Relacje port lotniczy - środowisko przyrodnicze

Selected aspects of the airport - environment relationship

Summary: The growing importance of air transportation in the era of highly mobile societies has also an increasingly appreciable effect on the natural environment. The paper attempts to show a number of air transportation infrastructure factors that impact different aspects of the natural environment. It also takes a look at environmental features that determine where an airport will be located and exactly how it will function. Airports generate air pollution, noise, and vibrations, causing damage to the natural environment and harm to people who reside in their immediate vicinity. The ability of an airport to grow as a business enterprise is increasingly being determined by its ability to address environmental issues. This is the case because air carriers considering creating a connection to a given airport take into account not only market-based issues but also the ecological sensitivity of the site. In addition, many airports are located on the fringes of major urban areas, which means that they come into contact with natural areas that surround major cities. Airports generate an even larger amount of pollution in the winter when they are forced to deice runways and the wings of aircraft. The substances used in the deicing process are normally different types of chemicals that end up directly in the natural environment. In addition to the issues already mentioned, the significance of meteorological conditions in airport operations must also be considered. The vast majority of air tragedies, especially those on airport property, are the result of sudden changes in wind direction and ice patches on runways. Furthermore, different airports produce different degrees of albedo, depending on the material they have been constructed with. Airports occupy large areas characterized by an ecological monoculture, determining the degree of diversity of plant life. Finally, airport management normally tends to take steps designed to affect animal life. This includes scaring away of birds which can threaten safe airport operations. The airport - environment relationship is a two-way street. On the one hand, airports shape the natural environment around them. On the other hand, the natural environment can determine whether an airport is constructed at a given location and how exactly it will function at that location.

Słowa kluczowe: port lotniczy, zanieczyszczenie środowiska, oddziaływanie przestrzenne

Słowa kluczowe (w języku angielskim): airport, environmental pollution, spatial impact

Prace Geograficzne, 2010, z. 123, s. 129-142.

Instytut Geografii i Gospodarki Przestrzennej UJ

ISSN 1644-3586

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