Impact of Smoke Stacks and Topography on Air Pollution

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1. Describe how the use of a tall smoke stack might improve air quality near a large industrial facility. The smoke from a shorter smokestack can become trapped by a temperature inversion and not be able to rise above this inversion. Thereby forcing the smoke to spread out horizontally and cover the area. The smoke from a taller smokestack, at least 500 ft., is more likely able to able to clear the inversion and be dispersed by the wind. However, the pollutants from the tall smokestacks are carried away from the local area and dispersed to other areas downwind (Ahrens 2015, p446). 2. How can topography contribute to pollution in a city or region? Human habitation is commonly built in valleys and plains, not on hillsides. The valleys tend to have a layer of cold air with a layer of warm air above that. Pollution is trapped by the cold air layer and carried back down the slopes of surrounding hills or mountains. The situation is compounded by the hills or mountains surrounding a valley which serve as barriers that prevent the winds from blowing the pollution clear of the valley (Ahrens 2015, p448). 3. …show more content…

From where do hurricanes derive their energy? What factors tend to weaken hurricanes? Would you expect a hurricane to weaken more quickly if it moved over land or over cooler water? Hurricanes derive their strength from warm water at the ocean’s surface. Some of the factors that weaken hurricanes are strong wind shears which can tear a hurricane apart. Land, especially mountainous terrain results in a rapid weakening of a hurricane. Colder water also tends to slow the movement and weaken a hurricane. Land tends to weaken a hurricane quicker due to the terrain breaking up the wind movements and moisture being dumped over land and the hurricane unable to replace that moisture as rapidly as it can over warm

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