Found 879 publications. Showing page 1 of 37:
Aerosol-Cloud Interactions: Overcoming a Barrier to Projecting Near-Term Climate Evolution and Risk
Aerosol-cloud interactions (ACI) are a major source of uncertainty in climate science, critically affecting our ability to project near-term climate evolution and assess societal risks. These interactions influence effective radiative forcing, cloud dynamics, and precipitation patterns, yet remain insufficiently constrained due to limitations in observations, modeling, and process understanding. This uncertainty hampers robust policy advice across multiple domains—from estimating remaining carbon budgets and climate sensitivity, to anticipating regional extreme events and evaluating climate interventions such as solar radiation modification. In many cases, the influence of ACI is either underappreciated or excluded from decision-making frameworks due to its complexity and lack of quantification. This perspective outlines a path forward to overcome these barriers by leveraging emerging opportunities in satellite remote sensing, ground-based and airborne observations, high-resolution climate modeling, and machine learning. We identify key areas where rapid progress is feasible, including improved retrievals of cloud microphysical properties, better representation of natural aerosols in a warming world, and enhanced integration of observational and modeling communities. Even as anthropogenic aerosol and its impacts on clouds is reducing owing to emissions controls, addressing ACI uncertainties remains essential for refining climate projections, supporting effective mitigation and adaptation strategies, and delivering actionable science to policymakers in a rapidly changing climate system.
2026
Indoor environments have shown to be a major source of human exposure of polychlorinated alkanes (PCAs), yet information on their distribution across indoor matrices and associated exposure pathways remains limited. PCAs, the main components in chlorinated paraffin mixtures, are widely used as flame retardants and plastic additives in numerous indoor consumer products and materials. This study quantified PCAs in paired indoor dust and indoor organic films (IOFs) from homes, offices, schools and gym sports halls (n = 41) in Sweden and assess their contribution to human exposure. Mean PCA concentrations in indoor dust were 7.3, 43.2, and 14.6 μg g−1 for ∑PCAs-C10–13, ∑PCAs-C14–17, and ∑PCAs-C18–30, respectively, while corresponding concentrations in IOFs were 38.2, 312, and 123 ng m−2. PCAs-C14–17 dominated both matrices, but IOFs showed an enrichment tendency towards longer-chain, higher-KOA PCAs, reflecting the less frequent cleaning and longer-term PCA accumulation in IOFs. IOF concentrations were particularly elevated in schools, and PCA variation across sites was influenced by differences in ventilation practices and building age. Dermal uptake was the dominant exposure pathway for children, with substantially estimated doses from IOFs, while adults show comparable dust dermal and dust ingestion exposures. PCA transformation products formed through hydroxylation, hydrolysis, and sulfation were also tentatively detected in both matrices. These findings highlight the importance of jointly assessing dust and IOFs to better characterize multipathway exposure to the diverse PCA mixture in indoor environments.
2026
Safeguarding drinking water in north-western europe by modelling the fate of amines from CO2capture
The European Union (EU) net-zero emission target for 2050 requires large-scale deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS). Amine-based CO2 capture (CC) is the most mature CC technology but may lead to the spread of nitrosamines (NSAs) and nitramines (NAs) in the nearby surroundings. These are carcinogenic compounds that can persist in water resources. Hence, EU's ambition towards carbon neutrality might pose risk of drinking water contamination as well as ecosystem and agricultural crops pollution. We compiled a dataset of planned CCS projects in the Franco-Danish corridor, Europe's future CCS hub, where most capacity will be located by 2030, with at least 40% based on amine technology. Spatial analysis indicates that up to 10.2 million inhabitants, large Natura 2000 reserves, and extensive crop areas may be impacted by NA and NSA deposition, often in regions already under severe water stress. Biogeochemical modelling shows that surface waters with short residence times are highly sensitive to deposition rates, whereas groundwater concentrations depend strongly on the interplay between NA and NSA half-lives and travel times, creating greater uncertainty in aquifers, especially small systems with limited dilution. In both cases, MEA is the most environmentally friendly when emission abatement measures are limited to water wash, compared to piperazine and other emerging solvents. Main findings highlight the need for regional-scale modelling and harmonized regulation to safeguard drinking water, ecosystems, and food security as CCS deployment expands.
