Summer Air Pollution Trends. What Factors Impact Air Quality?

If you’ve been monitoring air quality in your area, you’ve probably noticed that it changes drastically depending on the weather, and season. Although at first it might seem that summer is the time of year when air is the freshest and cleanest, it can be a misleading belief. In fact, higher temperatures, and warm conditions can have a negative impact on air quality, which translates into health issues, destroyed ecosystems, and economic consequences.

• What factors make air pollution worse in summer?
• Why should you monitor air pollution trends? The takeaway

What factors make air pollution worse in summer?

When talking about air pollution trends in summer, it’s impossible not to mention elements such as:

• wildfires – they’re frequently hard to control in the regions prone to outbreaks. Smoke pollution caused by wildfires can significantly worsen air quality, causing smog and increasing PM 2.5.
• increased ground-level ozone pollution – in order to form, ground-level ozone needs sunlight. As you may guess, there is plenty of it in summer. This factor is especially dangerous because ground-level ozone can cause numerous respiratory conditions such as asthma.
• temperature inversion – it’s a meteorological phenomenon that can be more common in summer due to the warm air trapping the cold air and all the pollutants close to the ground.
• more desert dust – hot and dry conditions in summer can cause desert dust storms. These can travel long distances and impact air quality in areas located far from deserts.
• increased vehicle emissions – many people go on vacation in summer which can lead to increased emissions from cars and planes.

As you can see, there are many factors and elements that have a negative impact on air quality in summer. It’s also worth mentioning that pollution trends over the years are likely to change because of new technologies and increasing access to renewable energy sources.

Why should you monitor air pollution trends? The takeaway

There are many reasons to monitor air pollution trends. Air pollution can cause a variety of health problems, including respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and cancer. It can also contribute to climate change. Additionally, pollutants can have a negative impact on the economy, by causing crop damage.

That’s why it’s important to keep an eye on elements that have an impact on pollution, and use specially designed air quality sensors, and maps to better understand air quality, learn what factors affect it and be able to make informed decisions concerning one’s exposure to smog, PM 2.5, PM 10 or other pollutants.