Found 838 publications. Showing page 26 of 35:
Low trophic species are often mentioned as additional food sources to achieve broader and more sustainable utilisation of the ocean. The aim of this study was to map the food potential of Norwegian orange-footed sea cucumber (Cucumaria frondosa). C. frondosa contained 7% protein, 1% lipids with a high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and a variety of micronutrients. The nutrient density scores (NDS) of C. frondosa were above average compared towards daily recommended intakes (DRI) for men and women (age 31–60) but below when capped at 100% of DRI. The concentrations of persistent organic pollutants and trace elements were in general low, except for inorganic arsenic (iAs) (0.73 mg per kg) which exceeded the limits deemed safe by food authorities. However, the small number of samples analysed for iAs lowers the ability to draw a firm conclusion. The carbon footprint from a value chain with a dredge fishery, processing in Norway and retail in Asia was assessed to 8 kg carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq.) per kg C. frondosa, the fishery causing 90%. Although, C. frondosa has some nutritional benefits, the carbon footprint or possible content of iAs may restrict the consumption.
2022
This study investigated concentrations of phthalates (diesters of phthalic acids) in blubber/adipose tissue of blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus), bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) sampled in the Svalbard Archipelago (extending westward in the case of bowhead whales). Additionally, total concentrations (free and conjugated forms) of eight phthalate monoester metabolites were analysed in plasma of polar bears. Bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) was the only phthalate quantified among the 12 phthalates investigated. This compound was present in 6/7 fin whale samples, 4/7 blue whale samples, 2/5 bowhead whale samples and 1/12 polar bear samples. DEHP concentrations ranged from <20–398 ng/g wet weight. Phthalate metabolites, mono-n-butyl phthalate and monoisobutyl phthalate, were found in low concentrations (<1.2 ng/mL) in some of the polar bear samples. In vitro reporter gene assays were used to assess transcriptional activity of fin whale peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the thyroid hormone receptor beta (THRB) by DEHP and diisononyl phthalate (DiNP). Due to the high degree of similarity of the ligand binding domain in the THRB and PPARG among whales, polar bears and humans, the transactivation results also apply for these species. DEHP showed both agonistic and antagonistic effects towards whale THRB at considerably higher concentrations than measured in the study animals; DiNP was a weak agonist of whale THRB. No significant agonistic or antagonistic effects were detected for DEHP or DiNP for whale PPARG, whereas DEHP and DiNP decreased basal luciferase activity mediated by whale GR at several test concentrations. In conclusion, DEHP was detected in the blubber of marine mammals from the Norwegian Arctic and it appears to have potential to modulate the transcriptional activity of whale THRB, but current DEHP concentrations do not modulate the function of the studied nuclear receptors in adipose tissue of blue whales, fin whales, bowhead whales or polar bears sampled from the Norwegian Arctic.
2021
Assessment was performed of the air quality related risk to the conservation of cultural heritage objects in one urban and one rural indoor location in Romania, with expected different air quality related conservation challenges: the National military museum in Bucharest and the Tismana monastery in Gorj County. The work was performed within and subsequent to the EU-Memori project by applying Memori methodology, Memori®-EWO (Early warning organic) dosimeters and passive pollution badge samplers for acetic and formic acids. The measurements in the National military museum were performed in three rooms with different exposure situations, and inside protective enclosures in the rooms. The rooms had organic and inorganic objects on exhibition and in store. The observed risks were associated with photo-oxidizing impact probably due to traffic pollutants entering from outdoor, and/or light exposure and temperature. The risks were found to be moderate, generally comparable to typical European purpose built museum locations. The highest risk was observed in a more open exhibition room in the main museum building. It was indicated that some observable change might happen to sensitive pigments and paper within 3 years, and to lead, copper and sensitive glass within 30 years in this location. Risk for observable change to sensitive pigments, paper, lead and sensitive glass within 30 years, was indicated in the other locations. The lowest risk was observed in a warehouse. A reduction in photo-oxidizing risk was measured in two of the enclosures, but a slightly higher acidic impact was measured in all the three enclosures, as compared to the respective rooms. In the Tismana monastery, a high level of acetic plus formic acid was observed in the air in the storerooms for icons and textiles, and books. Damage risk within 3 years was indicated for lead objects and sensitive glass, and within 30 years for iron and varnish (Laropal A81, resin mastic and dammar). As organic acid attack increases significantly at higher air humidity (> ~ 60%), this would be especially important to avoid. Risk for photo-oxidizing damage to paper and sensitive pigments within 30 years was indicated.