2026
Fluoropolymers are widely used across sectors, but their production is associated with emissions of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which are mobile, persistent, and toxic. In this work, we compiled a global inventory of fluoropolymer production plants (FPPs) and assembled PFAS concentration measurements for various media in their vicinity. We identified 52 currently operating FPPs across 11 countries and 41 cities. For 12 FPPs, in 12 different cities, there are peer-reviewed site-specific PFAS measurements specifically attributed to the FPP. At these 12 sites, at least 236 individual PFASs have been detected across multiple environmental media, including surface water, groundwater, air, dust, soils, sediments, plants, animals, and humans, with reported detections at distances of up to approximately 150 km from FPPs. Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic acids (PFECAs) were most frequently measured, often at concentrations two to three orders of magnitude higher than those measured in regions without nearby FPPs. Using high-resolution population data, we estimate that approximately 14 ± 2 million people (uncertainty reflecting ± 10 km uncertainty in facility locations) live within 10 km of an FPP. These people are potentially affected by FPP-associated contamination, with the largest population shares in China (≈52%), Japan (≈24%), Europe (≈13%), and the United States (≈9%). These regional proportions largely mirror differences in population density and the number of identified production facilities. This inventory reveals the large and complex global scale of PFAS contamination from fluoropolymer production, underscoring the need for expanded systematic monitoring and risk management efforts, including regulation.
2026
Precise estimation of atmospheric pollutant releases is crucial for assessing the impact of environmental accidents. Atmospheric inversion typically relies on a linear model with a source–receptor sensitivity (SRS) matrix, which may contain significant errors or even completely fail to capture the real magnitude of the event. We propose a correction of the SRS matrix formulated as slight shifts in the observation locations, effectively warping the sensitivity field. To constrain these shifts and ensure data-driven corrections, we model them using a Gaussian process prior. This prior not only enforces smoothness and sparsity, but also enables posterior prediction of shifts at previously unseen locations. This key feature provides a mechanism for hyper-parameter tuning: the predicted shift field can be visualized on a map and assessed by an expert. We present a user-friendly framework that combines a Bayesian inversion model with correction and a tuning algorithm based on L-curve-like plots and the maps of predicted shifts. The proposed method is demonstrated on three case studies: the ETEX-I experiment, the 137Cs emissions during the 2020 Chernobyl wildfires, and the 106Ru release in 2017.
2026
Accumulation patterns of polychlorinated alkanes in an Arctic marine food web
Polychlorinated alkanes (PCAs), otherwise known as chlorinated paraffins, are contaminants of emerging Arctic concern where our understanding of their occurrence and trophic transfer in Arctic food webs remains limited. To investigate biomagnification potential of PCAs, we analyzed short-chain PCAs: C10-C13 and medium-chain PCAs-C14-17 in three Arctic species: polar cod (Boreogadus saida), ringed seal (Pusa hispida), and polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and Subarctic capelin (Mallotus villosus) samples collected from the northern Barents Sea in 2017 and 2021. PCAs-C10-13 concentrations were low, but detectable in all species, while PCAs-C14-17 concentrations were mainly below detection limits in the mammals. PCAs did not biomagnify, as the lowest concentrations were found in polar bear (0.7 ng g−1 lw) and the highest in capelin (56.9 ng g−1 lw). The PCA homologue profiles were similar among Arctic species, with PCAs-C10-13 dominating in polar cod and marine mammals, which may suggest a contribution from long-range atmospheric transport.
In contrast, PCAs-C14-17 were most abundant in the Subarctic capelin, likely reflecting a different exposure. Despite differing PCAs-C14-17 concentrations among the two fish species, their PCAs-C14-17 homologue profile was similar, indicating uniform global production trends. Subarctic capelin is increasingly being preyed upon by Arctic predators and may facilitate the biological transport of PCAs-C14-17 into Arctic ecosystems.
These findings suggest that climate-driven shifts in species distribution may have the potential to alter contaminant exposure pathways in Arctic marine food webs.
