Found 9990 publications. Showing page 48 of 400:
2022
2022
The assessment of long-range transport potential (LRTP) is enshrined in several frameworks for chemical regulation such as the Stockholm Convention. Screening for LRTP is commonly done with the OECD Pov and LRTP Screening Tool employing two metrics, characteristic travel distance (CTD) and transfer efficiency (TE). Here we introduce a set of three alternative metrics and implement them in the Tool’s model. Each metric is expressed as a fraction of the emissions in a source region. The three metrics quantify the extent to which the chemical (i) reaches a remote region (dispersion, ϕ1), (ii) is transferred to surface media in the remote region (transfer, ϕ2), and (iii) accumulates in these surface media (accumulation, ϕ3). In contrast to CTD and TE, the emissions fractions metrics can integrate transport via water and air, enabling comprehensive LRTP assessment. Furthermore, since there is a coherent relationship between the three metrics, the new approach provides quantitative mechanistic insight into different phenomena determining LRTP. Finally, the accumulation metric, ϕ3, allows assessment of LRTP in the context of the Stockholm Convention, where the ability of a chemical to elicit adverse effects in surface media is decisive. We conclude that the emission fractions approach has the potential to reduce the risk of false positives/negatives in LRTP assessments.
2022
The greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU) are mainly caused by human activity from five sectors—power, industry, transport, buildings, and agriculture. To tackle all these challenges, the EU actions and policies have been encouraging initiatives focusing on a holistic approach but these initiatives are not enough coordinated and connected to reach the much needed impact. To strengthen the important role of regions in climate actions, and stimulate wide stakeholders’ engagement including citizens, a conceptual framework for enabling rapid and far-reaching climate actions through multi-sectoral regional adaptation pathways is hereby developed. The target audience for this framework is composed by regional policy makers, developers and fellow scientists. The scale of the framework emphasizes the regional function as an important meeting point and delivery arena for European and national climate strategies and objectives both at urban and rural level. The framework is based on transformative and no-regret measures, prioritizing the Key Community Systems (KCS) that most urgently need to be protected from climate impacts and risks.
2022
Screening of Chlorinated Paraffins, Dechloranes and UV-filters in Nordic Countries
In 2019, the Nordic screening group decided to perform a Nordic screening on chlorinated paraffins, dechloranes and UV-filters. These compounds are used in a wide range of applications. They all have long range transport characteristics and can potentially be regulated under the Stockholm POP convention. However, there are still huge data gaps, which need to be addressed in order to fulfill regulation requests. Several topics and questions were in focus for more measurements and a deeper understanding: (1) importance of long-range atmospheric transport and deposition, (2) differences/similarities in terrestrial versus marine food chains, and (3) variations between the Nordic countries and between urban and remote areas. Based on these priorities, availability of samples, and other practical reasons, samples from different Nordic countries, different environments, and both urban and remote places were selected. This study includes analysis of the compounds in air, marine and freshwater fish and marine mammals and bird eggs, but as the chlorinated paraffins also have been found to accumulate in the terrestrial food web, terrestrial mammals and bird eggs were included as well. Additionally, samples of pine needles were analysed both to look at the possibility for long range transport and to investigate it as a possible source of chlorinated paraffins for the terrestrial mammals.
Nordic Council of Ministers
2022
Mercury isotope evidence for Arctic summertime re-emission of mercury from the cryosphere
During Arctic springtime, halogen radicals oxidize atmospheric elemental mercury (Hg0), which deposits to the cryosphere. This is followed by a summertime atmospheric Hg0 peak that is thought to result mostly from terrestrial Hg inputs to the Arctic Ocean, followed by photoreduction and emission to air. The large terrestrial Hg contribution to the Arctic Ocean and global atmosphere has raised concern over the potential release of permafrost Hg, via rivers and coastal erosion, with Arctic warming. Here we investigate Hg isotope variability of Arctic atmospheric, marine, and terrestrial Hg. We observe highly characteristic Hg isotope signatures during the summertime peak that reflect re-emission of Hg deposited to the cryosphere during spring. Air mass back trajectories support a cryospheric Hg emission source but no major terrestrial source. This implies that terrestrial Hg inputs to the Arctic Ocean remain in the marine ecosystem, without substantial loss to the global atmosphere, but with possible effects on food webs.