2018
2018
Wood building materials can be a source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the indoor environment and increasing focus is put on classification and regulation of the use of wood building materials in Europe. The main wood related VOCs such as monoterpenes rarely pose adverse health effects for humans, but as analytical procedures become more sensitive new hazardous VOCs are detected in low concentration. There is a need for comprehensive identification of VOCs emitting from different wood building materials for indoor use. This study performed a first semi-quantitative non-target and suspect screening of VOC emissions from three important wood-based building materials in Europe. Air samples collected from emission chambers were analyzed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography coupled to time-of-flight mass spectrometry and resulting mass spectra were classified into confidence groups. A total of 84, 133 and 197 compounds were found to emit from cross-laminated timber, untreated spruce panel and untreated pine panel, respectively. Pine panel was found to emit a higher number of VOCs as well as higher concentrations of most VOCs compared to the spruce building materials. Several new VOCs were detected in the emission profile of pine and spruce. However, they were mostly structurally similar to previously reported wood VOCs. Two compounds of concern emitting from all three wood building materials were furfural and (E)-2-octenal, as these have been classified as group 2 carcinogen and potent eye irritant, respectively.
2025
High levels of organochlorines (OCs) have been measured in arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus) from Lake Ellasjøen on Bjørnøya, Norway (74.30°N, 19.0°E). In a nearby lake, Laksvatn, the OC-levels in arctic char were low. A previous study has shown that char from Ellasjøen had significantly higher levels of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) than char from Lake Laksvatn. Even though there is increasing evidence of the genotoxic effects of OCs, little is known about the effects of OCs on the DNA repair system. The aim of the present study was to determine if the two main DNA DSB repair mechanisms, homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ), are affected by the higher OC and DSB level in char from Ellasjøen. This was analysed by comparing the transcript level of 11 genes involved in DNA DSB repair in char liver samples from Ellasjøen (n = 9) with char from Laksvatn (n = 12). Six of the investigated genes were significantly upregulated in char from Ellasjøen. As the expression of DNA DSB repair genes was increased in the contaminant-exposed char, it is likely that the DNA DSB repair capacity is induced in these individuals. This induction was positively correlated with the DNA DSB and negatively correlated with one or several OCs for four of these genes. However, the strongest predictor variable for DNA repair genes was habitat, indicating genetic differences in repair capacity between populations. As char from Ellasjøen still had significantly higher levels of DSBs compared to char from Laksvatn, it is possible that chronic exposure to OCs and continued production of DSB has caused selective pressure within the population for fixation of adaptive alleles. It is also possible that DSB production was exceeding the repair capacity given the prevailing conditions, or that the OC or DSB level was above the threshold value of inhibition of the DNA repair system resulting in the rate of DNA damage exceeding the rate of repair.
2021
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are synthetic compounds that were intentionally produced in large quantities and have been distributed in the global environment, originating a threat due to their persistence, bioaccumulative potential, and toxicity. POPs reach the Antarctic continent through long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). In these areas, low temperatures play a significant role in the environmental fate of POPs, retaining them for a long time due to cold trapping by diffusion and wet deposition, acting as a net sink for many POPs. However, in the current context of climate change, the remobilization of POPs that were trapped in water, ice, and soil for decades is happening. Therefore, continuous monitoring of POPs in polar air is necessary to assess whether there is a recent re-release of historical pollutants back to the environment. We reviewed the scientific literature on atmospheric levels of several POP families (polychlorinated biphenyls – PCBs, hexachlorobenzene – HCB, hexachlorocyclohexanes – HCHs, and dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane – DDT) from 1980 to 2021. We estimated the atmospheric half-life using characteristic decreasing times (TD). We observed that HCB levels in the Antarctic atmosphere were higher than the other target organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), but HCB also displayed higher fluctuations and did not show a significant decrease over time. Conversely, the atmospheric levels of HCHs, some DDTs, and PCBs have decreased significantly. The estimated atmospheric half-lives for POPs decreased in the following order: 4,4' DDE (13.5 years) > 4,4' DDD (12.8 years) > 4,4' DDT (7.4 years) > 2,4' DDE (6.4 years) > 2,4' DDT (6.3 years) > α-HCH (6 years) > HCB (6 years) > γ-HCH (4.2 years). For PCB congeners, they decreased in the following order: PCB 153 (7.6 years) > PCB 138 (6.5 years) > PCB 101 (4.7 years) > PCB 180 (4.6 years) > PCB 28 (4 years) > PCB 52 (3.7 years) > PCB 118 (3.6 years). For HCH isomers and PCBs, the Stockholm Convention (SC) ban on POPs did have an impact on decreasing their levels during the last decades. Nevertheless, their ubiquity in the Antarctic atmosphere shows the problematic issues related to highly persistent synthetic chemicals.
