The cost of Hawai‘i’s vog
Honolulu buildings obscured by heavy vog. Image courtesy of Hawaii News Now.The health impacts of vog are well established. “Depending on your own respiratory health issues, your age, how strong your immune system or weak your immune system may be, people have different responses,” said Kim Nguyen, Executive Director of the American Lung Association’s local chapter.
However, the health costs are now being studied. A trio of researchers at the University of Hawai‘i Economic Research Organization (UHERO) believe they have quantified it. “Basically on days when there are very high exposure to particulates, we show that emergency room admissions for exclusively pulmonary reasons go up a lot,” said Tim Halliday, Associate Professor of Economics at UH Mānoa and co-author of the study.
The Vog Measurement and Prediction Project (VMAP) provides data on the volcanic emissions, local concentrations of vog (SO2 and aerosols) along with observations of near surface winds and atmospheric stability (soundings).
Read more about it and watch the video report at Hawaii News Now.