1. Map of the Guadalupe Mountains Region NEW MEXICO TEXAS Guadalupe Mtns. Park Map To Carlsbad To El Paso To I-10 Visibility Degradation in Guadalupe Mountains National Park Span of Views from Guadalupe Mountains National Park b ext = 16 Mm -1 Visual Range = 240 km b ext = 24 Mm -1 Visual Range = 160 km b ext = 36 Mm -1 Visual Range = 110 km b ext = 78 Mm -1 Visual Range = 50 km b ext = 261 Mm -1 Visual Range = 15 km Normal Visibility Severely Impaired Visibility Today's Actions The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is enacting legislation to improve the visibility or visual air quality in all Class 1 Federal areas. Federal Class 1 areas include 156 national parks such as Guadalupe National Park, wilderness areas, national memorial parks, and international parks that were in existence as of August 1977. Today legislation is addressing visibility in the form of regional haze, a cloud of aerosols extending up to hundreds of miles across a region and causing noticeably hazy conditions that are not easily traced to a single source. Haze obscures the clarity, color, texture, and form of what we see. Some haze causing pollutants fall in the fine particle mode, are directly emitted to the atmosphere by many activities such as: automobile emissions, power plant emissions, industrial processes, and forestry and agricultural burning. Other pollutants are formed when gases emitted into the air nucleate to form particles as they are carried great distances from their source, such as sulfate which is formed from sulfur dioxide and nitrate which is formed from nitrogen oxides. Where does the air come from? Trajectory Modeling The image overlaying the satellite image on the top left of the screen, shows the general path air traveled (trajectory) 48 hours before arriving at Guadalupe Mountains National Park sampling site. Each green square represents a one hour increment in the position of the air mass. The trajectories using the HYSPLIT trajectory model written by Roland Draxler. (Draxler, R. R., 1996: Trajectory Optimization for Balloon Flight Planning. Weather and Forecasting, No.11, Pages 111-114.) The input for the HYSLIT model is the output from the ETA model, which is run at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. Air mass trajectory Ambient air particulate matter concentrations Particulate matter concentrations (PM 2.5) are shown on the top right section of the screen overlaying the satellite image is updated every 3 hours. PM 2.5 is the measure of particulate matter smaller than 2.5 micrometers from combustion and natural sources. How and what creates the pollution? Guadalupe Mountains National Park’s air comes from many different regions, such as California, Denver, El Paso, and even the Gulf Coast. Particulate matter is generally emitted from activities such as industrial and residential combustion and vehicle exhaust. Particulate matter can also be formed when gases such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds emitted by combustion activities, are transformed by chemical reactions in the air. Due to the remoteness of the park, there is ample time for chemical reactions to take place within an air mass. Large-scale agricultural burning and sandstorms can produce huge volumes of fine particulates. PM 2.5 measurements Environmental and health concerns Particles comprising PM 2.5 (sulfates, nitrates, organic carbon, smoke, and dust) have been linked to numerous health effects like eye irritations and respiratory illnesses. Health effects of particulate matter do not just effect people, but takes its toll on wildlife as well through ecosystem damage. Animals can not hide from air pollution like humans, thus they are effected by air pollution much more than humans. It can also severely effect trees, plants, and flowers. Air pollution also significantly degrades visual air quality. Such environmental effects will erase our wonderful wilderness areas of the United States and cause economical nightmares in the surrounding communities. The physics of visibility degradation Visibility impairment occurs as a result of the scattering and absorption of light by particles and gases in the atmosphere. The schematic to the right shows how particulate matter effects light. Without the effects of pollution, a natural Scattered light Absorbed light Unaffected light Particle Visual range is approximately 140 miles in the West and 90 miles in the East. However, over the years, in many parts of the United States, fine particles have significantly reduced the range that people can see. In the West, the current range is 33-90 miles, and in the East the current range is 14-24 miles.