2023
Robust evidence for reversal of the trend in aerosol effective climate forcing
Anthropogenic aerosols exert a cooling influence that offsets part of the greenhouse gas warming. Due to their short tropospheric lifetime of only several days, the aerosol forcing responds quickly to emissions. Here, we present and discuss the evolution of the aerosol forcing since 2000. There are multiple lines of evidence that allow us to robustly conclude that the anthropogenic aerosol effective radiative forcing (ERF) – both aerosol–radiation interactions (ERFari) and aerosol–cloud interactions (ERFaci) – has become less negative globally, i.e. the trend in aerosol effective radiative forcing changed sign from negative to positive. Bottom-up inventories show that anthropogenic primary aerosol and aerosol precursor emissions declined in most regions of the world; observations related to aerosol burden show declining trends, in particular of the fine-mode particles that make up most of the anthropogenic aerosols; satellite retrievals of cloud droplet numbers show trends in regions with aerosol declines that are consistent with these in sign, as do observations of top-of-atmosphere radiation. Climate model results, including a revised set that is constrained by observations of the ocean heat content evolution show a consistent sign and magnitude for a positive forcing relative to the year 2000 due to reduced aerosol effects. This reduction leads to an acceleration of the forcing of climate change, i.e. an increase in forcing by 0.1 to 0.3 W m−2, up to 12 % of the total climate forcing in 2019 compared to 1750 according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
2022
Citizen-operated low-cost sensors for estimating outdoor particulate matter infiltration
Fine particulates observed indoors exhibit high variability, influenced by both indoor emission sources and the infiltration of outdoor particles through open spaces and the incomplete building insulation. This study examines the relationship between indoor and outdoor PM2.5 levels in Legionowo, Poland, using data from low-cost air quality sensors operated by citizens. The indoor PM2.5 was lower than outdoor levels (median PM2.5: 1.9–17.3 μg m–3 indoors and 6.7–27.9 μg m–3 outdoors), with occasional peaks attributed to potential indoor emission sources. Statistical analysis identified emission events—particularly during cooking and household-heating periods—occurring more frequently from October to April. During this period, nearly 17% of indoor PM2.5 measurements were attributed to indoor emission sources after 18:00 LT, representing a 7% increase compared to the May–September period. In the absence of indoor sources, outdoor particles accounted for 29% to 75% of indoor concentrations, highlighting the significance of infiltration. This research emphasizes how citizen-generated data using low-cost sensors, after post-processing, can provide decision-ready information as for example outdoor particles’ infiltration factors for each building. The knowledge of the infiltration factor enables the determination of the contribution of indoor and outdoor sources to each resident’s exposure to airborne PM. This information can help decision-makers in devising interventions such as prioritizing indoor ventilation, reducing indoor activities resulting in increased exposure, and addressing outdoor pollution sources.
