Fears ‘LA-style smog’ will choke up country as hot spell hits air quality
AIR quality could be affected by weeks of soaring temperatures with Ireland at risk of being hit with Los Angeles-style smog.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said ozone levels at ground level reached 160 micrograms per cubic metre last Thursday and Friday, just below the 180 microgram threshold which would have prompted a public health warning.
Air quality is normally an issue during the winter months as solid fuels to heat homes are burnt, Micheál O’Dwyer, from the EPA’s air quality monitoring unit, said.
But periods of sustained hot weather brought increases in ground-level ozone, which can affect those with respiratory problems.
Sunlight had an impact on emissions from vehicles which created the ozone, he added.
“Last week, we were monitoring quite high ozone levels, which almost reached the alert threshold, a threshold which if it’s reached we are obliged to inform the public and advise at-risk people, such as those suffering from asthma,” he said.
“It’s the typical smog we associate with LA. It’s something to keep an eye on. If ozone gets to a certain concentration, the air quality index goes to fair [from good] and I think it went to poor last week. It’s particularly an issue for people with respiratory issues. It’s gone back to normal levels, but it peaked on Thursday and Friday.”
He added that the threshold had been reached about a decade ago, and the situation was being monitored.
Meanwhile, new figures reveal that rainfall across the capital during May and June was the lowest on record.
Dr Conor Murphy, from Maynooth University, said Met Éireann data showed that just
3.8mm of rain fell at the Phoenix Park last month, the lowest level since records began in
1850.
In Dublin Airport, just
4.8mm fell, making it the fourth driest June on record at the airport. By way of comparison, average June rainfall in Dublin Airport over the 30-year period
1981 to 2010 was 66.7mm. Analysing rainfall in both stations for May and June confirmed they were the driest May and June on record, he said.
“What’s important for water resources is cumulative rainfall, and June and May combined for both Phoenix Park and Dublin Airport show they’re the lowest in at least 168 years,” he said. “If this continues, it’s a challenge for water sources.”
The three hottest years on record have been in 2015, 2016 and 2017, with reports suggesting that some parts of the northern hemisphere have witnessed among the highest temperatures in their history over the last week.
Former President Mary Robinson said the fine spell being enjoyed across the country was markedly different from the drought being experienced in some African countries, and there was a need for a groundup movement to get behind climate justice akin to those which passed the marriage equality and abortion referendums.
“I have a fear that too many people will like this weather and do nothing about it [climate change],” she told the Institute of International and European Affairs in Dublin. “There’s being in Ireland and enjoying the sunshine, and being in Malawi where there is serious drought.”
She said the world had to move away from fossil fuels, which should become “stranded assets” and unusable, and that the global community had to strive to keep average global temperature rises to no more than 1.5C as set out in the Paris climate agreement.