Archive for the ‘air quality’ Category

New air quality webcam for Shenandoah N.P.

Thursday, March 31st, 2011
New webcam websites were launched early last week for Shenandoah and Hawaii Volcanoes National Parks. These sites are now part of the NPS air quality webcam network (that includes the Great Smoky Mountains) and present current air quality and meteorological data in conjunction with digital images of current conditions at each of the parks.

NPS air quality webcam sites also provide links to NPS natural resource information and reach an average of half a million virtual visitors each month.

Shenandoah National Park has a long history of air quality concerns related to ozone, acid deposition, and visibility. The Shenandoah webcam looks northwest from near Skyline Drive across part of the park and over the Shenandoah River Valley:



For a live view please click here.



Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Shenandoah National Park, Shenandoah River Valley, Skyline Drive, air quality, webcam | Comments Off

Earth Day: Air quality best in 40 years

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first Earth Day and the air quality in the United States today is at it's best over that time period.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr. Mark J. Perry, a professor of economics and finance at the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan, published an article on his Carpe Diem blog about how much the air quality has improved over the last 40 years.

In his posting he mentions that the U.S. population has increased by more than 50%, traffic volume (miles driven) in the U.S. has increased 160%, and real GDP has increased 204%; and yet air quality in the U.S. is better than ever - nitrous dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and lead have all decreased between 46% and 92% between 1980 and 2008.

In the posting he also published a graph showing air quality trend data from the EPA:




Please click here to read the full article.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com Detailed information on trails in the Smoky Mountains; includes trail descriptions, key features, pictures, video, maps, elevation profiles, news, hiking gear store, and more.

Posted in 40th Anniversary, Carpe Diem, Dr. Mark J. Perry, Earth Day, air quality, blog, carbon monoxide, lead, nitrous dioxide, professor, sulfur dioxide | Comments Off

Smokies are less smoky

Friday, October 30th, 2009
As I mentioned yesterday I received the Great Smoky Mountains Association Cup Report in my email box this week. The report also made another announcement that I thought was quite interesting:

The air quality in the park has continued to improve over the last ten years. Visibility on the haziest days is up 18%, ozone is down 24%, sulfates are down 32%, and nitrates are down 22%.

This is certainly great news.

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Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

Posted in Great Smoky Mountains, Smokies, air quality | Comments Off