GLOBAL AIR POLLUTION AND FOREST HEALTH NOTES

These notes present a snapshot of the global nature of serious air pollution as well as the accelerating damage it is causing to forest ecosystems. While not all the forest health problems described below can be linked to air pollution, the following information should leave no doubt in anyone's mind that air pollution along with air pollution induced global climate change are having severe and widespread effects on ecosystems around the world. - Gerry Hawkes

Since virtually all scientists and much of the public now agree that there is an urgent need to curb emissions of greenhouse gases and since the volume of news regarding the serious environmental consequences has become overwhelming, it now makes sense to devote as much time as possible to working on ways to slow and mitigate the damage from air pollution rather than sounding the alarm. Therefore these pages will be left on the Web, but little new information will be added. - Gerry Hawkes ~ February 2006

AIR POLLUTION AND FOREST HEALTH NOTES
FROM AROUND THE WORLD
NOTES PRESENTED ALPHABETICALLY BY STATE, PROVINCE, COUNTRY OR REGION
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. . . a group of scientists in Australia and Canada say that drought may have been triggered by tiny particles of sulfur dioxide spewed by factories and power plants thousands of miles away in North America, Europe and Asia.

. . . .
Scientists studying the world's tropical rainfall determined that a storm over a populated area in Africa may generate only half the rain as the same kind of storm over the ocean.

A main reason is smoke pollution, according to lead scientist Daniel Rosenfeld, a professor of meteorology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"The smoke and pollution particles, when going into the clouds, distribute the water into many small droplets. They are so small that they are very slow into combining into raindrops and other icy precipitation particles," Rosenfeld said.

Clouds formed in dirty air "produce as little as half of the rainfall from clouds of the same size in clean air," he said. Other factors contribute to the drought as well. For example, desert dust in the clouds makes them less efficient rain producers, according to the three-year study.
. . . .
The report observations come from data obtained from a satellite in low-Earth orbit, launched jointly by Japan and the United States in 1997. Called Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), the orbiter scans and maps tropical storms with radar and microwave instruments from an altitude of 217 miles (350 km).

GLOBAL WARMING LEADS TO FOREST DEATH
Excerpted from
Climate Change Impacts on the United States
The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change
Overview: Alaska
By the National Assessment Synthesis Team, US Global Change Research Program
Published in 2000

Alaska has warmed substantially over the 20th century, particularly over the past few decades.

Recent warming has also been accompanied by unprecedented increases in forest disturbances, including insects, blow-downs and fire. A sustained infestation of spruce bark beetles, which in the past have been limited by cold, has caused widespread tree deaths over 2.3 million acres on the Kenai Peninsula since 1992, the largest loss to insects ever recorded in North America. At the same time, increases in blow-downs from intense windstorms, and in canopy breakage from the heavy snows typical of warm winters may have increased vulnerability of forests to insect attack. Significant increases in fire frequency and intensity, both related to summer warming, have also occurred.

ANCHOR POINT, Alaska, June 13 — To live in Alaska when the average temperature has risen about seven degrees over the last 30 years means learning to cope with a landscape that can sink, catch fire or break apart in the turn of a season.

. . . on the Kenai Peninsula, a recreation wonderland a few hours' drive from Anchorage, it means living in a four-million-acre spruce forest that has been killed by beetles, the largest loss of trees to insects ever recorded in North America, federal officials say. Government scientists tied the event to rising temperatures, which allow the beetles to reproduce at twice their normal rate.

. . . Among the consequences, Senator Stevens says, are sagging roads, crumbling villages, dead forests, catastrophic fires and possible disruption of marine wildlife.

. . . Other forests, farther north, appear to be sinking or drowning as melting permafrost forces water up.

. . . Sea ice off the Alaskan coast has retreated by 14 percent since 1978, and thinned by 40 percent since the mid-1960's, the federal report says

. . . North of Fairbanks, roads have buckled, telephone poles have started to tilt, and homeowners have learned to live in houses that are more than a few bubbles off plumb. Everyone, it seems, has a story.

Between January 31st and March 7th, 3,275-square-kilometers of the Larsen B ice shelf disintegrated. While unusual in style, this event follows a pattern of retreat on this eastern Peninsula ice-shelf first identified by glaciologists from the Argentine Antarctic Institute.

The break-up of the floating ice mass, which had survived thousands of years of climate variations, comes at the end of one of the warmest summers on record around the Antarctic Peninsula.
. . .
An international group of scientists has been investigating ice-shelf breakup events and all agree, regional climate warming is at the heart of the recent changes.

. . . The B-22 iceberg, located below and to the left of image center, measures approximately 82 kilometers long x 62 kilometers wide.
. . .
Antarctic researchers have reported an increase in the frequency of iceberg calvings in recent years. Whether this is the result of a regional climate variation, or connected to the global warming trend, has not yet been established.

In Asia, rapid urbanization, with the associated growth in industry and transportation systems, has increased regional concerns with regard to emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. According to one recent estimate, at the current growth rate of energy consumption, by the year 2000 sulfur dioxide emissions will surpass the emissions of North America and Europe combined. The primary man-made source of sulfur and nitrogen in the Asia-Pacific region is fossil fuel combustion in the energy, industry and transportation sectors.
.. . . .
Once sulfur and nitrogen compounds have been emitted to the atmosphere, concentrations of gases and acidic deposition cause impacts to the local environment. Atmospheric transport and chemical transformation of the pollutants can also lead to deposition causing impacts far from the point of emission. Nitrogen and sulfur pollutants cause acidification of lakes and soils and impacts on human health, crop productivity, forest growth, biodiversity and man-made materials.

There was initial skepticism in Europe concerning the effects of long-range transboundary air pollution. This was overcome by research into causes and effects of air pollutant damage on ecosystems.
. . . .
Soil acidification and concentrations of pollutant gases have been implicated in the `new type of forest decline that has occurred in Europe and parts of North America. In Poland 3-5 million hectares of forest and over 1 million in the Czech Republic have shown signs of extensive damage with 60-80 per cent of the trees having died . This forest damage has increased in Europe since the 1970s. It is linked to sulfur dioxide and ozone concentrations in the air as well as changes in plant nutrient availability and increases in toxic aluminum in the soil caused by acidification. There are now reports of forest decline in China and Japan associated with increasing air pollution. Where liming is not practiced, soil acidification may lead to crop yield reductions in areas with sensitive soils . Acidification is a cumulative process, which means that the damage from current deposition only becomes apparent at a later stage when, even with considerable abatement, ecosystems will take decades or centuries to recover. Some ecosystems can also become irreparably damaged. It is therefore advantageous to avoid these impacts rather than ameliorating them, as has happened in Europe and North America.

The accumulation of nitrogen in ecosystems has also led to damaging changes in the health and biodiversity of plant communities . . . .
. . . .
In 2025 projected emissions in Asia are approximately three times those of 1990 and in 2050, according to these projections, the situation could become even worse.
. . . .
Under the CDS scenario the density of emissions projected for 2025 in China and South Asia are as high as those typical of central Europe where the worst damage has occurred

click on the title above for a photo of the Brown cloud reaching up to the top of the Himalayas

Pollution in southern Asia is a regional and a global menace, according to scientists working for the United Nations.

