"Great Smoky Mountains National Park reached unhealthy levels of ground-level ozone pollution Monday and continued to measure high levels Tuesday morning, posing a threat to park visitors," the article said.
Air quality in the Tennessee side of the park is measured at Look Rock, Cove Mountain, and Clingmans Dome. Measurements at all three locations showed unhealthy levels of ozone. And ozone in the park is on the rise. In 1998 there were 44 days of unhealthy ozone levels - the most ever recorded. The July 27th measurment made a dozen days of unhealthy air in the park this year - two more than atthe same time last year. The levels range from 2 to 4 times normal levels of ozone.
The concern is great enough that an East Tennessee Ozone Study (ETOS) will add about a dozen meteorological stations to the area to monitor ozone. Ozone can cause breathing problems and sometimes permanent lung tissue damage. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) oversees the study.
Ozone in the upper levels of the atmosphere is good for us: it filters out the sun's ultraviolet radiation which can cause skin canser. But ozone on the ground is pollution - created when exhaust from industry, automobiles, utilities, etc. mixes with natural compounds in the environment. Sunlight and heat speed up the process, so ozone pollution is worst in the summer.
The problem in the Smokies is made worse by the aare's usually light winds, which result in some of the most frequent and lengthy periods of air stagnation in North America, according to a recent Associated Press article. The East Tennessee area is also "downwind" of much of the Industrialized Ohio River Valley. Sulfer Dioxide increased 21 percent in the Smokies between 1985 and 1994.The result can be haze and acid rain.
Experiments in the Smokies have established that at least 30 species of plants in the park are dying or have been damaged because of ozone and acid rain, according to the Associated Press.
Whatever other problems the Smokies may be having, drought is evidently not one of them. According to the an August 2nd News-Sentinel article, Knoxville and the surrounding area had the second wettest July on record - getting 12.65 inches of rain compared to a normal July rainfall of onlu 4.67 inches. Chattanooga, according to the article, received less than 3 inches of rain during the month during the month and the Bristol-Kingsport-Johnson City area of East Tennessee got less than 6 inches.
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