Astronomy in all wavelengths is not the only science to suffer from various causes of pollution. Sites in which geophysical research is being conducted are also in danger due to a variety of external causes. Among them, the following are described and discussed in addition to electromagnetic nuisances that are common to geophysicists and astronomers: heat production, magnetic disturbances, artificial vibrations in seismic observatories, chemical pollution in atmospheric studies, signal jamming, vandalism and site modifications around automatic stations.

Recent, large scale, real estate development near the U.S. Naval Observatory has led to an investigation of the systematic atmospheric effects which heat from large buildings can cause. Results show that non-negligible slopes of the atmospheric layers can be induced which cause a surprisingly large anomalous refraction. The Navier-Stokes equations were numerically integrated using the appropriate boundary conditions and the resulting isopycnic tilts using the appropriate boundary conditions and the resulting isopycnic tilts charted. Rays were then essentially traced through the perturbed atmosphere to determine the magnitude of the anomalous refraction.