Subject: Air Quality in Hawaii
Does Hawaii have the least polluted air in the nation (since it is surrounded by water and the wind carries the pollution away)?
Hawaii has very clean air in general. Whether it is the "least"
polluted is very hard to say, as certain parts of Alaska and
the mainland are also blessed with very clean air. It is true that
our abundant wind and rain, plus our relatively low population
(even on Oahu, our population density is not considered "high"
for the most part) help keep our air clean. Also important is
our lack of heavy industry, which dumps lots of pollutants into
the atmosphere in some parts of the nation. We do have a large
automobile density, however, and this contributes to photochemical
smog in Honolulu that is noticeable on low wind days. Also, two natural
processes (volcanic activity at Kilauea and the formation of marine aerosols
by wind action on the sea surface) helps give us a relatively high sulfate
and general aerosol levels in our air, particularly during Kona weather
times (when winds blow from the south). These two things are considered
pollutants and a health risk.
In general, our air (and water) are very clean for the reasons you
mentioned. We can't do anything about Pele's activity on the Big
Island or the wind blowing over the sea
but there are steps that we as a society in Hawaii could take to
make our air even cleaner. These include limited use of oil
burning for electricity generation by finding alternative
sources of energy and installation of emission control devices on
our automobiles.
Dr. Ken Rubin, Assistant Professor
Department of Geology and Geophysics
University of Hawaii, Honolulu HI 96822
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