Publications

Assessing temporal trends and source regions of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in air under the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP)

Wong, Fiona; Shoeib, Mahiba; Katsoyiannis, Athanasios; Eckhardt, Sabine; Stohl, Andreas; Bohlin-Nizzetto, Pernilla; Li, Henrik; Fellin, Phil; Su, Yushan; Hung, Hayley

Long-term Arctic air monitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) is essential in assessing their long-range transport and for evaluating the effectiveness of chemical control initiatives. We report for the first time temporal trends of neutral and ionic PFASs in air from three arctic stations: Alert (Canada, 2006–2014); Zeppelin (Svalbard, Norway, 2006–2014) and Andøya (Norway, 2010–2014). The most abundant PFASs were the perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs). All of these chemicals exhibited increasing trends at Alert with doubling times (t2) of 3.7 years (y) for PFOA, 2.9 y for PFOS, 2.5 y for PFBA, 5.0 y for 8:2 FTOH and 7.0 y for 10:2 FTOH. In contrast, declining or non-changing trends, were observed for PFOA and PFOS at Zeppelin (PFOA, half-life, t1/2 = 7.2 y; PFOS t1/2 = 67 y), and Andøya (PFOA t1/2 = 1.9 y; PFOS t1/2 = 11 y). The differences in air concentrations and in time trends between the three sites may reflect the differences in regional regulations and source regions. We investigate the source region for particle associated compounds using the Lagrangian particle dispersion model FLEXPART. Model results showed that PFOA and PFOS are impacted by air masses originating from the ocean or land. For instance, PFOA at Alert and PFOS at Zeppelin were dominated by oceanic air masses whereas, PFOS at Alert and PFOA at Zeppelin were influenced by air masses transported from land.

Elsevier

Assessing PM10 source reduction in urban agglomerations for air quality compliance.

Aleksandropoulou, V.; Eleftheriadis, K.; Diapouli, E.; Tørseth, K.; Lazaridis, M.

Assessing Lagrangian inverse modelling of urban anthropogenic CO2 fluxes using in situ aircraft and ground-based measurements in the Tokyo area

Pisso, Ignacio; Patra, Prabir; Takigawa, Masayuki; Machida, Toshinobu; Matsueda, Hidekazu; Sawa, Yousuke

BACKGROUND: In order to use in situ measurements to constrain urban anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), we use a Lagrangian methodology based on diffusive backward trajectory tracer reconstructions and Bayesian inversion. The observations of atmospheric CO2 were collected within the Tokyo Bay Area during the Comprehensive Observation Network for TRace gases by AIrLiner (CONTRAIL) flights, from the Tsukuba tall tower of the Meteorological Research Institute (MRI) of the Japan Meteorological Agency and at two surface sites (Dodaira and Kisai) from the World Data Center for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG).
RESULTS: We produce gridded estimates of the CO2 emissions and calculate the averages for different areas within the Kanto plain where Tokyo is located. Using these inversions as reference we investigate the impact of perturbing different elements in the inversion system. We modified the observations amount and location (surface only sparse vs. including aircraft CO2 observations), the background representation, the wind data used to drive the transport model, the prior emissions magnitude and time resolution and error parameters of the inverse model.
CONCLUSIONS: Optimized fluxes were consistent with other estimates for the unperturbed simulations. Inclusion of CONTRAIL measurements resulted in significant differences in the magnitude of the retrieved fluxes, 13% on average for the whole domain and of up to 21% for the spatiotemporal cells with the highest fluxes. Changes in the background yielded differences in the retrieved fluxes of up to 50% and more. Simulated biases in the modelled transport cause differences in the retrieved fluxes of up to 30% similar to those obtained using different meteorological winds to advect the Lagrangian trajectories. Perturbations to the prior inventory can impact the fluxes by ~ 10% or more depending on the assumptions on the error covariances. All of these factors can cause significant differences in the estimated flux, and highlight the challenges in estimating regional CO2 fluxes from atmospheric observations.

BioMed Central (BMC)

Assessing climatic, hydrogeological, and anthropogenic factors shaping sustainable soil management: A case study in northern Germany

Gollo, Vahid Sobhi; Hassani, Amirhossein; Fröhle, Peter; Shokri, Nima

Assessing air pollution from wood burning using low-cost sensors and citizen science

Castell, Nuria; Vogt, Matthias; Schneider, Philipp; Grossberndt, Sonja

Ash metrics for European and trans‐atlantic air routes during the Eyjafjallajökull eruption 14 April to 23 May 2010

Prata, A. J.; Kristiansen, Nina Iren; Thomas, Helen E.; Stohl, Andreas

American Geophysical Union (AGU)

Ash and sulfur dioxide in the 2008 eruptions of Okmok and Kasatochi: Insights from high spectral resolution satellite measurements.

Prata, A.J.; Gangale, G.; Clarisse, L.; Karagulian, F.

Ash and ice clouds during the Mt Kelud February 2014 eruption as interpreted from IASI and AVHRR/3 observations.

Kylling, A.

Artificial turf. Preliminary study on potential genotoxicity of nanoparticles generated from football pitches. NILU report

Rundén-Pran, E.; Dusinska, M.; El Yamani, N.; Dauge, F.; Knudsen, S.

Artificial intelligence models with multivariate inputs for calibration of low cost PM sensors.

Topalovic, D. B.; Davidovic, M.; Bartonova, A.; Jovaševic-Stojanovic, M.

Artificial cloud test confirms volcanic ash detection using infrared spectral imaging.

Prata, A.J.; Dezitter, F.; Davies, I.; Weber, K.; Birnfeld, M.; Moriano, D.; Bernardo, C.; Vogel, A.; Prata, G.S.; Mather, T.A.; Thomas, H.E.; Cammas, J.; Weber, M.

Arktis - et sluk for atmosfærisk kvikksølv?

Berg, T.