2025
Validation of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) surface UV radiation product
The TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite was launched on 13 October 2017 to provide the atmospheric composition for atmosphere and climate research. The S5P is a Sun-synchronous polar-orbiting satellite providing global daily coverage. The TROPOMI swath is 2600 km wide, and the ground resolution for most data products is 7.2×3.5 km2 (5.6×3.5 km2 since 6 August 2019) at nadir. The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) is responsible for the development of the TROPOMI UV algorithm and the processing of the TROPOMI surface ultraviolet (UV) radiation product which includes 36 UV parameters in total. Ground-based data from 25 sites located in arctic, subarctic, temperate, equatorial and Antarctic areas were used for validation of the TROPOMI overpass irradiance at 305, 310, 324 and 380 nm, overpass erythemally weighted dose rate/UV index, and erythemally weighted daily dose for the period from 1 January 2018 to 31 August 2019. The validation results showed that for most sites 60 %–80 % of TROPOMI data was within ±20 % of ground-based data for snow-free surface conditions. The median relative differences to ground-based measurements of TROPOMI snow-free surface daily doses were within ±10 % and ±5 % at two-thirds and at half of the sites, respectively. At several sites more than 90 % of cloud-free TROPOMI data was within ±20 % of ground-based measurements. Generally median relative differences between TROPOMI data and ground-based measurements were a little biased towards negative values (i.e. satellite data < ground-based measurement), but at high latitudes where non-homogeneous topography and albedo or snow conditions occurred, the negative bias was exceptionally high: from −30 % to −65 %. Positive biases of 10 %–15 % were also found for mountainous sites due to challenging topography. The TROPOMI surface UV radiation product includes quality flags to detect increased uncertainties in the data due to heterogeneous surface albedo and rough terrain, which can be used to filter the data retrieved under challenging conditions.
2020
Measurements of solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) performed between January and June 2020 at 10 Arctic and subarctic locations are compared with historical observations. Differences between 2020 and prior years are also assessed with total ozone column and UVR data from satellites. Erythemal (sunburning) UVR is quantified with the UV Index (UVI) derived from these measurements. UVI data show unprecedently large anomalies, occurring mostly between early March and mid‐April 2020. For several days, UVIs observed in 2020 exceeded measurements of previous years by up to 140%. Historical means were surpassed by more than six standard deviations at several locations in the Arctic. In northern Canada, the average UVI for March was about 75% larger than usual. UVIs in April 2020 were elevated on average by about 25% at all sites. However, absolute anomalies remained below 3.0 UVI units because the enhancements occurred during times when the solar elevation was still low.
2020
Geopolitical events have shown to threaten European energy security in 2022. In Norway, accustomed to low energy prices, the southern part saw 4 times higher electricity prices in 2022 than long term average, whereas in the north, energy prices remained stable. This offers an opportunity to examine the effect of price on household energy consumption and PM2.5 emissions from the residential sector. In the south, electricity consumption went down by 10% while in the north it remained unchanged relative to expected values. While the documented correlation between increased electricity prices and reduced consumption is well-established, our study uniquely captures a substantial shift towards wood as an alternative energy source. In the south, wood for heating increased by approximately 40%, effectively replacing half of the electricity saved. This increase happened despite prices being curbed by strong government subsidies on electricity. Faced with higher energy costs in Europe, we simulate a scenario where consumers across Europe look for affordable energy. With gas and electricity prices predicted to remain well above long-term averages until 2030, biomass will be an attractive option. Our study shows how a shift can endanger Europe's Zero-Pollution strategy, and the need for initiatives targeting the reduction of residential biomass heating.
2024
2025
Thousands of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) exist in the environment and pose a potential health hazard. Suspect and nontarget screening with liquid chromatography (LC)–high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (HRMS/MS) can be used for comprehensive characterization of PFAS. To date, no automated open source PFAS data analysis software exists to mine these extensive data sets. We introduce FluoroMatch, which automates file conversion, chromatographic peak picking, blank feature filtering, PFAS annotation based on precursor and fragment masses, and annotation ranking. The software library currently contains ∼7 000 PFAS fragmentation patterns based on rules derived from standards and literature, and the software automates a process for users to add additional compounds. The use of intelligent data-acquisition methods (iterative exclusion) nearly doubled the number of annotations. The software application is demonstrated by characterizing PFAS in landfill leachate as well as in leachate foam generated to concentrate the compounds for remediation purposes. FluoroMatch had wide coverage, returning 27 PFAS annotations for landfill leachate samples, explaining 71% of the all-ion fragmentation (CF2)n related fragments. By improving the throughput and coverage of PFAS annotation, FluoroMatch will accelerate the discovery of PFAS posing significant human risk.