They say the region's brown haze affects rainfall and farming, and puts hundreds of thousands of people in jeopardy.
. . . .

Air pollution from Melbourne and the Latrobe Valley power stations has been blamed for a long-term reduction in rainfall over the Victorian alps, which in turn is contributing to degradation of rivers and lakes across south-eastern Australia.
. . . .

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- New figures have confirmed the devastating impact of the drought on Australian farm output, with the country's winter grain harvest falling 61 percent over the previous year. Australia has been the world's No. 2 wheat exporter in recent years, but the long-running drought is cutting deep into its export capacity.
. . . .
The 2002 result is a sharp contrast to the record 39.6 million tonne harvest in 2001.
. . . .
"After a low winter grains harvest, there is little relief in sight for summer crop producers."
. . . .

Torrential weekend downpours in eastern Australia are boosting hopes that the worst drought in 100 years is on its way out. Further heavy rain is forecast for drought-stricken regions over the next few weeks.
. . . .

. . . .

there is another deadly culprit at work that is slowly denuding the forests of the Sunderbans, Cox's Bazar, Sylhet and in northern parts of Bangladesh much beyond our knowledge. The disease called "the dying forest syndrome" which in the Sunderbans is known as "top dying disease" strikes selectively but with deadly effect. The onset of the disease starts with the dark green branches hanging limply. Between five weeks and three years later, the branches are tinged yellow and then brown. The weakened tree soon drops its needles and eventually stops growing new ones. It becomes leafless at the top and appears stunted. Finally drought, insects, and parasites finish off the weakened plant.

In parts of Africa, Europe and most notably in the Sunderbans in Bangladesh, the dying forest syndrome causing death of trees has come up as a big environmental disaster. The epidemic of dying trees which has struck the forest resources of the world appears to be quite mysterious. But the most convincing evidence points to air pollution, specially sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen spewed in the air by the ton from electrical generating stations, industrial boilers, smelting plants and automobiles located thousands of miles away. One school of thought points out, by itself sulfur dioxide can sap the vitality of the tree;.so can oxides of nitrogen. But the real problem seems to begin when two gases work in combination in the atmosphere. Hurled into the air by tall smokestacks, the substances mix with water vapour to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid known as acid rain and in the presence of sunlight turn into oxidants such as ozone. When these new chemical mixtures fall to earth as snow or rain or float into forests as wind or fog, they can be far more lethal than the ingredients that went into them.

Acid rain, in the form of dry particles, snow and fog, attacks a tree on all fronts. Airborne pollution settles first on the highest treetops of the forest crown, which acts as a natural windbreak. Acid precipitation filters down to the soil, eats away at the root system and eventually leaches out key nutrients such as calcium and potassium and mobilises toxic metals like aluminum. Once on a leaf or needle, acid rain disrupts the operation of the stomata, the tiny openings that permit a tree to "breathe." The process of photosynthesis is thrown off balance, and subtle changes take place in the internal chemistry of the tree that result in discolouration and premature aging. Finally acid rain washes away vital nutrients from the leaves and needles so that the tree slowly starves to death, its respiratory, circulatory and digestive systems being crippled. Much like an AIDS victim whose immune system has broken down, the ailing tree is defenceless against the ravages of nature.

Experts now say that precipitation these days has become more acidic since the onset of the industrial revolution in the mid 19th century. Measured on a chemical scale of pH from 0 to 14 (most acidic to most alkaline), acid rain is defined as precipitation below 5.6. In most of the industrialised countries of Europe, rainfall now has a pH between 4.5 and 5.5. In some parts of Italy, it has been recorded as low as 2.6 or acidic than table vinegar, which has a pH of about 2.9.

What makes tracking down the cause of toxic poisoning so frustratingly difficult is the caprice of the wind. Modern smokestacks rising more than 1200ft, may spare the surrounding countryside. But they can emit pollutants high into the air, where they travel along wind-formed "skyways" that can carry them hundreds of miles even beyond the country that produced them. That answers the dilemma of the non-industrialised countries like Bangladesh who are not sinners but have to pay a heavy price for other's faults. ... The dying forest has had a greater importance to the Germans than any other issue. They look at forests as being more important than their own health That leads us to think how much oblivious and unconcerned we are about the depletion of our forest resources through factors like dying forest syndrome or top dying disease . . . . . .

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED
by The CLMA/NFPA Mountain Pine Beetle Emergency Task Force
from Fall 2000 Update and supporting reports

The largest epidemic of mountain pine beetle in the province’s history has spread over an area of more than 5.7 million hectares (ha) creating a state of emergency in the working forests in BC’s west-central interior. The epidemic quadrupled last year and it continues to expand, ravaging forests and leaving dead, red topped trees in its wake.
. . . .
Mountain pine beetles are a natural part of lodgepole pine ecosystems. At normal population levels the beetle performs valuable functions, helping to cull older trees and trees with root disease, opening up pine stands to increase bio-diversity and allowing wildlife habitat to develop.

British Columbia forest with large numbers of dead and dying lodgepole pine trees due to an infestation of mountain pine beetles. Epidemic infestations of the beetles have affected over 500,000 hectares of forest in 2001. In the past, most of the beetles were killed by freezing winter temperatures each year, thus keeping their numbers in check, but milder winters in recent years due to global warming have allowed the beetles to survive during winter, thus greatly increasing their population. Warming temperatures and drought due to global warming are also stressing the trees, making them more susceptible to damage by the beetles, which can be spread by logging trucks carrying infested logs.
~ caption of a photo that can viewed at http://eces.org/gallery/forestsgfx/forests21.shtml