2022
Environmental Contaminants in an Urban Fjord, 2021
This report presents data from the first year of a new 5-year period of the Urban Fjord programme. The programme started in 2013 and has since been altered/advanced. In 2021 the programme covers sampling and analyses of stormwater, river water, effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (inputs to the fjord), fjord sediment, blue mussel, cod and (river) trout, all from the Inner Oslofjord area. A total of 260 single compounds/isomers were analysed and frequent detection was found of benzothiazoles in abiotic aqueous phases, UV-compounds in most matrices, metals in all matrices, PBDEs in biota, chlorinated paraffins in all matrices and PCBs in biota and abiotic particle phases. Four
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA)
2022
2022
The historical (1835–2020) deposition of major air pollutants (SO2, NOx, O3 and PM2.5) indoors, as represented by the monumental Edvard Munch paintings (c. 220 m2) installed in 1916 in the Oslo University Aula in Norway, were approximated from the outdoor air concentrations, indoor to outdoor concentration ratios and dry deposition velocities. The annual deposition of the pollutants to the paintings was found to have been 4–25 times lower than has been reported to buildings outdoors in the urban background in the centre of Oslo. It reflected the outdoor deposition but varied less, from 0.3 to 1.2 g m−2 a−1. The accumulated deposition since 1916, and then not considering the regularly performed cleaning of the paintings, was found to have been 43 ± 13 g m−2, and 110 ± 40 g m−2 in a similar situation since 1835. The ozone deposition, and the PM2.5 deposition before the 1960s, were a relatively larger part of the accumulated total indoor (to the paintings) than reported outdoor deposition. About 18 and 33 times more O3 than NOx and PM2.5 deposition was estimated to the paintings in 2020, as compared to the about similar reported outdoor dry deposition of O3 and NOx. The deposition of PM2.5 to the paintings was probably reduced with about 62% (50–80%) after installation of mechanical filtration in 1975 and was estimated to be 0.011 (± 0.006) g m−2 in 2020.
2022
Health Risk Assessment of Air Pollution and the Impact of the New WHO Guidelines
Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease and is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. Heart disease and stroke are the most common reasons for premature deaths attributable to air pollution, followed by lung diseases and lung cancer.
The health risk assessment methodology assumptions have been recently adapted to follow the recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), released in 2021. The new global air quality guidelines by WHO provide up-to-date health-based guideline levels for major health-damaging air pollutants and new recommendations for assessing the risk of exposure to air pollution.
This report estimates the health risk related to air pollution in 2020 based on the latest methodology. The estimates consider the number of premature deaths and years of life lost related to exposure to fine particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, both for the 27 Member States of the European Union and for additional 14 European countries (Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, and Türkiye).
A sensitivity analysis to the changes in concentration-response functions and counterfactual concentrations is performed to understand the impact of such changes on the mortality outcome estimates. The sensitivity analysis included both old and new health risk methodology assumptions but also the recommendation from the ELAPSE study on the concentration response functions. The ELAPSE project includes some of the most recent studies on the health effects at low air pollution levels by examining associations between exposures to relatively low levels of air pollution across Europe, including levels below the current EU standards.
The results for 2020 show that the largest health risks are estimated for the countries with the largest populations. However, in relative terms, when considering e.g., years of life lost per 100 000 inhabitants, the largest relative risks are observed in central and eastern European countries for PM2.5, in central and southern European countries for NO2, and south and eastern European for O3. The lowest impact is found for the northern and north-western parts of Europe, where the concentrations are lowest. The number of premature deaths attributed to air pollution in 2020 compared to 2019, increased for PM2.5 and decreased for NO2 and O3. Apart from the changes in concentrations and demographics, the COVID-19 pandemics seems to also have an influence on these changes. For PM2.5, the reduction in concentrations were counteracted by the excess of deaths due to the pandemics. In the case of NO2, the reduction in concentrations was more pronounced as a result of the lockdown measures and the drastic reduction in traffic and its impact in reducing mortality was bigger than the increasing impact of excess of deaths due to COVID-19.
Changing assumptions on concentration-response functions and counterfactual concentrations have implications for estimating mortality health outcomes. The sensitivity analysis shows that it is not straightforward to assess which assumptions estimates the highest health impacts when both factors change. In this case, the final outcome will depend on the concentration at the grid-cell level. The latest assumptions are expected to reduce the health outcomes for PM2.5 and increase for NO2 and O3, when compared to the previous one. When aggregated to all countries, the health outcomes are reduced by over 40 % for PM2.5 and increased by 50 % and 30 % for NO2 and O3, respectively, in 2020. However, this change varies across countries depending on the concentration level the population in the individual countries is exposed to.
