Where the Smog Ends Up: The Giant Sequoia Forest

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140910-sequoia-national-park-smog-ozone-california-science/

Figure 1: The largest treeing the world;
General Sherman.

By Jeff Wheelwright

for National Geographic

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

The concern is now focused on the Sequoia National Park, which is home to some other largest trees on Earth, including the "General Sherman" which is the largest tree on Earth [Figure 1]. The national park, unfortunately, is situated near the San Joaquin Valley, which is an industrial and agricultural region. Because of the pollution emitted from nearby sources, Sequoia National Park has the worst air quality in the United States. 

Origin of problem

The main reason for this occurrence are the west winds, which bring pollution from the San Francisco Bay, Fresno, nearby highways, farmlands and summer wild fires. Typically, the polluted air would keep flowing west, if not for the Tehachapi Mountains, which ricochet it back, and it slowly rises. That mix of different harmful chemicals includes ozone, nitrogen oxide, evaporative organic compounds, and residue from pesticides. However, ozone doesn't just simply arrive, it is formed from nitrogen oxide and different hydrocarbons with reaction to sunlight. Being considered as a very unstable compound, it is difficult to fight, and quite harmful to the tissue of the flora in the park.

Figure 2: View from the Sequoia National Park Mountain

Effect on National Park

The smog supposedly "creeps in" in the morning along the river, and as seen in Figure 2, gives a misty coat to the national park. This however, has been controlled over years, and noticed as a pattern, to occur mostly during the summer, when the temperature is very warm, and no clouds are there to cover the ozone from developing. The largest harm was seen on not the mature and tall trees, but the smaller and young generation of trees, especially pines. We can see that this is a problem, mainly because 

Improvements & Concerns

In comparison to 1982, the air quality in Sequoia National Park improved, however at its best year (2013), it was still the worst in history of all national parks in America. Initially, the San Joaquin Air Control District has been promoting electric-powered technology instead of those which emit polluting gasses, as well as educated drivers on carpooling and unnecessary idling. However, scientists predict, that the National Park's air quality will be resorted to natural state by approximately 2096.

I believe that this is a major thing that we don't necessarily pay attention to as much. Most people say that we should stop pollution for ourselves, to improve OUR health and our lives, rather than also notice that there are animals and plants suffering from our doings. As mentioned in the article, "California has told federal regulators that 'natural conditions' won't be restored until 2096.", which is somewhat a long term effect which we notice now, not before, and it's not like we change our lifestyles so much to adjust them just to this one park in particular. Majority of the people probably don't even realise that their grass mowing is so harmful to the growth of pine trees. All of this however, has a action-reaction into an exponential growth of ozone. In theory, pollution has an effect of climate change, whether it's extreme droughts or extreme floods. There is a possibility, that over the next year, if the ozone emission continues, and droughts overcome California, more wildfires will be created, more sunlight will be there to allow ozone to form, and it will all double, triple etc. Therefore, when we consider helping in creating a solution to this problem, we have to remember that there are other factors which have a miraculous impact on this, such as the pollution in Los Angeles or river pollution, which comes along into the park. 

In my opinion, this is a very important thing to look into and care about, especially that this park is home to many species of animals as well as plants. The unique things about it are the largest trees, and with the ozone damaging younger generation trees, we won't be able to maintain the habitat they have now, just destroy it and cause deforestation and desertification in the upcoming centuries. Considering the fact that people nowadays are so dependent on technologies which pollute the environment, the government and the people should come up with better solutions to those long term problems, starting with raising awareness, because no one knows much about it.