Air quality monitoring 2019 annual report: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Martin KM, Meyer EW, Esperanza AE. 2020. Air quality monitoring 2019 annual report: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Natural Resource Report. NPS/SEKI/NRR—2020/2141. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) periodically experience the worst air quality in the National Park Service (NPS). Elevated ground-level ozone (O3) may be the most damaging pollutant in SEKI, when in summer months, concentrations often exceed the federal ozone health standards. The harmful effects of increased O3 go beyond human health and into park ecosystems, including widespread damage to sensitive vegetation, which could alter how plants grow, produce and store food. From early June to late October 2019, O3 conditions were monitored and forecasted to employees and the public from two locations in SEKI: the Ash Mountain air quality station located in the foothills and the Lower Kaweah air quality station in the Giant Forest. During the summer season Ash Mountain measured 60 days exceeding federal health standards for ozone, which is the most out of all other NPS units. Lower Kaweah was third worst across all NPS sites at 28 days.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Martin, Kelly; Meyer, Erik; Esperanza, Annie
- Date of Issue
- 2020-06
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NRSS , SEKI
- Keywords
- air quality, Kings Canyon, Ozone, SEKI, Sequoia
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Ozone , Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Air Quality | Visibility and Particulate Matter