T hanks to a cruel trick of weather and chemistry, one of the most remote spots on the Central coast suffers from some of the worst air in Monterey County. Smog detectors at otherwise pristine Pinnacles National Monument regularly record the highest levels of air pollution found in this relatively clean region, bad air sent directly from the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of those noxious vapors originated in the tailpipes of cars.
Nitric oxide is among the air pollutants emitted by burning fossil fuels such as gasoline.
At a high enough concentration, nitric oxide reacts with sunlight and oxygen to become the ugly brown haze that frequently cloaks San Jose and Los Angeles. Add still more sunlight and oxygen to the mix, and that haze transforms into the toxic gas known as ozone. High in the atmosphere, ozone protects life on Earth from ultraviolet rays that fry skin and bring on skin cancer. But on the ground, high levels of the gas are associated with a long list of respiratory problems, including decreased lung capacity, asthma, bronchitis and even emphysema. Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of smog since they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults.