FAQ
What is the regional coverage of Pallas Supersite measured data?
Regional coverage of Pallas Supersite is valid around 100 km from the measure stations.
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What impact do I have on the Purest air in the World If I visit Muonio and Pallas-Ylläs National Park?
Air quality in Pallas is mainly affected by the long-range transport of pollutants and the regional natural emissions of gases and particles.
Even if the local emissions would be doubled, they would still have a minor role for the air quality in comparison to the impact of long-range transport. Most likely the difference would not be reflected in the experience, or even the measurements, of air quality.
Does air pollution have an effect on life expectancy?
Life expectancy is a summary measure of population health that provides a measure of how long an average individual in a population might be expected to survive. Air pollution is a major risk for ill health and death around the world. The growing burden of disease from air pollution is among the major challenges facing national governments and public health officials, with far-reaching implications for national economies and human well-being. A State Of Global Air Special report estimates that the average human life is shortened by approximately 1.8 years due to the combined effect of ambient (outdoor) ozone pollution and fine particulate matter pollution (PM2.5) in ambient air and in households from cooking with wood and other solid fuels. You can find more information about the report here.
Why is Pallas, Lapland's air so pure?
Pallas is located in sparsely populated Lapland, far from European and global emissions. The concentration level of fine particles (PM2.5) in Pallas is about 2–3 µg/m3, which is clearly below e.g. WHO annual guideline value. Such low concentrations are only found in extremely remote places.
At Pallas, the WHO daily guideline value is hardly ever exceeded, in the years 2017–2020, only three times. The highest concentration levels are most often from forest and wildfires, long-range transport smoke.
Is it environmental friendly to burn wood in a fireplace or a camp fire?
Wood burning uses renewable energy but at the same time it produces many kind of harmful emissions locally for example black carbon (BC). However, in the right wood burning way you can significantly decrease the amount of emissions. Here is a list of things you should consider when burning wood.
1. Use dry and clean wood. Clean firewood is light in color. Dry wood burns cleanly and hot. Damp wood produces a quarter less heat than dry wood.
2. Don’t burn trash or recyclable material. Burning trash damages the fireplace and produces a lot of smoke and emissions harmful to health. Recycle cardboard and paper instead of burning it.
3. Ensure sufficient supply air. Do not burn wood with too little air, this can produce multiple times more of emissions compared to sufficient supply air burning.
Why was The Purest Air -website created?
The website and other The Purest Air -material is produced as part of project that is funded by European Regional Development Fund, Leverage from EU 2014 -2020 and The Regional Council of Lapland. The aim of the More arctic attractiveness with the purest air in the world -project with the municipality of Muonio, the Finnish Meteorological Institute, Metsähallitus’ nature services and Lapland University of Applied Sciences is e.g. popularize the science produced by the Pallas Meteorological Institute’s measuring station (The Pallas Supersite) for information and make it available to organizations such as companies in the area. Climate information can be used, for example, in image marketing, strategic planning and service production.
In Muonio area we breathe the purest air in the world. Air pollution levels in Lapland are typically about half that of southern Finland. According to trends, nature tourism and responsible tourism are growing after the corona pandemic, and destinations such as Muonio are attractive. At the same time as special attention must be paid to low carbon, reducing the carbon footprint, sustainable use of nature and combating climate change the popularity of nature tourism and thus its use by both businesses and individual tourists is increasing. In Muonio, Pallas, there is a very high-quality air quality monitoring station (The Pallas Supersite), which is strategically located for monitoring climate change. With the help of the data, e.g. the current state of the climate and future trends, in Muonio and in the world.
One of the strategic goals of the municipality of Muonio is to strengthen the municipality’s vitality in a sustainable way. According to the municipal strategy, our business life is made possible by unique and pure nature. The happy everyday life of Muonio grows from nature. The purest air and sustainability of the world will be even more strongly the main themes of municipal communication in the future. The vision of the recently made Muonio tourism program 2020 – 2025 is to be Lapland’s most responsibly growing and happiest international tourist destination in the heart of the Pallas-Yllästunturi National park. One of the themes to be developed in the tourism program is the utilization of clean air as part of the image and experiences.
Did not find an answer to your question? Contact jesse.kori@muonio.fi for additional information!