2026
Abstract The International Cooperative Programme on Integrated Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Ecosystems (ICP IM) presents a comprehensive long-term dataset of ongoing integrated ecosystem monitoring from European forested catchments. The dataset encompasses measurements from 46 monitoring stations across 14 European countries, with temporal coverage mostly extending from the early 1990s to 2020 (48 sites are currently active). The integrated monitoring approach applies over 20 monitoring subprogrammes to simultaneously measure physical, chemical, and biological properties across multiple ecosystem compartments including atmosphere, precipitation, throughfall, soil water, groundwater, runoff water, soil, vegetation, and biota. All measurements follow standardised protocols detailed in the ICP IM Manual, ensuring data quality and comparability across sites and time periods. The dataset supports research on ecosystem responses to air pollution, climate change impacts, and biogeochemical cycling. Data are available under a Creative Commons By Attribution (CC BY) licence, providing valuable long-term environmental monitoring data for the scientific community.
2026
Circular Economy (CE) principles seek to eliminate hazardous substances and promote the reuse and recycling of plastic products. However, implementing these principles is challenging due to the wide variety of substances used in plastics, their potential health and environmental risks, the complexities of global supply chains, and concerns regarding reappearance of Chemicals of concern (CoCs) in post-recycled plastics (PRP). This study presents a novel approach for identifying CoCs in the waste stream by assessing the potential presence of chemicals in polymers across different industrial sectors and their hazard categories. With the objective of identifying CoCs that are most problematic regarding their reappearance in new products, selected CoCs are classified into four priority groups based on their physicochemical properties and molecular structures, for further risk and regulatory assessment. The first group includes 88 CoCs, that must be avoided in a circular economy, of which 70% are metalloids and 30% are organic additives. The second group comprises 167 CoCs, mainly additives, whose risks depend heavily on their concentration and specific use in products. The third and fourth groups consist of CoCs that are less frequently found in plastic waste and thus associated with relatively lower risks. Overall, this study offers a practical and adaptable tool to support the identification of hazardous substances in plastic waste, helping stakeholders make informed decisions by removing CoCs and promoting the development of safer alternatives for substitutions.
2026
Physics-Informed Deep Learning for Wind Downscaling over Oslo
Running a numerical weather model such as WRF at kilometre or sub-kilometre grid spacing over a regional domain is computationally expensive. We present physics-informed deeplearning models that ingest a single 9km WRF wind field and simultaneously predict two finer-scale wind fields at 3 km and 1 km resolution via dual decoder heads. Four representative architectures are benchmarked-Deep Residual U-Net (DeepRU), DEVINE, a bespoke 3-D Transformer, and a Fourier Neural Operator (FNO)-each trained with divergence-free, vorticity, and Navier-Stokes residual constraints plus Charbonnier and gradient perceptual losses. We train and validate our models on the city of Oslo for the year 2018. DeepRU achieves R2=0.94 (RMSE =0.050) at 3km and R2=0.89(RMSE=0.065) at 1 km. DEVINE, Transformer 3-D, and FNO yield 3 km scores of 0.91−0.93, with 1km scores lower by 0.02−0.08, illustrating the increased difficulty of finer-scale reconstruction. Physicsinformed losses improve all models compared to MSE-only baselines, and the residual architecture (DeepRU) remains most effective for this dual-scale task.
2025
Abstract Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) is a persistent pollutant with potential long‐term effects on the environment and on health. Recent studies using ice core records report large increases (up to tenfold) in Arctic TFA deposition since the 1970s, and trends suggest long‐lived chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) replacements may be a major source. Here, we use a chemical transport model to examine the global TFA budget arising from CFC replacements–hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)–and inhalation anesthetics. Global TFA deposition from these sources increased ∼3.5‐fold from 6.8 (5.9–7.6) Gg/yr in 2000 to 21.8 (18.6–25.0) Gg/yr in 2022, with cumulative deposition reaching 335.5 Gg. We find HCFC‐123, HCFC‐124, and HFC‐134a account for most modeled TFA production and that long‐lived CFC replacements account for virtually all of the observed Arctic deposition trend. At lower latitudes, our analysis supports the recent emergence of hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs) as a TFA source. We conclude that increased TFA monitoring is required.
