The scientific paper I will reference today comes from the "ASAP" on line version of the journal
Environmental Science and Technology, a publication of the American Chemical Society, one of the greatest and oldest scientific organizations in the world.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es903844n?prevSearch=%255Btitle%253A%2BNational%2BParks%255D&searchHistoryKey=">Sources and Deposition of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons to Western U.S. National Parks
PAH's are "polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons," and refer to a wide variety of molecules that are produced in combustion situations. They are constituents of the dangerous fossil fuel waste dumped routinely in earth's atmosphere, and are also involved in biomass combustion.
(Biomass combustion and dangerous fossil fuel combustion cause well more than one million deaths on this planet each year according to the World Health Organization.)
If one refers to the abstract, one sees that Cs
137 is used as a soil flow marker in the
science in this paper. The science involved in this determination is
nuclear science. I explained how this particular aspect of nuclear science works on another website (interestingly, one run by anti-nukes).
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/3/15/708477/-Every-Cloud-Has-A-Silver-Lining,-Even-Mushroom-Clouds:-Cs-137-and-Watching-the-Soil-Die.">Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining, Even Mushroom Clouds: Cs-137 and Watching the Soil Die.
Anyway, about the PAH's in National Parks, some excerpts:
The U.S. National Parks contain exceptionally diverse ecosystems with unique plant and animal species (1), and U.S. government regulations, such as the Organic Act, Clean Air Act, Wilderness Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act, have instated the U.S Department of the Interior’s National Park Service as steward of U.S. National Parks (2). In 2002, the U.S. National Park Service initiated the Western Airborne Contaminant Assessment Project (WACAP) to investigate the deposition of semivolatile organic compounds (SOCs), including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), to remote ecosystems in western U.S. National Parks (2, 3).
PAHs are produced from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass decay/burning and some PAHs pose risks to human and ecosystem health because of their toxicity (4, 5). Hafner et al. reported that atmospheric PAH concentrations are positively correlated with human population density (5). PAHs are deposited to remote high-elevation and/or high-latitude ecosystems via air-surface exchange, dry deposition, and/or wet deposition in the form of snow and rain (6-8). As a result of colder temperatures in these ecosystems, PAH degradation and revolatilization to the atmosphere is decreased, potentially resulting in elevated concentrations (6). The objectives of this study were to (1) determine the spatial and temporal PAH distribution patterns using PAH concentrations and fluxes measured in seasonal snowpack, lichen, and sediment cores collected from 14 U.S. national park lake catchments and (2) identify potential PAH sources to these remote ecosystems using the PAH profile and isomer ratios.
One can in fact tie the nature of combustion sources that deposit carcinogens on natural parks to, for instance, certain species of plants (usually trees) burned in biomass burning activities. As mentioned in the text cited above another means of doing this is with
isotopic analysis, also a feature of nuclear science.
By the way the analytical chemistry of determining these compounds, usually by GC/MS is very
expensive. The analytical standard set for the EPA method costs big bucks, never mind the instrument.
Rainier and Olympic are both less than 100 km from Seattle’s metropolitan area where more than 3 million residents live with 150 km of these national parks (Figure S1). Olympic is located west of Seattle, while Rainier is located southeast of Seattle (Figure S1). In Olympic, Hoh Lake is located on the northwest Pacific Coast side, while PJ Lake is located on the northeast Puget Sound side...
...The PAH profile of coal, gasoline, and diesel combustion sources have been identified (19). The PAH profile for the Seattle metropolitan area is dominated by 3-ring PAHs, primarily PHE and FLA, because these are the primary PAHs emitted from vehicular traffic (19). The Rainier annual snowpack PAH profiles, from both Golden Lake and LP19 catchments, were very similar and were dominated by higher molecular weight PAHs (5 and 6 ring PAHs) (Figure S17E). This suggests that the Seattle metropolitan area is not the only source of PAHs to Rainier and may include emissions of higher molecular weight PAHs from a coal-fired power plant ∼85 km west of Rainier and/or trans-Pacific transport (20).
Not to worry. Amory Lovins has found marks, um, I mean "investors" who have helped him to develop the hydrogen HYPErcar that will
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/10/1016_TVhypercar.html">be in showrooms by 2005. So, um, don't worry about the car culture. It will be swell by 2050, after many of the people here are dead, but who wants to get techincal?
Speaking of Amory Lovins, it appears that Canadian dangerous fossil fuel mining procedures, involving "clean" dangerous natural gas, has an effect on the distribution of PAH's in American National Parks.
Oil and gas wells have been drilled in southwest Alberta, Canada, located within 150 km of Glacier on the east side of the Continental Divide, since the 1920s (24). Waste gases from these wells are flared for safety reasons during well testing (24). In 2000, approximately 5300 gas flares were operational in Alberta and PAH concentrations in air near the flares were similar to those of large-scale industrial areas (25). Since 1983, the number of oil and gas flares in Alberta has increased from 3600 to 15,700, with a doubling time of 9.5 yrs (r2)0.72, p < 0.001) (26). Three hundred and fifty well rigs were located within 150 km of Glacier in June 2007 and 97% of these were located east of the Continental Divide (26). The increase in the number of oil and gas flares over time may explain, in part, the ΣPAH flux doubling time (48.9 yrs) measured in Oldman Lake.
Wow, the number of oil and gas flares is going up! And this at a time when wind and solar are saving us. What a surprise.
I had something to say about dangerous fossil fuel mining processes in Canada in another thread on this site.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=115&topic_id=246326&mesg_id=246326">Profile of a Company That Funds the Famous Anti-nuke Amory Lovins: Suncor.
But to finish up here:
A dam-powered Soderberg aluminum smelter became operational in Columbia Falls, MT in 1955 (27). The smelter resides on the Flathead River, approximately 10 kmsouthwest of Glacier on the west side of the Continental Divide and approximately 45 km southwest of Snyder Lake (Figures S19 and S20). The outflow from Snyder Lake forms a tributary to the Flathead River. Soderberg aluminum smelters can be significant local sources of hydrogen fluoride and PAHs (28, 29) because of the use of coal tar in the smelting process. According to U.S. EPA records, this smelter released, on average, ∼65 tons of hydrogen fluoride per year from 1999 to 2004 and, on average,∼14 tons of PAH per year from 1999 to 2005 (30).
Don't worry, the aluminum smelter is powered by so called "renewable energy" and therefore the carcinogenic PAH's from it don't count.
Speaking of so called "renewable energy,"
The 2003 and 2004 Snyder Lake catchment snowpack PAH ratios were similar to the ratios calculated from the Soderberg aluminum smelter emissions, while the Oldman Lake catchment snowpack PAH ratios were similar to the ratios calculated from petroleum combustion and pine wood combustion in residential fireplaces (Figures S21 and S22). The retene flux, a marker for softwood combustion, in the 2003 Oldman Lake snowpack (1.5 μgm-2 y-1) was similar to that of Snyder Lake catchment (1.2 μgm-2 y-1). The retene flux is likely the result of wood combustion for heating and/or manufacturing (23).
Um, delicious. The bold is mine.
To estimate the relative contributions of different PAH sources to Glacier,was assumed that, during the winter months when “Going-to-the-Sun Road” was closed, automobile traffic through the park was 0% (relative to summer) and wood combustion from home heating was 100% (relative to summer). The 2003 (when the smelter was operating at 60% capacity) Snyder Lake catchment snowpack IcdP/(IcdP+BeP) and IcdP/(IcdP+BghiP) ratios were slightly higher than the same ratios measured from aluminum smelter emissions (29, 38), but less than the same ratios measured from wood combustion in residential fireplaces (Figure S21) (37). This suggests that both of these sources contribute PAHs to the Snyder Lake catchment in winter...
...Using the same simple numerical solution for the 2004 Snyder Lake snowpack (smelter operating at 20% capacity), we roughly estimate that approximately 71% of the PAHs in the 2004 Snyder Lake snowpack originated from the smelter and approximately 29% originated from wood combustion.
Have a nice evening.
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