2020
The comet assay applied to HepG2 liver spheroids
In accordance with the 3 Rs to reduce in vivo testing, more advanced in vitro models, moving from 2D monolayer to 3D cultures, should be developed for prediction of human toxicity of industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants. In this study we compared cytotoxic and genotoxic responses induced by chemicals in 2D and 3D spheroidal cultures of the human liver cancer cell line HepG2.
HepG2 spheroids were prepared by hanging drop technology. Both 3D spheroids and 2D monolayer cultures were exposed to different chemicals (colchicine, chlorpromazine hydrochloride or methyl methanesulfonate) for geno- and cytotoxicity studies. Cytotoxicity was investigated by alamarBlue assay, flow cytometry and confocal imaging. DNA damage was investigated by the comet assay with and without Fpg enzyme for detection of DNA strand breaks and oxidized or alkylated base lesions.
The results from the cyto- and genotoxicity tests showed differences in sensitivity comparing the 2D and 3D HepG2 models. This study shows that human 3D spheroidal hepatocellular cultures can be successfully applied for genotoxicity testing by the comet assay and represent a promising advanced in vitro model for toxicity testing.
2019
The influence of aerosols on the Arctic system remains associated with significant uncertainties, particularly concerning black carbon (BC). The polar aerosol station “Island Bely” (IBS), located in the Western Siberian Arctic, was established to enhance aerosol monitoring. Continuous measurements from 2019 to 2022 revealed the long-term effects of light-absorbing carbon. During the cold period, the annual average light-absorption coefficient was 0.7 ± 0.7 Mm−1, decreasing by 2–3 times during the warm period. The interannual mean showed a peak in February (0.9 ± 0.8 Mm−1) then 10 times the lower minimum in June and exhibited high variability in August (0.7 ± 2.2 Mm−1). An increase of up to 1.5 at shorter wavelengths from April to September suggests contribution from brown carbon (BrC). The annual mean equivalent black carbon (eBC) demonstrated considerable interannual variability, with the lowest in 2020 (24 ± 29 ng m−3). Significant difference was observed between Arctic haze and Siberian wildfire periods, with record-high pollution levels in February 2022 (110 ± 70 ng m−3) and August 2021 (83 ± 249 ng m−3). Anthropogenic BC contributed 83 % to the total for the entire study period, and gas flaring, domestic combustion, transportation, and industrial emissions dominated. During the cold season, > 90 % of surface BC was attributed to anthropogenic sources, mainly gas flaring. In contrast, during the warm period, Siberian wildfires contributed to BC concentrations by 48 %. In August 2021, intense smoke from Yakutian wildfires was transported at high altitudes during the region's worst fire season in 40 years.
2025
2025
Biomass burning related aerosol episodes are becoming a serious threat to the radiative balance of the Arctic region. Since early July 2017 intense wildfires were recorded between August and September in Canada and Greenland, covering an area up to 4674 km2 in size. This paper describes the impact of these biomass burning (BB) events measured over Svalbard, using an ensemble of ground-based, columnar, and vertically-resolved techniques. BB influenced the aerosol chemistry via nitrates and oxalates, which exhibited an increase in their concentrations in all of size fractions, indicating the BB origin of particles. The absorption coefficient data (530 nm) at ground reached values up to 0.6 Mm–1, highlighting the impact of these BB events when compared to average Arctic background values, which do not exceed 0.05 Mm–1. The absorption behavior is fundamental as implies a subsequent atmospheric heating. At the same time, the AERONET Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) data showed high values at stations located close to or in Canada (AOD over 2.0). Similarly, increased values of AODs were then observed in Svalbard, e.g., in Hornsund (daily average AODs exceeded 0.14 and reached hourly values up to 0.5). Elevated values of AODs were then registered in Sodankylä and Andenes (daily average AODs exceeding 0.150) a few days after the Svalbard observation of the event highlighting the BB columnar magnitude, which is crucial for the radiative impact. All the reported data suggest to rank the summer 2017 plume of aerosols as one of the biggest atmosphere related environmental problems over Svalbard region in last 10 years
2020
Microplastic pellets in Arctic marine sediments: a common source or a common process?
