Monday, September 15, 2014

Episode 231 (9-15-14): Exploring Climate Change Basics, with Examples from Assateague Island National Seashore and Shenandoah National Park

Click to listen to episode (4:50)

TRANSCRIPT


From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 15, 2014.

This week, we start with a series of voices touching on aspects of perhaps the most complicated water-related issue on our watery globe.  Have a listen for about 35 seconds.


SOUNDS

Climate measurements, changes, and influences are the subjects not only of the excerpts you heard from the National Weather Service, a scientist in a 2011 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service video, and a 2014 video by two children in Blacksburg, Virginia.  Climate change is also the focus of proposed regulations by the U.S. EPA, international treaties, worldwide scientific investigation, and often-contentious debates by citizens and governments everywhere.  Driving this attention are scientific studies indicating that average global temperatures and atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have been increasing at unprecedentedly fast rates.  Many scientific analyses also indicate that these increases are probably due in a significant part to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels releasing carbon dioxide and other “greenhouse gases,” and landscape changes that contribute to atmospheric carbon levels.


The potential impacts are widespread, complicated, and not precisely predictable.  Some of the key concerns are changing ocean temperatures and sea levels; changing weather patterns; changing water chemistry; and changing influences on plant and animal metabolism and life cycles.  The kinds and extent of changes will vary from place to place, depending on a range of factors and on what’s IN a place.  As an example, consider how climate changes are likely to affect two National Park Service units in Virginia—Assateague Island National Seashore and Shenandoah National Park.  On Assateague, stretching 37 miles along the coasts of Virginia and Maryland, increases in sea level, temperature, and precipitation are expected to accelerate natural coastal processes that shape and move the island.  Meanwhile, over 200 miles inland in Shenandoah National Park, the Park Service expects increased periods of high temperature and drought and more frequent heavy rains.  Already, Park officials have seen changes in the life-cycle timing of organisms, known as phenology; and in the suitability of habitat for Park species, including rare species like the Shenandoah Salamander.

But our National Parks aren’t only a climate-change risk—they’re also a response asset.  As the Park Service’s “Climate Change/Effects in Parks” Web site states, “Our national parks are laboratories for good science and informed management decisions and also for educating the public about how climate change affects us....”


So if you’re concerned about climate change, by all means make informed and responsible decisions about energy and land use.  But don’t neglect a visit now and then to National Parks.  Your time there may give you a better understanding of the complicated connections among climate, temperature, water, and life.  Thanks to the Lazar family of Blacksburg for permission to use sounds from the video produced by children Mia and Ava, and let’s end with the question Mia and many other people are asking: “So what is your carbon footprint?”

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.


SHOW NOTES 

[All Internet addresses mentioned were functional as of 9/3/14]

Assateague Island National Seashore, April 5, 2012.  Photo by Katherina Gieder, used with permission. 


Acknowledgments
The voices in this episode were taken from the following:
NOAA Weather Radio, Blacksburg National Weather Service Forecast Office broadcast of September 5, 2014.


Climate Change: Wildlife and Wildlands,” 13 min./16 sec. video produced in 2011 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, online at http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/video/id/1782/rec/37; the speaker in the excerpt was Alan Cohn, at the time with the U.S. EPA.


“Communities Taking Action,” a June 2014 video by Blacksburg children Mia and Ava Lazar, done for a national contest called Restore My Climate (http://restoremyclimate.org) by Citizens’ Climate Lobby (http://citizensclimatelobby.org/); video available online at http://restoremyclimate.com/2014/06/congratulations-2nd-place-winner/.  Used with permission.


Other sources for this episode

“Basic Principles of Climate Science,” 1 hr./21 min. video presented by Christopher Horsch, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in February 2010, available online http://digitalmedia.fws.gov/cdm/singleitem/collection/video/id/1778/rec/70.


“Carbon and Communities—Linking Carbon Science with Public Policy and Resource Management in the Northeastern United States” (2011), by T.J. Fahey et al., Hubbard Brook Research Foundation Science Links Publication (Vol. 1, No. 4), Hanover, New Hampshire.

“Final Report: A Climate Change Action Plan” (2008), [Virginia] Governor’s Commission On
Climate Change, accessed online at http://www.sealevelrisevirginia.net/docs/homepage/CCC_Final_Report-Final_12152008.pdf.  [Note that in July 2014 Va. Gov. Terry McCauliffe appointed the Governor’s Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission, which is to review the 2008 plan and report on what has been the result of the plan’s recommendations.  More information about the new commission is available in Governor McAuliffe Signs Executive Order Convening Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission, Virginia Governor’s Office News Release, 7/1/14.]

