Newswise — A 2004 government mandate to use newer snowmobiles that will help clean the air in Yellowstone National Park is due in part to research by Central Michigan University faculty members.
The 2003 study by CMU geography department faculty members Dave Shively and Bruce Pape, along with Barkley Sive of the University of New Hampshire, confirmed that new, four-stroke snowmobiles and snowcoaches produce far lower levels of emissions than conventional two-stroke snowmobiles, which are the primary source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and carbon monoxide pollution in Yellowstone National Park during winter. Richard Neil Mower, CMU geography department chairman, also contributed to the study.
The scientists recommended in their final report to the park that discontinuing the use of two-stroke snowmobiles "will improve the air quality by reducing VOCs and carbon monoxide pollutants."
"This is, in fact, what will happen in the 2004-05 winter season use, following a recent federal court decision that has reversed the previous federal approach to keeping the park open to snowmobile use," said Pape.
Their study provided new information not previously available about the distribution and levels of air pollutants in the park. "This investigation directly complements existing research and provides considerable additional information concerning the origin, distribution and fate of ground level volatile organic compounds and other pollutants in the park during the winter season," said Shively.
The researchers collected more than 200 air samples from 21 sites throughout Yellowstone from Feb. 12 to 16, 2003. Sive and his staff at UNH measured approximately 85 different VOCs, including benzene and toluenel. Carbon monoxide and methane were quantified by an atmospheric chemistry research team at the University of California-Irvine.
Even in remote park locations, levels of pollutants were substantial and carried the "fingerprint" of emissions from two-stroke snowmobiles, which substantially out-numbered the cleaner-burning four-stroke snowmobiles.
"This study provided us with clear, park-wide snapshots of air quality," said Sive, a former CMU faculty member who is now an atmospheric chemist with the Climate Change Research Center at UNH's Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space. "We saw large increases of various gases associated with two-stroke snowmobiles. In some cases the air was much dirtier than the conditions one would expect for such a remote area."
Yellowstone National Park funded the study as part of ongoing efforts to monitor air quality and other park resources to assess the impacts of winter use. More information is available at Yellowstone National Park's Web site, http://www.nps.gov/yell/technical/planning/winteruse/plan/sive_report.htm.
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