We at Bioscape Inc. have always strived to provide the highest quality of horticulturally correct information, even though the information at the time has not been popular or supported by other professionals and or academics. However, we also feel that a difference of opinion is an essential and healthy part of the scientific process. We have not been a willing participant in the recommendation of applying a toxic pesticide called Astro or Dragnet, as an integral part of a program to save trees by repelling beetles. We have always made it clear to our clients, that this operation was not the proper way to manage this difficult complex that kills valued oak trees. Fortunately due to a study that Bioscape assisted in, this recommendation has been abandoned! Now, we have assembled our own integrated or IPM management plans to help keep oaks and other trees alive. Our program has changed. As a result of our independent studies, our professional opinion is that our trees are being predisposed by primary environmental factors like: acid rain,acid fog, nitrate deposition and ozone. Soils are also being rapidly depleted of valuable nutrients like calcium and phosphorous at alarming rates! This is predisposing oak trees to infestations by a secondary fungus and beetles. . Our program now has evolved into a nutritional program whereby we are working with the inherent phosphorous deficiency that most all oaks have developed. Why have they developed a serious phosphorous deficiency? The answer is in the soil, which has been seriously impacted by acidic precipitation and acid fog in this area. According to the National Atmospheric Deposition Network the rain in this area is about the ph of vinegar. Our lab tests taken at our 500-acre research site for the past 2 years indicate extremely acidic soils and elevated toxic aluminum levels in soils and trees. What this means to trees is sudden root death. Also, excessive nitrate deposition has affected the mycorrhizae in the soil that oak trees depend on for their ability to absorb water and nutrients. There is also a dysfunction called aluminum toxicity that is affecting roots. Aluminum is normally unavailable to roots, but becomes available and toxic at low ph. Our program has now evolved into a nutritional program whereby the nutritional needs of oaks are met first, then a soil-rebuilding program using rock dust and humates are utilized to replace valuable nutrients in the soil. The addition of this rock dust remineralizes the soil and corrects decades of mineral depletion in soils. . The microinjection of oaks and other trees with our patented phosphite fertilizer serves to stabilize the tree. This injection immediately enters the tree and begins restoring the trees ability to function again. Phosphorous is an essential element for trees and critical for root production. Not only does phosphite help roots , but is actually beneficial to the regeneration of mycorrhizae on the roots of oaks and other trees.


DEAD OAK		RESEARCH SITE		BLEEDING OAK		NEW GROWTH		FUNGUS TESTS

I have spoken with many old time foresters and arborists here in N. California who say they have seen the symptoms of this pathogen in oak trees for decades. It is only recently that the fungus has been able to " express itself " and now the trees have become susceptible due to other predisposing factors."

ARE REDWOODS STARTING TO WEAKEN AND DIE FROM CHRONIC EXPOSURE TO AIR POLLUTION?
Is this weakening allowing Phytophthora ranorum, the fungus responsible for sudden oak death to attack?

California's awe-inspiring redwoods may be susceptible to a fast- spreading new disease that has already killed tens of thousands of oaks and other trees and infected many plant species in the state, according to preliminary findings by University of California scientists

. . . Even the most cautious researchers noted that if redwoods are at risk, the ramifications would be huge.

. . . Redwoods are a crucial species in the coastal forest ecosystem, dominating the upper layers of the forest canopy.

SEQUOIA AND KINGS CANYON NATIONAL PARKS BIOSPHERE RESERVE
http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:8Q4tjCD0yngC:www.euromab.org/brprogram/success/californ.html+redwoods+%22air+pollution%22&hl=en

Major Issues: Air Pollution: There are many threats that face the resources of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Many of these threats are linked to air pollution which in turn effects visibility, air quality, water quality, plants and animals. The combination of high mountains and frequent inversion layers trap particulates and gasses forming a dark brown haze making visibility impairment a serious problem. Ozone injury occurs to Jeffrey and ponderosa pine where high ambient ozone levels (>60 parts per billion) are found. Ambient ozone levels recorded at Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks are among the highest levels recorded in the National Park System (>120 parts per billion). Air pollution is responsible for acid deposition and increased nutrient loading on Sierran ecosystems. Current concerns are that there is a broader range of subtle effects of air pollution on ecosystems.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have risen by thirty percent since the pre-industrial era and are currently at 358 ppm. Over the last several decades, atmospheric nitrogen is being deposited at alarming rates due to automobile emissions, industrial pollution, and agricultural industry. Native ecosystems are typically carbon- and nitrogen-limited, and they have adapted ecological strategies to overcome these limitations. However, the excess availability of CO2 and input of available nitrogen into native ecosystems has the potential to drastically change community structure and ecological functioning. This study examines the soil and microbial ecology related to Mediterranean oaks in response to elevated CO2 and nitrogen deposition.

~ from Pollution, Toxic Waste Eat Away at U.S. National Parks ~ Tuesday, May 8, 2001

In California's Yosemite National Park, air pollution from millions of cars is affecting views, wildlife and forests.

Researchers have discovered that a significant decline in lung function growth among southern California children correlates with air pollution.
(see http://unisci.com/stories/20004/1019001.htm for article in Daily University Science News ~ original report in the October issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine)

. . . we speculate that the air pollution plume from both Orange County (Los Angeles area) and the Bay Area is likely to have an effect on downwind oak woodland (Quercus spp.) communities. In clean air conditions, these should normally host a high diversity of lichens including the charismatic Ramalina menziesii. This species has been one of the most showy and abundant members of the oak woodlands, especially in fog zones (McCune and Geiser 1997), but is pollution sensitive and has declined due to poor air quality and habitat loss. Floristically, this oak community is of great importance, and is likely to hold equal or higher lichen diversity than the coniferous forests of the mid-elevations on the west side in clean air situations.

Excerpts from
AIR POLLUTION RESEARCH
ECOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF AIR POLLUTION
by the California Air Resources Board

. . . .
In 1993, ozone-caused yield losses of 20-30% were estimated for cantaloupes, grapes, and cotton, which are known to be ozone-sensitive crops.
. . . .
Ambient and twice ambient levels of ozone caused adverse impacts in a range of biochemical, physiological, and performance parameters. Compared to trees grown in filtered air, the yield of plum trees exposed to mean daily ozone concentrations greater than 0.09 ppm (the State standard) in the first commercial bearing year was 65 percent. This reduction in yield was greater than the yield reduction of 35 percent in the first bearing year, indicating that ozone injury may indeed accumulate from season to season. The yield loss is related to the numbers of fruit set; fruit setting occurs before the high ozone season begins.

University of California resource specialists noticed that many species of oak trees in the Sierra foothills have changed color or shed their leaves entirely months early this year.
. . . .
the state Department of Water Resources says there is no drought. Rain and snowfall last winter was average or a little above.
. . . .
said Doug McCreary, a natural research specialist at the UC Cooperative Extension station. "It's autumn if you associate the season with leaves dropping."

McCreary, who studies native blue oak, black oak and valley oak trees from a base at the Sierra Foothill Research and Extension center near Marysville, began to notice the changes in the oaks in midsummer.

He and his colleagues found that these trees were turning brown and losing all their leaves, a process that McCreary said normally does not happen until around Thanksgiving.

The UC agriculture stations began getting a lot of calls from foothill residents, who thought the trees were dead, victims of the malady called sudden oak death syndrome, which affects oaks on the coast. But this was different.

For one thing, the trees weren't dead, only dormant. They had responded to natural signals -- lack of water, cooler weather -- by shutting down early, as if September had come in July.

On May 18, 2002 , we discovered that many trees in Mendocino, Lake and Sonoma Counties were declining in health very rapidly. Visual observations since that time have shown a unusual pattern of symptoms that impact many variety of trees. Healthy trees tend to resist diseases and pests unless they are weakened by stress which may be caused by weather modification programs, jet fuel emissions, lingering contrails, and air pollution. It is believed that our trees may be stressed due, in part, to these factors.

For the park's ecosystem, there may not be that much time left. Since 1970, 40 percent of the park's piñon and juniper habitat has been destroyed by wildfires fueled by smog-fertilized grass, a disaster from which the slow-growing desert evergreens have so far been unable to recover.
. . . .