National Park Service (NPS), “Changing Landscapes on Assateague Island,” online at http://www.nps.gov/stories/assateaguelandscape.htm.

NPS, “Climate Change and Your National Parks/Effects in Parks,” online at http://www.nps.gov/subjects/climatechange/effectsinparks.htm.


NPS, “Climate Change in Shenandoah National Park” (3 min./15 sec. video), online at http://www.nps.gov/shen/photosmultimedia/climate-change-in-shenandoah-national-park.htm.

NPS, “Understanding the Science of Climate Change—Talking Points—Impacts to Eastern Woodlands and Forests” (2011), online at http://nature.nps.gov/climatechange/docs/EasternWoodlandsTP.pdf.


A Natural History Guide to Great Smoky Mountains National Park
(pages 236-239) (2008), by Donald W. Linzey, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, Tenn.

U.S. EPA, “Carbon Regulatory Actions,” online at http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/regulatory-actions, on the EPA regulations proposed in 2013 and 2014 for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from existing, modified, and new electricity-generating plants.


Other sources of information about climate change
For selected news, events, and resources relevant to climate change in Virginia, please visit “Climate Change” category in the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/category/climate-change/.

U.S. EPA, “A Student’s Guide to Global Climate Change—References,” online at http://www.epa.gov/climatestudents/references.html.


Monday, September 8, 2014

Episode 230 (9-8-14): An Introduction to Air Pollution and Water

Click to listen to episode (3:56)

TRANSCRIPT

From the Cumberland Gap to the Atlantic Ocean, this is Virginia Water Radio for the week of September 8, 2014.

This week, we start with a series of mystery sounds about power, fuel, and a high-placed sphere of influence on water.  Have a listen for about 25 seconds, and see if you can guess that sphere.  And here’s a hint: you’ll get the answer if you look in the right shed.

SOUNDS


If you guessed the atmosphere, you’re right!  And if you knew that the hint referred to an airshed, rather than the possibly more familar term “watershed,” you might be an expert on the connections between air and water quality.  Every water body—just like any place on the earth’s surface—is part of an airshed, the area from which the point receives air-borne materials.  Within airsheds, electric-power generation and forms of transportation that burn fossil fuels, are two major sources of air pollutants.  Transported possibly hundreds of miles as gases or small particles, some air pollutants can become water pollutants when they reach the earth’s surface through a complicated set of processes called atmospheric deposition.  For example, acid rain refers to the deposition of materials that can make water or soils more acidic.

Four key kinds of air-borne water pollutants are nitrogen compounds, sulfur dioxide, mercury, and ground-level ozone.  Collectively, their impacts include excessive nutrients, acidification, and toxic effects.  Another major group of air pollutants are carbon dioxide and other gases implicated in global warming and climate changes.

For one indication of how widespread are air pollutants’ impacts on water, consider our national parks.  In April 2014, for example, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service reported finding mercury in fish in 21 western parks.  Closer to the Old Dominion, in 2013 the Park Service reported that air-borne nitrogen and sulfur were of “significant concern” in at least 11 Virginia Park Service units, and ozone was a problem in nine units.  These include Shenandoah National Park and the Blue Ridge Parkway, where, as a Park Service’s Web site states, “Winds bring the pollutants....and mountains concentrate them.”

Air pollution is, of course, a major human-health issue.  Even so, when you hear NOAA Weather Radio or other sources say that on a given day “the primary pollutants are particles” or “the primary pollutant is ozone,” keep in mind that water bodies, just like human bodies, exist not only in watersheds but also in airsheds.

For other water sounds and music, and for more Virginia water information, visit our Web site at virginiawaterradio.org, or call us at (540) 231-5463.  From the Virginia Water Resources Research Center in Blacksburg, I’m Alan Raflo, thanking you for listening, and wishing you health, wisdom, and good water.

SHOW NOTES
[All Internet addresses mentioned were all accessed 8/28/14]

Precipitation collector at the Big Meadows air-quality monitoring site in Shenandoah National Park south of Luray, Va., on the Madison County/Page County border.  National Park Service photo, accessed online at http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/mon_air.htm on 9/8/14.

Acknowledgments
Some of the ideas and information for this episode were based on a pending Virginia Water Resources Research Center article by Heather Longo on air pollution and water resources in Virginia.


The sounds in the opening of this episode were wind in trees, an electricity-transmission line, automobile, a train, and a jet plane; all recorded in or around Blacksburg, Va., by Virginia Water Radio.


