period between the years 1994 and 2008 as reported by the Global Telecommunication System or GTS and National Climatic Data Center or NCDC (Vallero 2009). In the course of the research carried out to investigate the air quality in Salt Lake City, inversions were defined as temperature increments with height. Analysis was then carried out with regards to inversion frequency and intensity where Salt Lake City, Denver, Santa Teresa and Tucson were studied (Duffy 2001). If poor air quality conditions are expected to take place more often due to global temperature increase, it can then be assumed that inversion characteristics should also be changing. GTS and NCDS utilize different means of choosing significant temperature levels, therefore making the change in reporting structure relevant for inversion analysis (Bailey, et al. 2001). According to statistics obtained from the study, monthly inversion frequencies were present in the course of late afternoon sounding. Between the years 1994 and 2001, it can be observed that a reduction in significant temperature levels took place. Due to the fact that NCDC significant temperature levels are founded on smaller temperature deviations as compared to GTS levels, the former record obtains weak temperature inversions not present in the GTS levels report (Chiras 2009). According to statistics obtained in the course of the research as per this particular article, Salt Lake City experienced low level inversions on 57% of winter days between the years 1994 and 2008, despite the fact that the City experienced inversions at a much higher frequency once the ridges centered over the Southwest in comparison to cities like Tucson and Denver (Vallero 2009). The findings are illustrated in the table and graph below. Table 1: Monthly Temperature inversions in Salt Lake City as compared to others State Monthly Inversion Frequency (%) 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 Salt Lake City 80 80 95 86 78 90 60 73 Flagstaff 0 58 77 85 50 70 45 80 Denver 38 60 78 45 50 52 45 52 Tucson 22 25 39 34 36 38 24 60 Santa Teresa 0 45 55 50 46 50 44 50 Figure (a) As observed, Tucson exhibited no significant transformation in the temperature inversion frequency at any given height. On the other hand, Salt Lake City, Denver, Flagstaff and Santa Teresa showed significant increment in elevated temperature inversions (Thompson & Turk 2006). It has been earlier mentioned that temperature inversions take place as a result of an increase in air temperature with height above the surface of the earth. In the research study conducted within the article, temperature inversion activities in southwest states are weakly correlated with large-scale conditions. Such weak ground based temperature inversions in the Southwest do not necessarily indicate increases in elevated temperature inversions (Duffy 2001). The study suggests that even though increment in inversion frequency is consistent with projections of meteorological stagnation, comparative analysis carried out reveals considerable variations in temperature inversion sensitivity to large scale circulation which varies from one Southwest city to the next, as indicated in the table and figure below. Table 2: Temperature inversion levels in Salt Lake City as compared to others Inversion Type Denver Salt Lake City Tucson Santa Teresa Flagstaff Elevated 0.148 0.839 0.222 0.565 0.073 All Low-level 0.106 0.630 0.247 0.574 0.025 Figure (b) From the statistics indicated above, it was observed that Santa Teresa and Salt Lake City were the only two cities exhibiting both significant transformations in elevated temperature inversion activity, as well as strong links between inversion activity and large scale circulation (Bailey, et al. 2001). This can be attributed to the fact that, temperature inversions takes place more frequently when ridges are present, thus providing conducive conditions for high pressure subsidence. Thus, regions like Salt Lake City are considered topographically favorable with regards to temperature inversions. Salt Lake City is found within a large basin rimmed by the Wasatch Range to the east, while Santa Teresa lies along Rio Grande having elevated landmasses to the eastern and western sides (Chiras 2009). Such topography favors the entrapment of cold air near the surface, thus bringing about temperature inversion once stagnant conditions are achieved at large-scale. On the other hand, the topography of Denver possesses high mountains to the West, in addition to extensive plains on the eastern side, thus facilitating the drainage of cold and polluted air masses (Duffy 2001). CONCLUSION Despite great progress, polluted air is considered a major threat to the lives as well as health of millions of people living in the United States of America and other different countries worldwide. Recent studies and statistics reveal that air quality in many regions across the United States is poor and often dangerous for human’s to breathe. Research has also shown that the Wasatch Front possesses the worst air quality in the US presently, as the region is vulnerable to bad air. Additionally, Salt Lake City in Utah has exhibited weak PM-mortality relations as compared to other Southwest cities. Regions such as this and which possess a rather complicated terrain, experience more sensitivity to large scale circulation with regards to temperature inversion activity as compared to other regions. It is therefore not a wonder to observe that, regions such as the Wasatch Front consist of a population that is constantly ill due to the soaring concentration of air pollutants as a result of industrialization. Governments and concerned authorities in such regions should therefore make an effort of becoming more sensitive towards environmental/Earth systems issues that tend to be hazardous to the human population. Those residing in urban areas should also make a point of taking into consideration environmentally friendly activities that will not only ensure clean and good air quality, but also long life for generations to come. REFERENCES Bailey, A., Chase, T.N., Cassano, J.J., & Noone, D. (2011). Changing Temperature Inversion Characteristics in the U.S. Southwest and Relationships to Large-Scale Atmospheric Circulation. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, Vol.50. pp. 1307 – 1321. Chiras, D.D. (2009). Environmental Science. 8th Edition. Sudbury, Mass.: Jones & Bartlett Learning. Duffy, K. (2001). Insiders’ Guide to Salt Lake City. 3rd Edition. Guilford, Conn.: Globe Pequot Press. Thompson, G.R., & Turk, J. (2006). Earth Science and the Environment. 4th Edition. Australia: Cengage Learning. Vallero, D.A. (2009). Fundamentals of Air Pollution. 4th Edition. Boston: Academic Press. Read More