2026
Characterization of German SF6 Emissions
Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is a highly potent greenhouse gas with a Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 24,700 over 100 years and is globally mainly used as an electrical insulator in switchgear. Several measurement networks have tracked SF6 for many years and their European data reveal significant emissions in southern Germany. This study focuses on German SF6 emissions (2020–2023), using atmospheric measurements from 22 European sites, offering high spatial and temporal resolution for robust emission assessments. While German UNFCCC inventory bottom-up emission estimates report a major source of SF6 through the disposal of soundproof windows, the spatial distribution of German SF6 emissions derived on top-down inversion techniques (InTEM and Flexinvert+) reveals a different picture: The continuous pattern of high emissions from a particular region is responsible for one-third of total SF6 emissions in Germany. Despite this, total German SF6 emissions have decreased from 112 ± 26 t in 2020 to 89 ± 15 t in 2023 (InTEM), with estimates from all methods (both bottom-up and top-down) showing similar trends. Our findings suggest that the emissions from soundproof windows are overestimated, while industrial sources - particularly from SF6 production and recycling in the focus region - are likely underestimated.
2025
Abstract Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas with a shorter lifetime than carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), making it an important target for near‐term climate action. The Global Methane Pledge (GMP) aims to cut anthropogenic methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030. Using an Earth system model with interactive CH 4 sources and sinks, we assess the Pledge's impact through 2050. Results show that current GMP commitments deliver only a 10% cut by 2030—well below the target. Only the maximum technically feasible reduction (MTFR) pathway can achieve the 30% goal. By 2050, current GMP commitments lowers methane concentrations by 3% relative to 2025, while MTFR achieves 8%. Both pathways slow warming slightly, avoiding about 0.1°C of global temperature rise, with the Arctic seeing the greatest benefits (up to 2°C less warming). Without wider participation, the GMP with current signatories will fall short of its targets and Paris Agreement goals.
2026
Scaling number concentration measurements from bioaerosol monitors using Hirst-type samplers
The instruments used for routine pollen monitoring are gradually changing from traditional impactors with manual data processing to automated pollen monitors using deterministic and/or machine-learning algorithms for data analysis. This manuscript compares pollen number concentration of Alnus sp., Betula sp., Corylus sp., and Poaceae measured by Hirst-type bioaerosol samplers and the SwisensPoleno automated bioaerosol monitor in Switzerland and Norway. Due to physical particle losses and the classification rate of the algorithms being well below unity, scaling factors had to be applied to the measurements of the SwisensPoleno to match those of the Hirst impactor. These scaling factors depended on the geographic location, i.e. differed significantly between Switzerland and Norway. The importance of adjusting the scaling factors according to the location of the monitoring network and the need for reporting the numerical values of these scaling factors in future scientific publications is emphasized.
2026
Urban areas experience elevated air pollution levels which pose significant health risks. Reducing exposure to poor air quality and mitigating the associated negative health impacts requires informed policy measures. This study advances urban air quality modelling by developing an air quality model (baseline model) and further integrating measurements from a network of low-cost sensors and regulatory monitors into the model output (data fusion model). The resulting data fusion model provides accurate air quality data in high spatiotemporal resolution. The data fusion model showed higher PM2.5 concentrations during evening hours and winter months, with a population-weighted exposure to PM2.5 almost twice as high as predicted by the baseline model during these months. The models exhibited different spatial patterns, with the data fusion model showing a shift in peak concentrations from the city centre to residential areas, where levels were up to 10 µg/m3 higher than the baseline model. These differences are likely attributable to an underestimation of residential emissions in the baseline model. While both models were FAIRMODE compliant, the data fusion model showed a reduced bias for most monitoring stations compared to the baseline model. The data fusion model enabled a more accurate assessment of existing policies, specifically those aimed at reducing urban air pollution from solid fuel burning. Moreover, by identifying locations and sectors which contribute significantly to high levels of PM2.5, the data fusion model supports the formation of targeted air quality policies. This enables cities to maximise reductions in air pollution and exposures, thereby safeguarding public health.