OTTAWA (CP) - Acid rain is causing forest decline in much of Eastern Canada, with losses to the forest industry estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars annually in the Atlantic region alone, says an Environment Canada report.

WORST NATIONAL DROUGHT IN HISTORY
opening paragraph from article titled Wasted Energy Means More Heat and Smog
published by Environmental News Network
Friday, August 24, 2001 ~ By David Suzuki

It's interesting that within weeks of Canada agreeing to the terms of the Kyoto Protocol, temperatures soared and the country became gripped in what climatologists describe as the worst national drought in history. Of course, no one can say with certainty that the heat wave and drought were triggered by, or even exacerbated by global warming. But it is certain that this is the kind of weather that will become more common this century.
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. . . Like many glaciers worldwide during the twentieth century, San Quintín appears to be losing mass and possibly retreating. Such a change is evident in these two photographs taken by astronauts only seven years apart.
. . .
Images STS068-260-73 and ISS004-E-7267 were provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center

The five million inhabitants of Santiago, Chile are exposed to high levels of air pollution during a significant portion of the year. Santiago ranks as one of the most polluted cities in the world and frequently confronts air-quality alerts and pollution emergencies. Air pollution in Santiago results in damaging respiratory diseases and a large number of premature deaths.

Excerpts from The Atlantic Monthly Digital Edition
OUR REAL CHINA PROBLEM
by Mark Hertsgaard
November 1997

The price of China's surging economy is a vast degradation of the environment, with planetary implications. Although the Chinese government knows the environment needs protection, writes the author, who spent six weeks inside China investigating the growing environmental crisis, it fears that doing the right thing could be political suicide.
. . . .
We were in the middle of a six-week trip through China to investigate the environmental crisis, and it was not a cheering assignment. In Beijing, Xi'an, and other cities of the north Zhenbing and I had walked in air so thick with coal dust and car fumes that even sunny days looked overcast and foggy. In the bone-dry province of Shanxi, a day's journey west of Beijing, we had ridden by train for hours without seeing anything that resembled woods -- there were only a few scattered, spindly trees, which looked ready to expire any minute. Everywhere, it seemed, the land had been scalped, the water poisoned, the air made toxic and dark.
. . . .
Sixty to 90 percent of the rainfall in Guangdong, the southern province that is the center of China's economic boom, is acid rain.
. . . .
. . . people's lungs and nervous systems are bombarded by an extraordinary volume and variety of deadly poisons. One of every four deaths in China is caused by lung disease, brought about by the air pollution and the increasingly fashionable habit of cigarette smoking.
. . . .
By 2020 its coal consumption will have doubled, if not tripled. All this will not only worsen the country's acid-rain and air-pollution problems; it will endanger the entire planet, by accelerating the global warming that scientists say is already under way.
. . . .
China's huge population and grand economic ambitions make it the most important environmental actor in the world today, with the single exception of the United States. Like the United States, China could all but single-handedly make climate change, ozone depletion, and a host of other hazards a reality for people all over the world
. . . .
Not for the last time in China, I felt as if I had stumbled into some fiendish laboratory experiment that was mushrooming beyond control.
. . . .
. . . . even well-educated people appear to be unaware that the human body cannot build up tolerance against industrial carcinogens the way it can against the infections that cause influenza. But the lack of awareness goes deeper. "A tendency to deny unpleasant realities has become part of the Chinese personality in recent decades," according to Orville Schell, the author of many books on China.
. . . .
President Bill Clinton has said that in his meeting with President Jiang Zemin, in October of 1995, he told Jiang that the biggest security threat China posed to the United States was related not to nuclear weapons or trade agreements but to the environment. Specifically, Clinton worried that China would copy America's bad example while pursuing economic development and end up causing terrible air pollution and global warming.
. . . .
I arrived in China eager to investigate the issue of climate change, but I almost forgot to raise the point during some interviews. When one is inhaling appallingly polluted air for weeks on end, one tends to focus the questions on that.
. . . .
China is a greenhouse giant. It has already surpassed the former Soviet Union to become the world's second largest producer of greenhouse gases, trailing only the United States

Excerpt from
LATEST IMPORT FROM CHINA: HAZE
by Ann Schrader
Denver Post Science Writer
April 18, 2001

. . . The haze, a dirty yellow when it left Asia on April 10 and now a whitish hue, sprawls from Canada to Arizona and now has reached to the Great Lakes.
. . . .
Atmospheric scientists contend that pollution has been flowing from Asia across the oceans. Three years ago, scientists said they had found evidence of Asian industrial pollution in Vancouver.
. . . .
As the Chinese economy grows and people buy motor vehicles and heat bigger homes better, the resulting pollution "will come to skewer or overwhelm our own pollution," Schnell said. In a decade or less, he predicted, certain pollution levels in California won't be controlled by California. Instead, the pollution will be imported from Asia.

A thick shroud of haze lingers over China, turning the sky an opaque grey over much of the eastern portion of the country. Beijing, China’s capital city, is situated roughly 150 km (93 miles) west of Bo Hai Bay, just north of what appears to the densest portion of the aerosol pollution in this true-color scene. The heavy aerosol concentrations can be seen blowing eastward across the Bo Hai Bay and Yellow Sea.

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

. . .
Today, however, much of the mountaintop forest land in the north remains bare, or pocked with dead or dying trees. The speed and extent of the devastation were shocking, because it appeared after a relatively long period of regeneration and amid ever-decreasing emissions of gases from industrial and municipal sources.

Experts reacted slowly, even incredulously. In the wake of reports of steady improvement in air quality, many had hoped that forests could be renewed within a reasonable amount of time. Today, after awakening from these optimistic dreams, experts in applied research as well as forestry are addressing the problem. The main culprit in the calamity is thought to be gas emissions (such as sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide) from industrial sources. The degradation of the soil after long-term exposure to acid rain was more severe than originally thought; it weakened the trees' ability to survive the past several winters of extreme cold.
. . .

. . . Recent research reveals what the Clean Air Act left out: that the major threats to forests are from nitrogen oxides (NOx)—which come mostly from cars, factories, and farm runoff—and from VOCs which react with sunlight and nitrogen oxide to form ozone, a component of smog.

. . . the major source of VOCs is from urban areas, especially cars; these sources contribute significantly to regional ozone pollution as they are blown far distances by prevailing winds.

. . . Ambient ozone enters the plant through pores in the leaf or needle called stomata. Most of the plant’s metabolic and respiratory activity occurs here. Ozone enters these stomata and initiates chains of reaction that destroy or damage plant proteins and enzymes, as well as the fatty chemicals that help form cell membranes.