Plastic consumption is increasing, and millions of tonnes of plastic are released into the oceans every year. Plastic materials are accumulating in the marine environment, especially on the seafloor. The Arctic is contaminated with plastics, including microplastics (MPs, <5 mm) but occurrences, concentrations and fate are largely unknown. This study aimed at assessing whether MPs accumulate at greater water depths in the Barents Sea, and close to the Longyearbyen settlement, and at understanding the ubiquity and source of a specific type of collected pellets. Surface sediments were collected at seven stations around Svalbard with a box-corer, and three replicates were taken at each station. MPs were extracted through density separation with saturated saltwater. Many pellets were found, and their composition was assessed by pyrolysis-GC/MS. Procedural blanks were performed using field blanks as samples to assess the overall contamination. The composition of all extracted particles was then analysed by μRaman spectroscopy. On average, 3.61 ± 1.45 MPs/100 g (dw) were found. The sea ice station, after blank correction, was more contaminated and displaying a different profile than the other stations, and the deepest station did not show the highest MP concentrations but rather the opposite. Sediments close to Longyearbyen were not more contaminated than the other stations either. Dark pellets of similar aspect were found at all stations, raising the question about a possible common source or process. These pellets were made of several plastic polymers which varied in proportion for each pellet, suggesting a common process was at the origin of those pellets, potentially marine snow formation.
2025
Leaching of chemicals and DOC from tire particles under simulated marine conditions
Tire wear particles (TWPs) represent one of the major anthropogenic pools of particles ending up in the environment. They contain a large variety of chemicals, a part of which may be released into the environment through leaching, although the influence of sunlight and other environmental factors during this process is still unclear. This laboratory study compares the leaching of organic compounds from TWP in seawater in the dark and under artificial sunlight for 1) cryo-milled tire tread (CMTT), 2) ‘virgin’ crumb rubber (VCR) and 3) crumb rubber immersed in the sea for ≥12 months prior to the experiments (WCR). Leachates were analyzed for dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 19 tire-derived chemicals, benzothiazoles and phenylguanidines as well as phenylendiamines by liquid chromatography-high resolution-mass spectrometry. For DOC and most chemicals, the amounts released decreased in the order CMTT > VCR > WCR and increased when leaching occurred under artificial sunlight. sunlight also led to the formation of 23 transformation processes related to 1,3-diphenylguanidine (DPG). In contrast, 4-hydroxydiphenylamine (4-HDPA) and N-(1,3-dimethylbutyl)-N′-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine quinone (6-PPDQ) were found in lower amounts upon sunlight exposure. The 19 quantified chemicals, however, did only account for 6%–55% of the DOC in the leachates; most of the DOC, thus, remained unexplained. This study highlights that the amount of chemicals leached from tire particles depends upon their aging history and may be modulated by environmental conditions.
2023
A multi-pollutant and multi-sectorial approach to screening the consistency of emission inventories
Some studies show that significant uncertainties affect emission inventories, which may impeach conclusions based on air-quality model results. These uncertainties result from the need to compile a wide variety of information to estimate an emission inventory. In this work, we propose and discuss a screening method to compare two emission inventories, with the overall goal of improving the quality of emission inventories by feeding back the results of the screening to inventory compilers who can check the inconsistencies found and, where applicable, resolve errors. The method targets three different aspects: (1) the total emissions assigned to a series of large geographical areas, countries in our application; (2) the way these country total emissions are shared in terms of sector of activity; and (3) the way inventories spatially distribute emissions from countries to smaller areas, cities in our application. The first step of the screening approach consists of sorting the data and keeping only emission contributions that are relevant enough. In a second step, the method identifies, among those significant differences, the most important ones that provide evidence of methodological divergence and/or errors that can be found and resolved in at least one of the inventories. The approach has been used to compare two versions of the CAMS-REG European-scale inventory over 150 cities in Europe for selected activity sectors. Among the 4500 screened pollutant sectors, about 450 were kept as relevant, among which 46 showed inconsistencies. The analysis indicated that these inconsistencies arose almost equally from large-scale reporting and spatial distribution differences. They mostly affect SO2 and PM coarse emissions from the industrial and residential sectors. The screening approach is general and can be used for other types of applications related to emission inventories.
