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Ooh Ooh, That Smell

It's baaaack.

Call it molasses- or maple syrup-like, the mysterious fragrance that confounded the noses of perhaps thousands of New Yorkers seven weeks ago returned to several spots in Manhattan Thursday.
...
Dozens of calls also came in to 311, and 911 Thursday afternoon, and by 4 p.m., the city's office of Emergency Management was once again acting as the sweet smell sleuth, coordinating the efforts of multiple agencies.
...
Before nightfall, though, a crew of workers from the Environmental Protection Agency tested air samples in midtown, finding nothing harmful in the air. Tests were to continue throught the night.

But the city's sophisticated air-testing equipment can only identify substances.. It cannot tell you what the smell is.

Once: freak occurrence.  Twice: phenomenon that requires wacko theories.

I'll start the madness by suggesting that we're being haunted by the child ghosts of the New York Holiday Horror of 1877.

Previously:  NYC Wonkafied

Update: E-mail received from Natalie Millner, DEP public affairs (emphasis mine):

You are correct. The sweet smell returned yesterday in certain locations. DEP, along with the Office of Emergency Management, and the Fire department conducted intensive air sampling, but found nothing to indicate any harmful emissions at reported sites, 82nd and York, 689 Columbus Avenue, Park Avenue and Maiden Lane.

Below, I will copy you on a statement we circulated when the City encountered the similar smell in late October.  However, once again, we found no toxicity; and though we can't trace it to a specific source, we believe it derives from a food manufacturing process.

10/28/05 Statement from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection:

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in cooperation with the NYPD , OEM, FDNY and US Coast Guard, did extensive air monitoring and sampling throughout Manhattan last evening due to complaints about a persistent odor.  Field personnel conducted tests with direct-read instrumentation at various locations to determine if any hazardous characteristics were present.   All tests for such indicators proved negative.  The samples taken were indicative of a food processing source. The winds last evening were measured at NNW at 3mph at the time of our inspections.  At the present time we have not identified the source of the odors but are conducting more inspections in lower Manhattan"

Comments

Ooh Ooh, That Smell

It's baaaack.

Call it molasses- or maple syrup-like, the mysterious fragrance that confounded the noses of perhaps thousands of New Yorkers seven weeks ago returned to several spots in Manhattan Thursday.
...
Dozens of calls also came in to 311, and 911 Thursday afternoon, and by 4 p.m., the city's office of Emergency Management was once again acting as the sweet smell sleuth, coordinating the efforts of multiple agencies.
...
Before nightfall, though, a crew of workers from the Environmental Protection Agency tested air samples in midtown, finding nothing harmful in the air. Tests were to continue throught the night.

But the city's sophisticated air-testing equipment can only identify substances.. It cannot tell you what the smell is.

Once: freak occurrence.  Twice: phenomenon that requires wacko theories.

I'll start the madness by suggesting that we're being haunted by the child ghosts of the New York Holiday Horror of 1877.

Previously:  NYC Wonkafied

Update: E-mail received from Natalie Millner, DEP public affairs (emphasis mine):

You are correct. The sweet smell returned yesterday in certain locations. DEP, along with the Office of Emergency Management, and the Fire department conducted intensive air sampling, but found nothing to indicate any harmful emissions at reported sites, 82nd and York, 689 Columbus Avenue, Park Avenue and Maiden Lane.

Below, I will copy you on a statement we circulated when the City encountered the similar smell in late October.  However, once again, we found no toxicity; and though we can't trace it to a specific source, we believe it derives from a food manufacturing process.

10/28/05 Statement from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection:

The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), in cooperation with the NYPD , OEM, FDNY and US Coast Guard, did extensive air monitoring and sampling throughout Manhattan last evening due to complaints about a persistent odor.  Field personnel conducted tests with direct-read instrumentation at various locations to determine if any hazardous characteristics were present.   All tests for such indicators proved negative.  The samples taken were indicative of a food processing source. The winds last evening were measured at NNW at 3mph at the time of our inspections.  At the present time we have not identified the source of the odors but are conducting more inspections in lower Manhattan"