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A12 SCIENCE
Friday 25 March 2022

Alaska air pollution holds clues for

other Arctic climates

By MARK THIESSEN
Associated Press
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) —
In the pristine expanse of
Alaska's interior lies a dirty
secret: some of the most
polluted winter air in the
United States can be found
in and around Fairbanks.
The Fairbanks North Star
Borough, which includes
Alaska's second largest
city, routinely exceeds lim-
its set by the U.S. Environ-
mental Protection Agency
for particle pollution that This Feb. 17, 2022, photo shows a plume of smoke being emitted
can be inhaled and cause into the air from a power plant in Fairbanks, Alaska, which has
myriad health problems. some of the worst polluted winter air in the United States.
Over seven weeks this win- Associated Press
ter, nearly 50 scientists from
the U.S. and Europe de- fers from winter inversions, tures routinely reach minus
scended on Fairbanks to layers of warmer air that 40 degrees F (minus 40 C)
study the sources of air pol- trap cold, dirty air and or colder and heating fuel
lution, how the contami- keep it from dissipating. is expensive. Other sources
nants interact in the city's Even though wind is blow- are vehicle exhaust sys-
cold and dark climate and ing aloft, the cold air pre- tems, power plant emis-
to come up with a list of vents the wind from getting sions and heating oil.
best practices for people down to ground level. Owen Hanley practiced
living across the circumpo- "Just like an open top freez- pulmonary medicine in
lar north. er in an old grocery store, Fairbanks for about 35
What they find could help that cold air just pools into years. The retired doctor
city planners make better the bottom of that freezer says the air pollution prob-
decisions on where to place and air can just go right lem in Fairbanks can per-
power plants or smelters over the top," said Bill Simp- manently harm respiratory
in northern climates and son, an atmospheric chem- function and cause many
guide lawmakers on how istry professor at the Uni- other problems.
to regulate chemicals in versity of Alaska Fairbanks The mixture of pollutants
fuel oil or other sources to Geophysical Institute and from smoldering wood
reduce the harm. the UAF College of Natural fires, cars, coal and other
The task becomes even Science and Mathematics. sources releases addition-
more important as cli- "It's calm down here, and al chemicals that can be
mate change is driving the pollution that's emit- more harmful than ciga-
people away from places ted down here stays down rette smoke.
that are getting hotter to- here, unfortunately," add- "We know with air pollution,
ward northern areas, even ed Simpson, the project there's more dementia in
though climate change is leader. The problem isn't adults, there's more kidney
warming the Arctic twice unique to cold climates in failure and young preg-
as fast as the rest of the the United States. The study nant women have more
planet. In Fairbanks, the is of interest to researchers miscarriages and preterm
average winter tempera- in northern European cit- births, and little kids don't
ture rose 2.7 degrees F (1.5 ies because of the similar get full lung development,"
degrees C) since 1992, ac- problems with inversions. said Hanley.
cording to the National In Fairbanks, a major Seven French teams made
Oceanic and Atmospheric source of pollution comes detailed measurements
Administration. from wood-burning stoves, of the air in downtown
Like Salt Lake City and which are common in this Fairbanks in efforts to bet-
other cities surrounded by area where wood is plen- ter understand how small
mountains, Fairbanks suf- tiful and cheap, tempera- particles and droplets are
formed. Meanwhile, a
Swiss team used a tethered
balloon, equipped with
specialized instruments,
to measure characteris-
tics of aerosols and differ-
ent trace gases at 1,200
feet (365 meters) above
the ground. Another in-
strument allowed them to
measure vertical profiles of
the atmosphere.q