2022
Anthropogenic activities emit ~2,000 Mg y−1 of the toxic pollutant mercury (Hg) into the atmosphere, leading to long-range transport and deposition to remote ecosystems. Global anthropogenic emission inventories report increases in Northern Hemispheric (NH) Hg emissions during the last three decades, in contradiction with the observed decline in atmospheric Hg concentrations at NH measurement stations. Many factors can obscure the link between anthropogenic emissions and atmospheric Hg concentrations, including trends in the reemissions of previously released anthropogenic (“legacy”) Hg, atmospheric sink variability, and spatial heterogeneity of monitoring data. Here, we assess the observed trends in gaseous elemental mercury (Hg0) in the NH and apply biogeochemical box modeling and chemical transport modeling to understand the trend drivers. Using linear mixed effects modeling of observational data from 51 stations, we find negative Hg0 trends in most NH regions, with an overall trend for 2005 to 2020 of −0.011 ± 0.006 ng m−3 y−1 (±2 SD). In contrast to existing emission inventories, our modeling analysis suggests that annual NH anthropogenic emissions must have declined by at least 140 Mg between the years 2005 and 2020 to be consistent with observed trends. Faster declines in 95th percentile Hg0 values than median values in Europe, North America, and East Asian measurement stations corroborate that the likely cause is a decline in nearby anthropogenic emissions rather than background legacy reemissions. Our results are relevant for evaluating the effectiveness of the Minamata Convention on Mercury, demonstrating that existing emission inventories are incompatible with the observed Hg0 declines.
2024
In birds, maternal transfer is a major exposure route for several contaminants, including poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Little is known, however, about the extent of the transfer of the different PFAS compounds to the eggs, especially for alternative fluorinated compounds. In the present study, we measured legacy and emerging PFAS, including Gen-X, ADONA, and F-53B, in the plasma of prelaying black-legged kittiwake females breeding in Svalbard and the yolk of their eggs. We aimed to (1) describe the contaminant levels and patterns in both females and eggs, and (2) investigate the maternal transfer, that is, biological variables and the relationship between the females and their eggs for each compound. Contamination of both females and eggs were dominated by linPFOS then PFUnA or PFTriA. We notably found 7:3 fluorotelomer carboxylic acid─a precursor of long-chain carboxylates─in 84% of the egg yolks, and provide the first documented finding of ADONA in wildlife. Emerging compounds were all below the detection limit in female plasma. There was a linear association between females and eggs for most of the PFAS. Analyses of maternal transfer ratios in females and eggs suggest that the transfer is increasing with PFAS carbon chain length, therefore the longest chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) were preferentially transferred to the eggs. The mean ∑PFAS in the second-laid eggs was 73% of that in the first-laid eggs. Additional effort on assessing the outcome of maternal transfers on avian development physiology is essential, especially for PFCAs and emerging fluorinated compounds which are under-represented in experimental studies.
black-legged kittiwake Rissa tridactyla top predator Svalbard PFAS emerging contaminants
2021
With the current possible presence of thousands of PFAS compounds in industrial emissions, there is an increasing need to assess the impacts of PFAS regulation of conventional PFAS on one hand and the exposure to emerging and yet unknown PFAS on the other. Today’s analytical methodologies using targeted approaches are not sufficient to determine the complete suite of PFAS present. To evaluate the presence of unknown PFAS, we investigated in this study the occurrence of an extended range of target PFAS in various species from the marine and terrestrial Norwegian environment, in relation to the extractable organic fluorine (EOF), which yields the total amount of organic fluorine. The results showed a varying presence of extractable fluorinated organics, with glaucous gull eggs, otter liver and polar bear plasma showing the highest EOF and a high abundance of PFAS as well. The targeted PFAS measurements explained 1% of the organic fluorine for moose liver as the lowest and 94% for otter liver as the highest. PFCAs like trifluoro acetic acid (TFA, reported semi-quantitatively), played a major role in explaining the organic fluorine present. Emerging PFAS as the perfluoroethylcyclohexane sulfonate (PFECHS), was found in polar bear plasma in quantifiable amounts for the first time, confirming earlier detection in arctic species far removed from emission sources. To enable a complete organic fluorine mass balance in wildlife, new approaches are needed, to uncover the presence of new emerging PFAS as cyclic- or ether PFAS together with chlorinated PFAS as well as fluorinated organic pesticides and pharmaceuticals.
2022