2026
Maritime sector pathways toward net-zero emissions within global energy scenarios
Abstract The maritime sector’s transition toward decarbonization cannot occur in isolation, rather it will be tied to broader transformations in energy, economic, and societal systems. Yet, most existing studies often overlook this integrated perspective, focusing primarily on sector-specific strategies without considering broader societal changes and energy availability on a global scale. To address this gap, this study integrates the MariTeam ship emission model into the MESSAGEix-GLOBIOM integrated assessment framework. Through this approach, we assess how climate scenarios may influence the maritime sector’s trajectory toward achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) targets. Our findings indicate that action before 2030 is crucial and it can be achieved through combining four key solutions: improvements in energy efficiency, biofuels, liquefied hydrogen, and ammonia. Furthermore, the results suggest that the maritime sector could have access to enough renewables to achieve substantial emissions reductions with increase in final product costs ranging from 2 to 30% (interquartile range) with variations across products and regions. On average, cost increases are estimated at 10.2% for Global North countries and 13.3% for Global South countries. This analysis highlights the urgency and scale of transformation required for the maritime industry to meet the IMO’s net-zero ambitions and align with broader global sustainability goals.
2026
Gastrointestinal image classification with GIDNet CNN model and non-linear Tansh activation function
2026
This study investigates the contamination of both ingested plastics and plasma of northern fulmars (Fulmarus glacialis) with benzotriazole UV stabilisers (BUVSs) in Kongsfjorden and Isfjorden, Svalbard. Ingested plastics were collected from fulmars in 1997, 2009, 2013, 2020 and 2021. Additionally, plasma samples were collected specifically in 2020. BUVSs, including UV-320, UV-326, UV-327, UV-328 and UV-329, were detected in both ingested plastics and plasma, suggesting a potential for transfer from plastics to the bloodstream. However, additional studies are required to confirm such a transfer mechanism. BUVSs were detected as early as 1997 in ingested plastics, highlighting the potential long-term exposure of fulmars in Svalbard. UV-326, UV-328 and total BUVS concentrations in ingested plastics increased significantly between 1997 and 2021, but likely due to outliers. In plasma, there was no significant correlation between any of BUVS concentrations and the mass of ingested plastics except for UV-327, although relying on only three values above LOD. This study represents a first step in investigating the multiple exposures of fulmars, and more generally seabirds, to plastic and plastic related chemicals and their potential ecotoxicological risks. More specifically we recommend further studies extracting microplastics from seabirds to perform additional quantification of BUVSs or other additives to provide available datasets and deeper understanding of leaching from plastics and temporal trends.
2026
Polluted air is a major global health risk factor, yet the chemical composition and toxicity of airborne gases and particles remain underexplored due to their complexity and difficulties in sampling. We recently introduced how polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) foam─or silicone foam─can be synthesized for passive air sampling, enabling simple and cost-effective nontarget chemical profiling of indoor air. Here, we demonstrate expanded applications, indoors and outdoors, with commercial PDMS-foam, including for: (i) wide-scope target analysis of >220 priority substances by quantitative liquid- and gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry, (ii) microscopic characterization and nontarget profiling of accumulated fine particles, and (iii) effect-guided discovery of harmful substances, combining toxicological data with nontarget analysis in silico. Median method quantification limits were 0.12 ng/mL, 90% of target analytes had absolute recoveries between 70 and 130%, and hazardous substances were discovered, including ethylene glycols, insecticides, and UV filters. Microscopy revealed the accumulation of abundant fine particles, and the automated characterization of the fluorescent fraction revealed that most were <4 μm. Extracts from outdoor samples reduced human lung cell viability, and multivariate modeling flagged families of potentially toxic substances in a virtual effect-directed analysis. PDMS-foam disks require field calibration to determine their linear sampling rate(s), but current results and applications establish PDMS-foam as a multimodal passive sampler, enabling integrated chemical quantitation, toxicological analysis, and molecular discovery in air.
