Air Quality Monitoring in Denali National Park & Preserve, Alaska
Blakesley A. Air Quality Monitoring in Denali National Park & Preserve, Alaska. 2004. National Park Service
Denali National Park and Preserve is designated as a Class 1 park under the Clean Air Act (where the most stringent standards apply) and has been the site of air quality monitoring since 1980. The Central Alaska Network uses data from the Denali site to track air quality in the network. The annual pattern of most airborne contaminant concentrations in Denali shows a summertime low and a peak in the late winter and early spring. These seasonal trends are consistent with known patterns of international contaminant transport directly across the Pacific Ocean, or up and over the Arctic Ocean in a phenomenon called arctic haze. Local and regional sources also contribute to the mix, though as stated above, the total amounts are relatively low. Some contaminants that occur at very low concentrations in the air are persistent enough to accumulate in park ecosystems over time. Mercury, for example, has been found at higher than expected levels in park fish, though not at concentrations that exceed human health thresholds established by the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. In addition to human-caused emissions detected in the park each year, Denali’s instruments also monitor naturally-occurring events. Smoke from wildland fires is usually the largest contributor to hazy conditions in the park, and smoke has been measured from wildfires as far away as Russia and Indonesia.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Blakesley, Andrea
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CAKN , DENA
- Keywords
- Air Quality, airborne contaminant, arctic haze, Clean Air Act, Denali, FIRE, Mercury, Monitoring, National Park, Smoke
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Wet and Dry Deposition , Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Visibility and Particulate Matter , Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Air Contaminants
Program
Products
- Interagency Monitoring of Air Quality/Visibility in Protected Environments
- Air Quality Monitoring Protocol for Denali National Park & Preserve, Alaska
- Annual Data Summary Denali National Park 1998 National Park Service Gaseous Air Pollutant Monitoring Network
- National Atmospheric Deposition Program: AMNet Site AK03, Denali National Park and Preserve