User:Lizarteaga9/Air stagnation

Air stagnation is a meteorological condition that occurs when there is a lack of atmospheric movement, leading to the accumulation of pollutants and particles that can decline the air quality in a particular region. This condition typically correlates with air pollution and poor air quality due to the possible health risks it can cause to humans and the environment. Due to light winds and lack of precipitation, pollutants cannot be cleared from the air, either gaseous (such as ozone) or particulate (such as soot or dust).

Causes

Typically air stagnation events develop under warm high-pressure systems, where conditions are stagnant and there is little vertical and horizontal air movement. When there is a stable atmospheric environment, pollutants are accumulated in areas near the surface. These pollutants include both gaseous and particulate matter such as ground-level O3 and PM2.5. Ground-level ozone and particulate matter originate from different sources and human activities such as power plants and refineries that pollute the environment around the affected area. With limited dispersion and a lack of atmospheric mixing, the amount of pollutants increase and stay stagnant for days. According to the National Climatic Data Center, stagnation events are characterized with having light low level winds, light upper level winds, and a lack of precipitation. These meteorological conditions show how atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns are correlated with air stagnation events.

Urban areas and precipitation

Air stagnation becomes a significant issue in urban areas with high pollution sources because there is an increase in the amount of particulates that are being produced daily, causing prolonged events. In addition, urban areas can contribute to localized warming known as heat islands, that inhibit the dispersion of these pollutants and worsen air stagnation. Weather fluctuations may cause a lack of precipitation and storm systems that contribute to the pollutants being stagnant and persisting for an extended period of time. With the absence of rain, there is a reduced amount of atmospheric mixing and the build up of particulates continues.

Air Stagnation Advisory

In the United States, the National Weather Service issues an Air Stagnation Advisory when these conditions are likely to occur. When substantial accumulations of smoke, dust, industrial emissions, or air pollution are predicted to occur close to the ground for a prolonged amount of time, the National Weather Service issues this product. These conditions are more likely to occur during the seasons of summer and fall and the number of stagnation days during fall and summer tend to be much higher. In addition, spatial variations during winter and spring tend to be incoherent and there are less air stagnation event advisories.

Health risks

Air stagnation can lead to a decrease in air quality, which could cause health problems such as respiratory issues or diminished lung function for certain individuals. Poor air quality can also cause some symptoms such as difficulty breathing, coughing, and headaches. Typically pollutants irritate the respiratory system and trigger respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic bronchitis that make it difficult for them to go outside. During air stagnation events, it is recommended for children, elders, and people with pre-existing health conditions, to stay inside as much as possible and stay hydrated.

An example or air stagnation in Northern France, where a sheet of black, thick, and odorous smoke formed and stagnated for a few meters.

References

Article Evaluation

Article Content:

Most of the information in the article is relevant and has information about air stagnation, however it does talk a little further about what it could lead to, which is not necessarily relevant. What distracted me the most about this article were how short the sentences were and the amount of links that were not evenly spread out. Some of this information could be out of date since most of the references are from the early 2000's and since then, there has been much more information that has been discovered about air stagnation. In addition, the climate has changed which has effected how frequent air stagnation occurs. There could be information on what air stagnation is or looks like instead of the phenomenon about it. We could also talk more about the causes and effects of air stagnation and more relevant information on how it is currently a problem. What we could improve is adding more paragraphs, more accurate links and references, and definitely work on the flow of the information throughout. Some information is presented accurately but it could definitely be better. In addition, there are several links to other Wikipedia articles, but there should be edits surrounding what articles to keep or not.

Article tone:

For the most part the article tone is neutral and it appears it is just trying to give you information not only about air stagnation but also on other topics. There doesn't seem to be any heavy bias towards any article or person. I feel like most points are underrepresented and need more information, however there is more info about the U.S. and there could definitely be more information about air stagnation in other countries and how it differs.

Article sources:

Most of the citations were accurate and related to the article however, there were two references that no longer existed and the page was not found. Most of the citations come from reliable scientific sources. None of them seem bias and some are even from weather stations or NASA. They are reliable and neutral sources.

Article talk page:

On the article's talk page, there seems to be little importance to it. Not many people have been talking about it or have had few conversation points. The last conversation about edits being made was in 2018. The only conversations made have been someone linking articles about the health effects or air stagnation and someone modifying external links. The article has been rated as Stub-class and low importance and is within the scope of Wiki Project Weather. Overall, the article is not very popular and there has been little talk about any modifications to it, it's mostly just a few people sharing more information on this topic.