2026
Organic aerosol (OA) is a major component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), affecting both human health and climate. However, high-resolution estimates of OA exposure needed for exposure analysis remain scarce. Here, we integrate a chemical transport model (CAMx) with a random forest (RF) machine learning approach to bias-correct and downscale daily OA concentrations across Europe. CAMx OA simulations at ∼15 km resolution show moderate agreement with observations (r = 0.55). By combining these outputs with high-resolution land-use data and training the RF model on ∼48,000 daily OA measurements from 137 sites, prediction accuracy improved (r = 0.65), with ∼l5% reduction in root mean square error. The resulting maps provide European daily OA concentrations at ∼250 m resolution for alternate years from 2011 to 2019. The model captures key spatial features, including elevated OA in the Po Valley, Southeastern, and Central Europe, as well as intracity variations due to local hotspots. Seasonal analysis reveals higher concentrations in winter, while long-term trends indicate a general decline in OA levels. Exposure estimates show that half of the European population experiences OA levels above 3 µg/m3, and ∼50 million people are exposed to more than 5 µg/m3, which is the current guideline level recommended by the world health organization for total PM2.5. These high-resolution OA maps offer vital critical support for epidemiological research and air quality policy.
2026
Organ-specific in vitro models for prediction of hazard assessment of nanomaterials
Organ-specific multicellular in vitro models are used to mimic the lung-blood-brain axis, and to assess the nanomaterials (NMs) safety in humans. We employed a triculture lung model, a whole-blood model, an astrocytes-neurons coculture to examine health outcomes by three cerium dioxide (CeO2) NMs and silver (Ag) nanowires. Endpoints included cytotoxicity, gene expression, genotoxicity, inflammatory markers at the air–liquid interface (ALI), complement activation, and secondary toxicity in astrocytes-neurons coculture. Post-exposure, CeO2–3.5 nm high-dose decreased cell viability, no DNA damage was detected. At epithelial-macrophages interface, CeO2–50 nm upregulated surfactant protein A (SPA), cell surface death receptor (FAS), and heme oxygenase-1 (HMOX1), whereas CeO2–3.5 nm downregulated SPA. Ag-nanowires upregulated HMOX1, macrophage inflammatory protein-1β (MIP-1β), granulocyte colony-stimulator factor (G-CSF), chemokine C-X-C-motif ligand 1 (CXCL1). At endothelial side, CeO2–50 nm and − 3.5 nm, and Ag-nanowires upregulated HMOX1. In whole-blood model, CeO2–3.5 nm high-dose reduced terminal complement complex (TCC) proteins, while CeO2–50 nm and Ag-nanowires increased them. Nanomaterials activated CD11b+ on granulocytes and monocytes. Ag-nanowires conditioned-medium (CM) on astrocytes-neurons coculture, decreased cell viability. CeO2–50 nm CM upregulated IL1β, NFκB, and HMOX1. Overall, CeO₂–3.5 nm exhibits lung toxicity; CeO₂–50 nm CM triggers inflammatory response and Ag-nanowires CM may induce cytotoxicity in brain cells.
2026
Exceptional high AOD over Svalbard in summer 2019: a multi-instrumental approach
In the summer of 2019, the Arctic region registered exceptionally high aerosol optical depth (AOD) values over Svalbard, linked to intense biomass burning (BB) and volcanic activity across the Northern Hemisphere. This study presents a comprehensive, multi-instrumental analysis of the aerosol conditions in and around Ny-Ålesund (Spitsbergen, Norway), combining data from ground-based sun-photometry, in-situ observations, active remote sensing (ground-based and on satellite), and atmospheric dispersion modelling (FLEXPART). Despite high AOD was observed during all the period, three different aerosol events are identified in the atmospheric column (6–10 July, 25–28 July, and 6–17 August). In contrast, in-situ surface stations only recorded significant aerosol load during 5–9 July, 30 August, and 12 September, suggesting that most of the aerosol particles remained above the boundary layer. Lidar and photometric observations revealed the presence of spherical, weakly absorbing Accumulation-mode particles (with effective radii between 0.1 and 0.2 µm) in both the troposphere and stratosphere, with persistent layers extending above 10 km. Simulations carried out with FLEXPART correlate well with the measurements, attributing the observed aerosol events to multiple sources, including Siberian and North American wildfires, the Raikoke (Russia) volcanic eruption, and anthropogenic pollution. While the simulations show a contribution from volcanic aerosols, the contribution from biomass-burning aerosols in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere were likely more significant under the atmospheric conditions of summer 2019. Overall, the aerosol radiative impact during this long-lasting event was substantial, with a mean reduction in direct solar radiation of approximately −74 W m−2 during July and August. This work shows how the use of dispersion modelling together with multiple observation sources allows to achieve a more complete description of the atmospheric aerosol events and contributes to a better understanding of the overall picture.
