In the pristine expanse of Alaska’s interior lies a dirty secret: some of the most polluted winter air in the United States can be found in and around Fairbanks.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough, which includes Alaska’s second largest city, routinely exceeds limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for particle pollution that can be inhaled and cause myriad health problems.
Like Salt Lake City and other cities surrounded by mountains, Fairbanks suffers from winter inversions, layers of warmer air that trap cold, dirty air and keep it from dissipating. Even though wind is blowing aloft, the cold air prevents the wind from getting down to ground level. In Fairbanks, a major source of pollution comes from wood-burning stoves, which are common in this area where wood is plentiful and cheap, temperatures routinely reach minus 40 degrees F or colder and heating fuel is expensive. Other sources are vehicle exhaust systems, power plant emissions and heating oil.
Power plants in Fairbanks emit plumes of smoke into the air, and researchers in the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis project are trying to understand whether these remain up high, at the level of smokestacks, or drift down to ground level, where people live. “What we’re really looking for is information about where the pollution is accumulating as well as where it’s going,” she said, adding that she hopes the research can benefit other areas with similar weather and dirty air.
Scientists are working to better understand how the sulfur that’s emitted, mostly as a gas, sulfur dioxide, turns into particles in colder and darker locations.
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