. . . The ozone problem is severe and widespread throughout the eastern US. Ozone levels are high even in rural areas far away from automobiles, a major source of the primary pollutants necessary to form ozone (nitrogen and VOCs)

. . . Ozone and acid rain leave our forests more susceptible to drought, insects and disease through weakening their resistance to such natural cycles

Excerpts from a report by William Grant, PhD
Ch. 12. The Effects of Acidic Deposition on Pennsylvania's Forests, 1999, W.E. Sharpe and J.R. Drohan, editors, Proceedings of the 1998 Pennsylvania Acidic Deposition Conference, Volume 1, Environmental Resources Research Institute, University Park, PA, pp 151-160

Excess oak and hickory mortality rates appeared starting in about the mid-1970s and continue to increase today. The excess mortality is thought to be due to the accumulation of years of effects of acid deposition and ozone exposure.
. . . .
We have used USDA Forest Service Forest Inventory and Analysis data, along with ozone and acid ion deposition doses, to show that red oaks experience decline and increased mortality due to ozone, with some contribution from acid ion deposition, while white oaks show increased mortality due to acid ion deposition. In the author’s model, acid ions change the soil chemistry, leading both to increased N fertilization, but also reduced base cations and increased aluminum. This can lead to reduced root growth, making trees more susceptible to drought conditions. It can also reduce trees' frost hardiness. In addition, it can increase the susceptibility of trees to attacks by fungal infections and insects, both of which utilize the more abundant nitrogen compounds. Ozone attacks leaves, reduces photoproduction, and changes the sugar/starch ratios, resulting in fewer carbohydrates being stored in the roots. As a result, trees are more susceptible to defoliation by insects. In addition, by making the stomata more rigid, ozone can reduce the trees' ability to regulate transpiration, again making them more susceptible to drought.

On March 26-27, 1999, fourteen scientists and experts with diverse specialties came together for a conference at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment, entitled 'Acid Rain, Ozone and the Great Eastern Forests". They reviewed relevant literature, gave presentations of their own work, and engaged in scientific debate and discussion on the relationship between air pollution levels and the health of Appalachian forest ecosystems. Their conclusions, based on consensus, were presented to the public on the second day and are summarized here.

For supporting references or the complete findings, contact, Appalachian Voices ~ 703 W. King St., Suite 105 ~ Boone NC 28607 ~ phone (828) 262-1500

from the flyleaf of
AN APPALACHIAN TRAGEDY
AIR POLLUTION AND TREE DEATH IN THE EASTERN FORESTS OF NORTH AMERICA
edited by Ayers, Hager and Little
1998

All along the Appalachian chain, from Maine to Georgia, trees are dying. Spruce and fir are dead along the ridges. Great swaths of sugar maple are in mortal decline. The butternut is nearly extinct, and hemlocks are in a desperate struggle for life against an insect that flourishes as air pollution worsens. Dogwoods have been ravaged by a fungus that no one could even name until recently.

Weakened by decades of air pollution that have brought acid rain, deadly smog, and excess nitrogen, and by cell-destroying ultraviolet rays from a thinning ozone layer, the magnificent Appalachian forests are no longer able to fight off the bugs, blights, and bad weather that afflict forests everywhere. Instead, in these mountains, the trees are dying in unprecedented numbers - with death and decline affecting virtually all species in every part of the range. Yet relatively few people are aware of this ecological calamity in the making, due in large part to the efforts of the forest products industry, and their advocates in government, to downplay the crisis by manipulating statistics and confusing the issue.

An Appalachian Tragedy sets the record straight. Drawing on the talents of an authoritative and distinguished group of writers, including an award-winning historian, a top acid-rain scientist, and an eminent environmental journalist, this powerful book documents the damage that has already been done and warns of the fearful consequences for the future. Complex issues connected with tree mortality in the mountains, including threats to wildlife and to the cultural survival of the human communities of the Appalachians, are eloquently explored here.

Clearly, the need for action is apparent, as this book makes plain. Perhaps more than any other American region, these "round-shouldered old mountains" represent our historic devotion to the diversity of nature and the importance of community. If we allow tree death and forest decline to proceed unchecked in the Appalachians, we will have a tragedy of national proportions.

POLLUTION TAKES ITS TOLL ON EUROPE'S FORESTS
Brussels, Belgium ~ October 11, 2000 (ENS)

Only one third of Europe's trees are healthy according to the European Commission's annual 2000 report on the continent's forests. Forty-one percent of trees are classified as being in the "warning stage" and 20 percent are damaged, says the report, which concludes that further cuts in air pollution are needed before forests can be sustainably managed. (see http://ens.lycos.com/ens/oct2000/2000L-10-11-10.html for full article)

EUROPE'S FOREST - GENERAL TREND FOR THE WORSE
Excerpts from:: Forest Condition in Europe. 1999 Executive Report and Forest Condition in Europe. Results of the 1998 crown condition survey. 1999 Technical Report. Both available from the Federal Research Centre for Forestry and Forest Products, Leuschnerstr. 91, D-21027 Hamburg, Germany

During the annual forest survey in the summer of 1998, some 127,000 trees, spread over 5700 sample plots in a network covering most of Europe, were examined for defoliation. Of this number 24 per cent were assessed as damaged – meaning that they had lost more than 25 per cent of their leaves or needles in comparison with reference trees of the same species.

Of the four most common species in Europe – Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), Norwegian spruce (Picea abies), European oak (Quercus robur), and beech (Fagus sylvatica) – the one most damaged was European oak. The most extensively damaged forests were found in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the southern parts of Poland and Belarus.
. . . .
Dr Martin Lorenz, who heads the all-Europe survey and works at the Institute for World Forestry in Hamburg, Germany, comments:

"I hope that our report still leaves no doubt that defoliation has a lot of causes, but it has indeed been possible over the years to collect ever more indications for the plausible assumption that air pollution is involved. . . ."

HIGH DAMAGE TO FORESTS INTERFERES WITH SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT
from PHARE Multi-Country Forestry Programme Report
to provide a common platform, compare results of transformation and search for common solutions concerning the forests in the Central-Eastern European countries

Windstorms, snow, rim, and insect pests are the most important damaging factors with increasing trend in the last period. They are frequently only the final cause of forest destruction, however, after a long-lasting synergy of several predisposing factors. These have been: changed structure of forests, long-term high air pollution, abnormal climatic situations. The incidence of windthrows, for instance, is apparently higher in even aged forests with changed tree species structure.

The air pollution still represents the most important stress in the central CEE countries: Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. At the regional level, it is significant also in Romania and Bulgaria (referring, e.g., to the Maritsa East power plant station in Bulgaria).

Air pollution can wreck trees by culling the predators that normally keep leaf-munching insects in check, say ecologists in Finland. (click here to see the article on the NewScientist.com web site )

The agriculture ministry also acknowledges the problem has become acute. In a report this month, it said that Germany's woodlands have never been in such bad shape.

Berlin - The annual German forest survey published on Monday shows one-fifth of all trees in the country exhibit clear damage with beech trees in worst shape and pines being the most healthy.

About 21 percent of trees in sample surveys nationwide show major problems through loss of leaves or needles, said the study by the German government.

A total of 35 percent of trees show no damage and 44 percent have limited "early warning" damage, said the report.
. . . .

