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Climate, Air Quality, and Weather Stories April 15, 2002 New Hampshire leads Northeast in NOx reductions There's some good news about clean air in New Hampshire. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Granite state continues to reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions from its power plants. For the third year in a row, New Hampshire recorded the largest reductions among the nine Northeast and Mid Atlantic member states of the Ozone Transport Commission - a group of states working to reduce ozone levels. Mercury emissions pose health threat in Maine There is both encouraging and discouraging news in a new report by Maine's Department of Environmental Protection on mercury emissions. According to the "Mercury in Maine" report, mercury emissions have been nearly cut in half since 1992. But according to a DEP news release, the report finds that up to one in five women of childbearing age in the state "have too much mercury in their blood for a developing fetus." In addition, high mercury levels are threatening the state's loon population. Study suggests tropical forests are carbon source, not sink A new study suggests that the tropical rainforests might not be carbon sinks but sources. According to the new report in Nature, satellite radar imagery and measurements of streamflow in the Amazon indicate that waterways there are "exhaling" three times as much carbon dioxide as expected. Researchers estimate about 80 percent of the carbon dioixide is coming from woody debris and soil washed into the river. MSNBC has a story about the study and a copy of the study itself and an additional story are on the Nature Web site. Massachusetts DEP fines Templeton plant The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection continues to seek out and try to correct pollution problems. The DEP announced this month that a Templeton company, which paid a $5000 DEP fine, will fix problems involving its hazardous waste management and air pollution controls. You can read more about it in this DEP news release. Metal finishing pollution program wins new sponsor Engine turbine manufacturer Pratt &Whitney has agreed to become a sponsor of the Environmental Protection Agency's National Metal Finishing Strategic Goals program, which aims to reduce air and water pollution from the metal finishing industry. The program includes 400 metal finishers nationwide, about 50 in New England. You can read more about it in this EPA news release. U.S. winter was warmer and dryer than usual The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently reported that this past winter in the United States was unusually warm and dry. New maps derived from NASA Terra satellite imagery demonstrate this in color. Have a look at a story and the images on NASA's Earth Observatory News Web site. New images of Antarctic ice breakups This year has seen some dramatic breakups in Antarctica - ice breakups, that is. NASA's Earth Observatory News has some good satellite images of two of these events - the February collapse of a section of the Larsen B ice shelf and a more recent formation of the B-22 iceberg 1,300 miles away. Check them out on this EON Web page. |
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