The town with the cleanest air in the world is in Svalbard
Imagine your town without wi-fi and without any satellite network. If the answer is yes, you have a better chance of having cleaner air than other polluted cities in your country. We can choose to live in harmony with nature, utilizing its natural resources without changing it from its original form.Wi-Fi is prohibited in a village in Svalbard, and Big Changes are in the Air.
mountain in Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, on the Brøggerhalvøya peninsula of Spitsbergen. The town of Ny-Ålesund, which has a population of up to 150 people in the summer and 45 in the winter. At 765 miles (1,231 km) from the North Pole, it is one of the world’s northernmost permanent civilian populations.
This exceptional group of men and women takes on the role of the curious international ambassadors for the numerous nations they represent, including China, South Korea, Japan, Britain, Norway, and Italy.
The settlement is situated far from significant human pollution sources, although air from North America and Europe is nevertheless brought into the area by atmospheric circulation. In the first place, this establishes a unique setting for the observation of post-global warming situations; secondly, it concentrates international scientific study and fosters international collaboration between states.
Due to ongoing scientific research as well as the placement of measurement devices across the area, access is extremely restricted. You must be a scientist engaged in a project with one of the stations or responsible for upkeep of the settlement’s infrastructure in order to enter.
Despite the numerous laws and guidelines in place in Svalbard to safeguard the environment and conserve species, human activity is nevertheless visible thanks to the scientific equipment that is progressively blending into the surrounding scenery.
It is an incredibly beautiful place, with a fjord on one side and a mountain rising on the other. In addition to being one of the best places on Earth to breathe, this place is located far from major sources of pollution in an almost pristine Arctic environment, and the air quality is the best in the world.
Winter is coming… A Permanent Ice Age! – YouTube
The senior scientist at the Zeppelin Observatory and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Ove Hermansen, states, “The Zeppelin Observatory is located in a remote and pristine environment, far away from major sources of pollution.” You are aware that it already has a global prevalence if you are able to measure it here. This is an Excellent Place to Research the Shifting Atmosphere.
An international effort to map humanity’s impact on the atmosphere depends heavily on research conducted in Ny Ålesund. According to Hermansen, the measurements they make aid in “detecting the Base Line of Pollution and calculating the Global Trend over Time.”
Five days a week, a worker from the Norwegian Polar Institute ascends to the Observatory via cable car to do maintenance, collect air samples, and replace the equipment’s filters. As a result of its isolated position and elevation above atmospheric layers, which trap any small amount of pollution generated locally by the town, the Zeppelin Observatory is the perfect site for assisting in the construction of an atmospheric picture of Earth. The Observatory’s Sensors take measurements In addition to Green House Gases, other pollutants include airborne heavy metals, chlorinated gases like Chlor Fluor Carbon (CFC) S, organo phosphate pollutants like pesticides, and particulates like soot that are typically associated with burning fossil fuels.
Their data is then combined with measurements made by an international network of stations elsewhere to create a global “background” of atmospheric gases, aerosols, and particles in the atmosphere. This provides a benchmark that is used to measure pollution.
Hermansen, who has worked at the Zeppelin Observatory for 20 years, adds, “The monitoring here at the observatory covers a whole range of issues.” “Measuring greenhouse gases and aerosols is particularly important in a global context for their impact on climate change, while environmental toxins are particularly interesting for their biological effects and the state of the Arctic environment.”
However, early notice of atmospheric changes can also be obtained via the Zeppelin Observatory.
Researchers have recently found increasing amounts of microplastics in snow samples from far-flung Arctic locations, which raises the possibility that the particles may have traveled there by air.
In this regard, methane levels in the atmosphere surrounding Zeppelin have been rising since about 2005 and hit record highs in 2019. The idea of keeping the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C is being threatened by rising amounts of methane emissions generated by human activity.
Ten days following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, radionuclides from the plant’s fission reactor were found in Zeppelinfjellet’s atmosphere. In a matter of days, it became evident that these radioactive particles were traveling thousands of kilometers through the atmosphere.
The Norwegian Mapping Authority is one organization making use of the unobstructed skies and radio-free atmosphere, having constructed a 20-meter (65-foot) radio observatory to assist in tracking Earth’s movements and gravitational field.
The town’s huts are frequently shaken by violent storms, and at night the wind creeps in to steal the heat from the occupants. When I would visit the town, I would typically spend the evenings inside the cabins dressed entirely in my outdoor gear, which included an expedition jacket, pants, base- and mid-layers, and a blanket.
Without some online articles, this post would not have been feasible. We are grateful to all of the researchers for their tireless efforts.
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