Ship Pollution Fouling San Diego Air

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 18, 2008 at 1:58 PM PDT

This story was published more than 15 years ago.

UC-San Diego researchers say dirty smoke from ships is polluting the air in coastal cities including San Diego. KPBS Reporter Ed Joyce has the story.

UCSD researchers have determined just how much ship exhaust harms San Diego's air quality.

UCSD Chemistry Professor Mark Thiemens led the research which used a chemical fingerprinting technique to track dirty smoke from ships at sea.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Thiemens: We found that we were able to use this chemical to recognize ships and the potential impact that they have in San Diego. Where do things come from and how much is it.

He says on some days the ship pollution makes up nearly one-half of the fine, sulfur-rich particulate matter in the air.

Thiemens says that air is especially harmful to humans because the fine microscopic particles can travel extremely long distances.

Air samples taken from the Scripps Pier at UCSD shows that dirty air from ships in the Port of Los Angeles shows up in San Diego.

Some researchers say the dirty ship smoke may cause 60,000 deaths worldwide each year.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

twitter

Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

See stories by Ed Joyce