Air Quality Awareness Week, Monday: Ozone and Partical Pollution

This week is the National Weather service Air Quality Awareness Week. The NWS will issue a Public Information Statement each day this week. I'll be posting the NWS statements here daily.

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CHARLESTON SC
500 AM EDT MON APR 30 2007

...THIS IS AIR QUALITY AWARENESS WEEK...

THIS WEEK MARKS THE BEGINNING OF OZONE SEASON FOR MANY AREAS IN THE UNITED STATES.

EACH DAY OF AIR QUALITY AWARENESS WEEK WILL FEATURE A UNIQUE TOPIC RELEVANT TO EDUCATION AND PREPAREDNESS.

TODAY WE HIGHLIGHT TWO TYPES OF AIR POLLUTION...OZONE AND PARTICLE POLLUTION. THESE ARE TWO COMMON POLLUTANTS FOUND IN MANY PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

OZONE IS A COLORLESS ODORLESS GAS. IT IS THE SAME GAS THAT IS FOUND IN THE OZONE LAYER HIGH IN THE EARTH/S STRATOSPHERE WHERE IT PROTECTS US FROM THE SUN/S ULTRAVIOLET ENERGY. BUT AT GROUND LEVEL WHERE WE LIVE...OZONE POLLUTION IS UNHEALTHY TO BREATHE.

PARTICLE POLLUTION...OR AIRBORNE PARTICLE POLLUTION...CONSISTS OF MICROSCOPIC PARTICLES IN THE AIR. DEPENDING ON WHERE YOU LIVE...IT CAN BE A PROBLEM IN THE WINTER AND/OR SUMMER. LIKE OZONE... PARTICLE POLLUTION IS NOT HEALTHY TO BREATHE. THE PARTICLES ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO HAZE WHICH BLURS THE VIEW IN MANY CITIES AND
NATIONAL PARKS.

TOMORROW WE WILL LEARN HOW THESE POLLUTANTS FORM AND CREATE POOR AIR QUALITY CONDITIONS.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON AIR QUALITY AWARENESS WEEK...VISIT US ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT HTTP://WWW.AIRQUALITY.NOAA.GOV.

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