The most complete view ever assembled of the world's air pollution churning through the atmosphere and crossing continents and oceans has been produced by the MOPITT (Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft. ~ The swirling colors in these images paint a remarkable new portrait of our planet. For the first time, scientists have a powerful new tool to track immense clouds of air pollution, shown in red, as they travel across the Earth. The observations represent a powerful new tool for identifying and quantifying pollution sources and for observing the transport of pollution on international and global scales.

During the 20th century air pollution, once a localized problem, became a global one. Nowhere is immune from toxic fallout or changes to the atmospheric chemistry.

excerpts from
TROPOSPHERIC PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND ITS RESPONSE TO UV CHANGES
Sasha Madronich, National Center for Atmospheric Research Boulder, Colorado USA ~ 1993
In The role of the stratosphere in global change. Vol. 18. NATO-ASI Series, ed. M-L. Chanin, 437-61. Amsterdam: Springer-Verlag

ABSTRACT. The photochemistry of the troposphere is highly non-linear, and may be changing due to emissions of gases related to human activities. Increases in tropospheric ultraviolet (UV) radiation, due to stratospheric ozone depletion, may also perturb the troposphere.
. . . .
Numerous environmental concerns arise from tropospheric chemistry. On the urban scale (ca. 50 x 50 km[2]), intense tropospheric pollution can have direct effects on human health through noxious gases
. . . .
This pollution is not confined to urban areas, however, and can spread over regional scales (ca. 500 x 500 km[2]), resulting in acid rain through the formation of compounds like nitric acid (HNO3), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and organic acids (R-CO-OH, where R is an organic radical group). Vegetation damage can result also from exposure to high levels of oxidizing gases such as O3 and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2).

The concern that air pollution may grow to the global scale is real.
. . . .
For NOX, current athropogenic emissions are thought to be comparable to or larger than global natural sources (IPCC, 1990; WMO, 1991). The first major global concern is that an increase in these gases, some of which are strong infrared absorbers, may change the radiative balance of the atmosphere, possibly resulting in climate change. The combined radiative effect of all of these gases is about double that of carbon dioxide (CO2) alone. Additional climate perturbations may come from aerosols, formed when some compounds such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and dimethyl sulfide (CH3-S-CH3, or DMS) react in the troposphere to form H2SO4, which can lead to the formation of sulfate aerosols. These aerosols can absorb and scatter light, and, if appropriate in size, can also function as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), changing the size distribution of cloud droplets and affecting cloud reflectivities.

The second major global issue is the tropospheric "oxidizing" or "self-cleaning" capacity. Many compounds in the atmosphere are removed by reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH) (Levy, 1971; Thompson, 1992 and refs. therein). OH is not available in infinite supply, and can be lost or at least reduced, if emissions associated with human activities exceed certain values. Should this happen, the lifetime of many compounds will increase, and ultimately their atmospheric concentrations will rise to higher levels. Tropospheric OH is made mostly from tropospheric O3, and both are sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and therefore to the overhead ozone abundance. Thus, one consequence of stratospheric ozone depletion is the alteration of tropospheric chemistry. Ultimately, the chemistries of the troposphere and the stratosphere must be viewed as fully coupled, because the troposphere is also the first chemical filter for surface-emitted compounds on their way to the stratosphere.

Tropospheric chemistry is non-linear, it involves a large number of compounds emitted at the surface, and is complicated by interactions between different phases including gas, liquid, aerosol, and various surfaces. Large uncertainties remain that go beyond simple computing resource limitations. Among all the complications, a few of the basic features do appear to be understood
. . . .

7. CONCLUSION

It is very difficult to predict what the chemical state of the troposphere will be a few decades from now. In addition to the non-linearities which distinguish the basic HOX - NOX - CO - CH4 system, numerous other tropospheric processes occur. The troposphere is rich and highly varied in its composition, with numerous different compounds of carbon, sulfur, nitrogen, and the halogens. Chemical transformations may occur not only in the gas phase, but also in cloud and rain water, and on the surface of aerosols. Perhaps most importantly, the troposphere is strongly coupled to the other "spheres." One stratospheric coupling is via UV radiation, as discussed in the previous section, yet another is the change in transport of gases across the tropopause (in both directions) if the chemical composition of either the troposphere or the stratosphere is altered. The troposphere is also strongly coupled to the earth's surface which can be source and sink for tropospheric gases. The biosphere plays a central role here, because many of the emissions are related to natural ecosystems and to human activities (here, too, UV can play a role if it can induce significant changes in biological activity on land and ocean). Uncertainties abound. At best, some of these processes are beginning to be understood in one direction, (for example, the effect of isoprene emissions on tropospheric chemistry) but very little is known on the reciprocity of the coupling. Future global atmospheric change, whether it is climate, or UV irradiation, or exposure to altered tropospheric air, will most likely change how the biosphere affects the troposphere, completing a feedback which today is beyond our predictive skills.

. . . "The cycles of the past, both cooler or hotter than today, are no guide to the future. Within the next 20 to 50 years, the world will experience weather events for which there is no precedent.

"We have changed the chemistry of the atmosphere with a range of compounds that have never occurred in the past," . . .

. . . .
The result would be rampant pollution that would cast a blanket of smog across much of the globe by 2050, reducing life expectancy and destroying crops and forests as pollutants are left to float free in the atmosphere.

Only big cuts in emissions from power plants and car exhausts, particularly sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide and nitrous oxides, would prevent such an environmental catastrophe . . .

A quote from
A PALE BLUE DOT
by CARL SAGAN
a 1994 address to the Commonwealth Club of California broadcast on National Public Radio

"We humans have now reached the point where our technology is of formidable, maybe even awesome proportions. At the same time, we recognize that our atmosphere is terribly fragile. The thickness of the envelope of air around us, compared to the size of the Earth, is about the same as the thickness of a coat of shellac on a school room globe, when compared to the size of the globe. There is not much air there, yet we are pouring all sorts of stuff into the atmosphere. In many cases, we do not have a clue as to what the long term consequences of that would be. In this sense, powerful technology interacting with a fragile ecosystem means that there is a level of responsibility and prudence that is required of us, and I hope that we will rise to the challenge."

“It is our best estimate that more people are being killed by air pollution from traffic than from traffic crashes.”
. . . .
“We hope that policy-makers will understand that energy decisions and technology decisions are fundamentally public health decisions.”

excerpt from
CATASTROPHIC SHIFTS IN ECOSYSTEMS
BY MARTEN SCHEFFER, STEVE CARPENTER, JONATHAN A. FOLEY, CARL FOLKE & BRIAN WALKER
Nature 413, 591-596 (11 October 2001)

"We should not be complacent about the response of ecosystems to ongoing global changes in environment," Schlesinger said. "What may seem gradual and unimportant could produce big, undesirable changes in ecosystems and the productivity of food and forestry systems upon which we all depend."

LONDON, England -- The Earth is becoming less blue and more blurred when viewed from space, because of increased levels of smog, astronauts say.