The Weather Radio excerpts (last paragraph) were recorded by Virginia Water Radio from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Weather Radio broadcasts from the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Blacksburg, Va., on 9/5/14 (for “particles”) and 9/6/14 (for “ozone”).


Sources for this episode

Atmospheric Ammonia: Sources and Fate/A Review of Ongoing Federal Research and Future Needs
, by the Air Quality Research Subcommittee for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources (CENR), available online at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/csd/AQRS/reports/ammonia.pdf.


Nitrogen Pollution: From the Sources to the Sea
, by C.T. Driscoll et al., Hubbard Brook Research Foundation, Hanover, N.H., 2003.


National Atmospheric Deposition Program, http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/ and http://nadp.sws.uiuc.edu/amon/.


National Park Service (NPS), “Air Quality in National Parks: Trends (2000-2009) and Conditions (2005-2009),” Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/ARD/NRR—2013/683, available online at http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/who/npsPerfMeasures.cfm.  Appendix B, pages 25-40 (as listed in the document), is a color-coded table listing the trends and conditions in 197 park units (as of 2009) for haze, mercury, nitrogen, ozone, and sulfate.


NPS, “Air Quality in Parks,” online at http://www.nature.nps.gov/air/Permits/aris/index.cfm.


NPS, “About the Inventory and Monitoring Program,” online at http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/about.cfm.  A map showing the 32 monitoring networks is available online at http://science.nature.nps.gov/im/networks.cfm.


NPS, “Blue Ridge Parkway/Air Quality,” online at http://www.nps.gov/blri/naturescience/airquality.htm.


NPS, “Shenandoah National Park/Air Quality,” online at http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/airquality.htm.


NPS, “Shenandoah National Park/Mercury Deposition,” online at http://www.nps.gov/shen/naturescience/mercury_deposition.htm.


U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “Air Pollutants,” online at http://www.epa.gov/air/airpollutants.html.  This page links to many specific topics, categorized by pollutant.
U.S. EPA Chesapeake Bay Program, “Air Pollution,” online at http://www.chesapeakebay.net/issues/issue/air_pollution#inline.

U.S. EPA, “Chesapeake Bay Glossary,” online at http://ofmpub.epa.gov/sor_internet/registry/termreg/searchandretrieve/glossariesandkeywordlists/search.do?details=&vocabName=Chesapeake%20Bay%20Glossary.


U.S. EPA Great Waters Program, “Chesapeake Bay,” online at http://www.epa.gov/oaqps001/gr8water/xbrochure/chesapea.html.


U.S. EPA, “Mercury,” http://www.epa.gov/mercury/index.html.


U.S. EPA, “Puget Sound/Transboundary Air Quality,” http://www.epa.gov/pugetsound/transboundary/index.html.


U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), “Elevated Levels of Mercury Found in Fish in Western U.S. National Parks,” April 16, 2014, news release, online at
http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=3869&from=rss#.U_-U3mPuP58.

USGS, “Mercury in the Environment,” (Fact Sheet 146-00, October 2000), online at http://www.usgs.gov/themes/factsheet/146-00/.

Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, “Air,” online at http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Air.aspx.


Other sources of information about air pollution and water

For selected news, events, and resources relevant to air-water connections in Virginia, please visit the “Air-Water” category in the Virginia Water Central News Grouper, available online at http://vawatercentralnewsgrouper.wordpress.com/category/air-water/.


9/23/14 added note: In September 2014, Shenandoah National Park officials announced that the park will be part of a nationwide study of mercury levels and effects in national parks.  Volunteers will collect immature dragonflies at sampling sites in the park.  Source: Residents help in Shenandoah Park mercury study, Staunton [Va.] News-Leader, 9/17/14.

10/23/14 added note: For a news account of air-quality monitoring in Shenandoah National Park, please see
Park Service station keeps track of air quality and much more, Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 10/22/14.

2/27/15 added note: For a news account on scientists investigating dispersal of air-pollutants in winter, please see
Scientists zeroing in on where air pollution goes in winter, Associated Press, as published by Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2/24/15.

3/4/15 added note: For a introduction to the various kinds of alternative sources of automobile fuels being used, developed, or investigated, please Student's Guide to Alternative Fuels, from the Auto Insurance Center, online at http://www.autoinsurancecenter.com/students-guide-to-alternative-fuels.htm.

10/5/16 added note: A news media overview of air pollution issues affecting the Shenandoah Valley, including Shenandoah National Park is available in

'Super polluters' tainting Shenandoah Valley air, [Staunton, Va.] News Leader, 9/30/16.