ICE FOG A S A PROBLEM OF AIK POLLUTION I N THE ARCTIC

• Main Authors: I Elmer Robinson, William C. Thuman, Ernest J. Wiggins
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aik; Arctic; Fairbanks; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.526.7113; http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic10-2-88.pdf

I T HE term “arctic ” frequently evokes an image of vast expanses of ice and snow and rock and tundra, with widely separated and sparsely populated settlements, where many of the normal problems of community life in the temperate regions are unknown. Whereas this picture may be geneyally true in respect to small, relatively static settlements, the rapid growth and develop-ment of larger communities, such as Fairbanks, Alaska, have brought wirh them many of the problems inherent in typical industrial communities through-out the world. Air pollution is one such problem. Air pollutants may be solid, liquid, or gaseous, and are usually produced by domestic and industrial heating plants. If certain meteorological conditions and topographical features combine, these products of combustion are held in suspension in the air and increase in concentration until troublesome effects occur. In many com-munities in the Alaskan and Canadian Arctic, air pqllution during the winter months manifests itself primarily as ice fog. These fogs are troublesome because they frequently reduce visibility sufficiently to hamper both aircraft and automobile operations.