United States astronaut Frank Culbertson, who currently is in command of international space station Alpha, said Earth is becoming less clear as forests are burned and gas emissions rise.

He said the view from space has changed markedly since his first mission in 1990.
. . . .

The commander of the International Space Station (ISS) has expressed his concern to the BBC at the impact mankind is having on the Earth's environment.
. . . .
"We have to be very careful how we treat this good Earth we live on." ~ Commander Frank Culbertson
. . . .

. . .
Elevated levels of carbon dioxide were found to increase tree growth by 20% to 28%, with elevated ozone levels decreasing growth by around the same amount. With both gases at high levels, tree growth was normal. However, the researchers believe that as the trees mature, the growth-promoting effects of carbon dioxide will decrease and the negative effects of ozone will increase.
. . .

Washington D.C. - Urban and industrial air pollution can stifle rain and snowfall, a new study shows, because the pollution particles prevent cloud water from condensing into raindrops and snowflakes. These findings are reported in the 10 March issue of Science.

The new study, by Daniel Rosenfeld, of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, presents satellite images and measurements of "pollution tracks" downstream from major urban areas and air pollution sources such as power plants, lead smelters, and oil refineries. The tracks consist of polluted clouds that have shut off virtually all precipitation because they contain abnormally small water droplets.

. . .

GREENLAND (As you well know, there are very few trees or people in Greenland, but this points out just how serious the spread of global air pollution has become.)

AIR POLLUTION TRAVELS FAR FROM FROM ITS SOURCE
Summit Base Camp, Greenland

The following excerpt from an article titled Greenland's Thick Ice Hints of Dramatic Change by Curt Supple of the Washington Post appeared in a local newspaper on August 7, 2000. It provides an example of how pollution spreads globally and has unexpected effects.

The skies over Northern India are filled with a thick soup of aerosol particles all along the southern edge of the Himalayan Mountains, and streaming southward over Bangladesh and the Bay of Bengal. Notice that the air over the Tibetan Plateau to the north of the Himalayas is very clear, whereas the view of the land surface south of the mountains is obstructed by the brownish haze. Most of this air pollution comes from human activities. The aerosol over this region is notoriously rich in sulfates, nitrates, organic and black carbon, and fly ash. These particles not only represent a health hazard to those people living in the region, but scientists have also recently found that they can have a significant impact on the region's hydrological cycle and climate (click to read the relevant NASA press release).

This true-color image was acquired on January 14, 2002, by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.

. . .
Rising levels of air pollution has brought down visibility levels for pilots who now need to take an extra 15 minutes to land at the international airport and this means burning an extra one to two tonnes of precious fuel. And with the winter setting in fog has added to the pilot's problems.

The aviation advisor and special secretary to the state government said that lingering dust, smoke particles in the atmosphere and fog was forcing pilots who were accustomed to landing or taking off with the help of manual direct landing systems to depend on instrument landing systems, normally used during adverse climate conditions.

He said the atmosphere which would earlier clear up around 8am now get cleared only after 11-11.30 am.

An A-320 aircraft for example has to hover over the airport while transferring control from manual or direct landing to the instrument landing system and the official blamed industries in Sanathnagar, Balanagar and the surrounding areas for polluting the atmosphere.
. . .

INDIAN OCEAN (There are not many trees or people here either, but this provides evidence that serious air pollution is reaching remote areas of the southern hemisphere as well as remote areas in the northern hemisphere.)

EXTENSIVE AIR POLLUTION COVERS 10 MILLION SQUARE MILES OF THE TROPICAL INDIAN OCEAN, RESEARCHERS SAY.
excerpts from an ENN Special Report dated Thursday, June 10, 1999

An international group of scientists participating in the Indian Ocean Experiment has documented extensive air pollution covering the Indian Ocean. The findings raise serious questions about the impact that widespread pollution is having on climate processes and on marine life.
. . . .
. . . the team of scientists was shocked by the extent of the pollution they encountered during the six-week field experiment that began in early February and continued through the end of March. The dense pollution layer was caused by sources thousand or more kilometers away.
. . . .
The haze is caused by high concentrations of small particles known as aerosols that are usually less than a few micrometers in diameter. Comprised primarily of soot, sulfates, nitrates, organic particles, fly ash and mineral dust, the particles often reduced visibility over the open ocean to less than 10 kilometers, a range typically found near polluted regions of the United States and Europe. The haze layer also contains relatively high concentrations of gases, including carbon monoxide, various organic compounds and sulfur dioxide, providing conclusive evidence that the haze layer is caused by pollution.
. . . .
Emissions of pollutants are expected to increase over the Indian Ocean and in other parts of the globe as additional economies grow.
. . . .
. . . the entire hydrological cycle is being perturbed.
. . . .
Coordinating the Indian Ocean Experiment are the Center for Clouds, Chemistry and Climate at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center at the University of California, San Diego. The project has received funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
. . . .
Source: Environmental News Network web page at http://www.enn.com/enn-news-archive/1999/06/061099/indoex_3665.asp

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mohammad Khatami opened a subway line Tuesday that is hoped will reduce pollution in a city where thick smog has occasionally forced schools to close.
. . . .
Pollution in Tehran has reached such proportions that last year the government launched a 10-year plan to reduce smog levels. The plan includes phasing out old vehicles that lack efficient exhaust filters.
. . . .
On some days in Tehran, the sun is barely visible in the mornings. Residents complain of itchy eyes and sore throats. In late 1999, the smog became so bad that the government shut down kindergartens and elementary schools, closed the city center to motorists for several days, and urged elderly people to stay indoors.
. . . .

I've read your recent many informative reports on tree decline with much interest.

Leaf curling has been also observed in Japan, significantly since last year, though is not sure whether it is the same phenomenon you observed or not.

The leaf curling in Japan increases in rain and is obvious in thin-leaved deciduous species such as Enkianthus, Acer, and Prunus. Increases of curling during rain were confirmed by my observation using time-lapse video. The leaf curling does not significantly recover after rain and the curling increases as months pass. The curling is more significant in leaves in outer part of the crown that receive more rain. From these observations, I suppose the leaf curling in Japan is related to acid rain, though experimental proof has not been obtained yet.

Hisao Fujii (fujiihi@ffpri.affrc.go.jp)
Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
P.O.Box16, Tsukuba Norin Kenkyu Danchi-nai,
Ibaraki, 305, Japan

Thank you very much for your very interesting and implicative observations sent by recent two E-mails.

As to leaf curling, in Japan the curling symptom also observed in many species. I wrote in the previous mail "obvious in thin-leaved deciduous species such as Enkianthus, Acer, and Prunus", but after that Dr. Y. Morimoto in Japan informed that evergreen species Viburnum odoratissimum var. awabuki with very thick leaves are also showing the curling symptoms by E-mail to me. I confirmed that and it was also observed in evergreen species Lithocarpus. Less extent of curling may be observed in many species. In Liriodendron tulipifera in Japan it is not significant now.

