Why are scientists seeing more pollutants in Canada than here in Alaska?
There are two reasons that the air pollutants are worse in Canada than Alaska. The first reason has to do with the air transportation. The Bering Sea protects Alaska somewhat by warming it. The warmth of the air forces the air mass North during the winter. In Canada, they do not have anything forcing the air North, so they get more pollution from the air. There is also a thing called the grasshopper effect. A pollutant cools and condenses and deposits on the ground. When it warms up, it will go back into the atmosphere, transport until it gets further north and cold again, deposit again, and so on. If you happen to be fairly far north, once it deposits, it never comes back up and it enters the food chain. Here in Alaska, where it is a little bit warmer, some of those pollutants are put back into the atmosphere.