2026
A multi-year analysis of aerosol optical depth (AOD, τ) and Ångström exponent (α) was conducted using ground-based photometer data from 15 Arctic and 11 Antarctic sites. Extending the dataset of (Tomasi et al., 2015) through December 2024, the study incorporates stellar and lunar photometric observations to fill data gaps during the polar night. Daily mean values of τ at 0.500 µm and α (0.440–0.870 µm) were used to derive monthly means and seasonal histograms. In the Arctic, persistent haze events in winter and early spring lead to peak τ values. A decreasing trend in Arctic τ suggests the impact of European emission regulations, while biomass-burning aerosols are becoming more significant. In Antarctica, τ increases from the plateau to the coast. Fine-mode aerosols dominate in summer-autumn, while coarse-mode particles are more prevalent in winter-spring. Shipborne photometer data align well with ground-based measurements, confirming the reliability of mobile observations. Trend analyses using the Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen regression indicate a significant negative trend in τ at Andenes (−2.43 % per year), likely driven by reduced anthropogenic emissions. Antarctic stations such as Syowa and South Pole show positive trends (+3.84 % and +3.54 % per year), though these are subject to uncertainties from data limitations and instrument changes. This work contributes to the Polar-AOD network (https://polaraod.net/, last access: 15 May 2025), enhancing the understanding of aerosol variability and long-term trends in polar regions while promoting open data access for the scientific community.
2026
Abstract Potato plants are highly vulnerable to numerous diseases that can substantially affect both yield and quality. Conventional approaches for detecting these diseases are often labor-intensive, slow, and prone to inaccuracies, particularly under variable environmental conditions. This study presents a hybrid deep learning architecture, termed potato leaf diseases DenseNet (PLDNet) , which integrates a DenseNet-based convolutional neural network with a Transformer-based attention module to accurately classify potato leaf diseases. Furthermore, an adaptive parametric activation function, referred to as Adaptive Flatten p-Mish (AFpM) , is proposed to enhance the model’s learning flexibility and representational capacity. When evaluated on the PlantVillage and Mendeley datasets, PLDNet attains classification accuracies of 99.54% and 87.50%, respectively, surpassing contemporary state-of-the-art models and activation techniques. The proposed framework exhibits strong generalization performance and offers a scalable, efficient approach for automated plant disease identification. To highlight the novelty, the proposed AFpM activation function introduces a learnable parameter enabling adaptive nonlinearity, improving over Mish, Swish, and PFpM activation functions through dynamic gradient control. AFpM improves accuracy by 2.52% on Mendeley dataset, and 1.93% on PlantVillage dataset compared to PFpM, and by more than 3% compared to Swish and Mish.
2026
City-produced and transported black carbon: Synergy of in-situ optical measurements and modeling
The implementation of air pollution mitigation strategies requires not only high-quality continuous measurements of pollutants but also proper definitions of ways to differentiate between transported and locally produced contributions, as only the latter can be effectively reduced by authorities. To address this issue, we propose a new approach for partitioning monitored black carbon (BC) concentrations into city-produced (urban) and transported fractions using a combination of measured and modeled data. Two simultaneous measurement campaigns (warm season 2022 and cold season 2022/23) were conducted in two urban environments: Vilnius (Lithuania) and Warsaw (Poland). In the cold season in Warsaw, BC mass concentration was 90% higher than in the warm season, while in Vilnius, an increase of 44% was observed, as compared to the warm season. Aerosol optical properties showed more complex aerosol mixtures of dust, BC and brown carbon (BrC) during the cold season, forming larger particles. Single scattering albedo (SSA) anti-correlated with BCFF, proving that fossil fuel (FF) combustion contributes to the warming effect in both cities. A positive correlation between the population density of the emission areas of transported BC and the BC mass concentrations in Vilnius and Warsaw was found. The impact of transported BC on the local BC levels in the cities was of % and % in the cold season and of % and % in the warm season for Warsaw and Vilnius, respectively. Thus, the approach of BC partitioning showed that in the cold season, the two cities suffered from worse air quality, in part due to more transported BC.
2026