In major trends, the curling symptoms in Japan are progressing in rain and cumulative, but there is some possibility that more fine observations can find diurnal changes. Relevant to the implication of your observation, Dr. M. Ikawa in Japan reported that pH of dew in urban regions at night is more acid than rain, though dew on leaves is thought to be buffered by leaf substances. And many researchers in Japan reported pH of fog is often much more acid (for example fog of pH 2.5 was reported at a subalpine region). I expect your future observation and research.

As to leaf loss you reported, many conifers in Japan show leaf loss symptoms mainly in old leaves, and some broadleaved species such as Zelkova and Aesculus fell their leave in earlier season and some broadleaved species decrease their leaves in some branches or in inner crowns. In some decline-symptom photo reported from Europe or west north America, pale green leaves are often observed, but in Japan leaf color is relatively deep, that may be relevant to soil cation or other nutrient contents. I feel leaf loss of your observations also is relevant to soil acidification (including cation or nutrient loss, toxicity of aluminum and so on) compounded by rain leaching and leaf damage due to acid deposits, though ozone and other air pollutants also have possibilities.
. . . . .
I appreciate your reports very much.

Best regards.
Hisao Fujii

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) The damage to agricultural crops caused by ozone -- a poisonous compound commonly found in smog -- amounts to an estimated 20 billion yen every year (approx. US$166,457,000) in the Kanto region alone, Shizuoka University researchers said Saturday.
. . . .
Ozone, a blue gaseous oxygen compound most often created when automobile exhaust is exposed to sunlight, has been blamed for the death of forests in areas with high concentrations of the gas.
. . . .

excerpt from
BIZARRE WEATHER RAVAGES AFRICANS' CROPS
Some See Link to Worldwide Warming Trend
By Michael Grunwald
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 7, 2003

Many scientists say that Ntaote, along with nearly 40 million other Africans at risk of starvation, may be among the first human victims of global climate change. The scientists are wary of attributing any specific weather event to general warming trends, and they are careful to note that the causes of the famine stalking the continent include not only erratic weather but war, intractable poverty, corrupt governance and the AIDS epidemic. And while the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has concluded that human beings are contributing to global warming, the scientists do not try to blame the industrialized world's greenhouse gas emissions for the developing world's complex problems.

Still, climate experts say the "extreme weather events" that have plagued countries like Lesotho in recent years are remarkably consistent with predictions for a warmer world. The IPCC has forecast that Africa will be particularly vulnerable to the water shortages, disease outbreaks and food crises that are expected to be intensified by global warming, and the experts warn that a 30-year drought in the Sahel region that has scorched fields in Chad, Mali, Gambia and Mauritania could be a harbinger of other disasters. The international Red Cross has documented steady increases in weather-related disasters in Africa and around the world, and most experts say the risks will increase with time.

"In short," said Jay Lawrimore, chief of the climate monitoring branch for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, "the prospect of climate change for Africa is not good."

Cynthia Rosenzweig, a NASA research scientist who studies the impact of climate change on food security, said there was already strong evidence of a warming trend in Africa, far beyond the well-publicized melting of Mount Kilimanjaro's glaciers in Tanzania. The head of the World Food Program in Lesotho, Techeste Zergaber, said bluntly that the villagers already can feel the effects of global warming -- in their stomachs.

"It's an amazing thing for a scientist: The things we've been predicting for years are starting to happen now," Rosenzweig said. "It's already having real effects on vulnerable people. And the predictions get even worse."

Concerning damage along the coast of Maine, I saw a great deal of damage near Kittery, Maine a few weeks ago along with significant air pollution. It is reported that Acadia National Park on the coast of Maine receives very high doses of ozone, some of the highest in the country. I believe this is caused by NOx pollution coming up the coast from metropolitan areas to the south and the time in transit allows high concentrations of ozone to form.

Our house looks to the east and we can often see on the far horizon, the color of the atmosphere out toward the coast of New Hampshire and southern Maine. Regularly the atmosphere on the horizon will be a brownish yellow, a telltale sign of NOx pollution. Twenty years ago I only saw this type of atmospheric pollution near cities.

(Dick Jaegels, University of Maine Forest Biologist) There have been reports of red spruce dying at high elevations in the Adirondacs and in the Green Mountains of Vermont. The only thing that was correlating with them was exposure to cloud fog that was very acid. We began a project on the coast of Maine so we could look at trees that were also bathed in fog but which would be relatively pristine fog.

(Kate Arno, Segment Host) In the midst of all the study for causes, the problem of red spruce showed up along the Maine coast as well, and that led scientists to begin analyzing coastal fog. Jaegels has found the coastal fog is probably more damaging than the acids carried by clouds at higher elevations.

(Dick Jaegels, University of Maine Forest Biologist) I would have been surprised also before research began to show that because you think of clouds as being pure distilled water that has evaporated and condensed, but it's really the fact that this water is recondensing around some kind of nuclei, and in an area where there is no pollution that might just be inert dust particles but in an area where there is pollution then those pollutants become part of that fog.

(Kate Arno, Segment Host) Scientists have found pollutants affect tree species differently. Pine is more sensitive to ozone, and red spruce is more sensitive to acid fog.

(Dick Jaegels, University of Maine Forest Biologist) Some of the things we know that polluted fog does is that when it deposits on the leaf's surface it can affect the waxes that are on that surface and the waxes on a leaf surface are very important in protecting leaves from desiccation, from infection by fungi, from damage by ultraviolet light; for a number of reasons these surface waxes are very important on leaves.

(Kate Arno, Segment Host) This is leading some scientists to conclude trees can be weakened by pollution and then other stresses can come in and damage them further, like cold weather, global warming or insects. These are called multiple stresses.

To: Gerry Hawkes <ghawkes@eco-systems.org>
Date: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 7:35 AM

The worsening condition of many white pine in Southern Maine has been noted by others for over two years now. Yellow Tops, 90% mortality rates in certain stands, etc. etc. . . . . . . . . . The problem with the trees seems to appear in Southern Maine and work its way further south.

UNPRECEDENTED FOREST DAMAGE RELATED TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND TOXIC AIR POLLUTION?

From: Donald J Mansius <cndmans@state.me.us>
To: Multiple recipients of list FOREST <FOREST@LISTSERV.FUNET.FI>
Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 12:41 PM
Subject: Maine Forest Service Maps Out Ice Storm Impact

AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Department of Conservation's Maine Forest Service preliminary assessments confirm that the January Ice Storms were among the most noted natural events to affect Maine's forest in recorded history. First, more than one half of Maine's forests - about 11.3 million acres - were affected by the storm. Second, of this total, approximately 58% (6.5 million acres) contains areas classified as moderate to severe damage. Third, the value of standing timber damaged and subject to loss without salvage operations is estimated to exceed $300 million. And finally, more than 400 Maine municipalities recorded impact from the storms.
(this is only the first paragraph of the origi


ACID FOG		LEAF DAMAGE


Infected Stump		Dying Top		Declining Redwoods