From: http://co.fairbanks.ak.us/airquality/AQNearRealTime.aspx and http://airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=resources.conc_aqi_calc
At 4:00 p.m. on Monday December 1, 2014, the Fairbanks North Star Borough/ADEC site indicates 62 ug/m3L particulate air pollution level as “moderate” air quality at Hamilton Acres site:
but putting the same 62 ug/m3L into the EPA Air Now site shows 62 ug/m3L as “unhealthy” air quality. Has the FNSB/ADEC come up with its own air quality scale that only appears to coincide with the EPA Air Now ratings, but in fact labels the same concentrations of air pollutants as less dangerous in the FNSB/ADEC rating scale?
WHAT IS GOING ON HERE FNSB/ADEC???
According to the World Health Organization’s Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005,“The evidence on airborne PM and public health is consistent in showing adverse health effects at exposures experienced by urban populations in cities throughout the world, in both developed and developing countries. The range of effects is broad, affecting the respiratory and cardiovascular systems and extending to children and adults and to a number of large, susceptible groups within the general population. The risk for various outcomes has been shown to increase with exposure, and there is little evidence to suggest a threshold below which no adverse health effects would be anticipated. In fact, the lower range of concentrations at which adverse health effects has been demonstrated is not greatly above the background concentration, which has been estimated at 3–5 μg/m3 in the United States and western Europe for PM2.5. The epidemiological evidence shows adverse effects of particles after both short- and long-term exposures.”
northpolecleanair 