At Guadalupe Mountains National Park, in Trans-Pecos Texas, two photographs are displayed. One shows the Guadalupes in all their glory; the other, a dim vision of the same scene through a haze of pollutants. Numerous areas in the Southwest, from Big Bend to the Grand Canyon, where once crystal-clear air delighted the eyes, now too often have their beauty profaned by a murky atmosphere. This effect on the esthetics of our desert views is not the only result, though. Even disregarding what such air might do to the health of people, there may be other, far-reaching consequences.
One of the things that affects climate is the albedo of an area. Now,
albedo is a measurement of the amount of light reflected from a region. Our desert
naturally has a high albedo because so much light reflects off of naked rock and soil.
But clouds, whether natural or blankets of smog, also send light from the sun back into
space, changing our natural reflectance. The ultimate climatic effect may be
subtle—but subtle or not, it'll be there.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Kerr, R. A. 2003. Huge Pacific waves trigger wild weather half a world away. Science 300:1081.