ETC/HE
2022
Mercury in air and soil on an urban-rural transect in East Africa
There are large knowledge gaps concerning concentrations, sources, emissions, and spatial trends of mercury (Hg) in the atmosphere in developing regions of the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in urban areas. Filling these gaps is a prerequisite for assessing the effectiveness of international regulation and for enabling a better understanding of the global transport of Hg in the environment. Here we use a passive sampling technique to study the spatial distribution of gaseous elemental Hg (Hg(0), GEM) and assess emission sources in and around Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's largest city. Included in the study were the city's main municipal waste dumpsite and an e-waste processing facility as potential sources of GEM. To complement the GEM data and for a better overview of the Hg contamination status of Dar es Salaam, soil samples were collected from the same locations where passive air samplers were deployed and analysed for total Hg. Overall, GEM concentrations ranged between <0.86 and 5.34 ng m−3, indicating significant local sources within the urban area. The municipal waste dumpsite and e-waste site had GEM concentrations elevated above the background, at 2.41 and 1.77 ng m−3, respectively. Hg concentrations in soil in the region (range 0.0067 to 0.098 mg kg−1) were low compared to those of other urban areas and were not correlated with atmospheric GEM concentrations. This study demonstrates that GEM is a significant environmental issue in the urban region of Dar es Salaam. Further studies from urban areas in the Global South are needed to better identify sources of GEM.
2022
This scoping study proposes a methodology to develop indicator(s) on the risk of chemicals on various types of ecosystems, habitats and species. This indicator is designed to answer the very different needs coming from environmental policy and strategies. Its aim is to reflect the consequences of human activities (e.g., farming) on ecosystems taking into account different protection goals that can cover specific or protected habitats (or the relevant communities or species in these habitats) or intensively used areas such as agricultural landscapes, which are very relevant in terms of representativity.
In order to develop such an indicator, the methodological approach retained to calculate maps showing a specific risk, illustrated as different degrees of exceedance of tolerable effect thresholds, is to combine different layers of information on which areas/habitats/ecosystems, contain which species, that are exposed to which amounts of chemicals. Information on the sensitivity of the species towards different toxicological effects, and how sensitive the species are to the applied chemicals, is used as ‘connectors’ between the different layers of spatial information.
The report highlights the data required for the development of such an indicator and their availability through a review of existing databases. A case study illustrates the applicability of the indicator and the need for further development.
ETC/HE
2022
2022
Potential environmental impact of bromoform from Asparagopsis farming in Australia
To mitigate the rumen enteric methane (CH4) produced by ruminant livestock, Asparagopsis taxiformis is proposed as an additive to ruminant feed. During the cultivation of Asparagopsis taxiformis in the sea or in terrestrially based systems, this macroalgae, like most seaweeds and phytoplankton, produces a large amount of bromoform (CHBr3), which contributes to ozone depletion once released into the atmosphere. In this study, we focus on the impact of CHBr3 on the stratospheric ozone layer resulting from potential emissions from proposed Asparagopsis cultivation in Australia. The impact is assessed by weighting the emissions of CHBr3 with its ozone depletion potential (ODP), which is traditionally defined for long-lived halocarbons but has also been applied to very short-lived substances (VSLSs). An annual yield of ∼3.5 × 104 Mg dry weight is required to meet the needs of 50 % of the beef feedlot and dairy cattle in Australia. Our study shows that the intensity and impact of CHBr3 emissions vary, depending on location and cultivation scenarios. Of the proposed locations, tropical farms near the Darwin region are associated with the largest CHBr3 ODP values. However, farming of Asparagopsis using either ocean or terrestrial cultivation systems at any of the proposed locations does not have the potential to significantly impact the ozone layer. Even if all Asparagopsis farming were performed in Darwin, the CHBr3 emitted into the atmosphere would amount to less than 0.02 % of the global ODP-weighted emissions. The impact of remaining farming scenarios is also relatively small even if the intended annual yield in Darwin is scaled by a factor of 30 to meet the global requirements, which will increase the global ODP-weighted emissions up to ∼0.5 %.
2022
Numerical Study of Non-Linear Effects for a Swept Bias Langmuir Probe
We present a numerical study disclosing non-linear effects and hysteresis loops for a swept bias Langmuir probe. A full kinetic particle in cell (PIC) model has been used to study the temporal sheath effects and the probe current. Langmuir "close to steady state" condition is required to characterize the plasma. However, during operations above frequencies normally used, capacitive and non-linear resistive effects are being unveiled. We demonstrate how ion and electron density and temperature change properties of the probe-plasma system. We also show that a swept Langmuir probe exhibits essential properties described as the "fingerprint of memristors" and how a Langmuir probe can be identified as a transversal memristor. Understanding non-linear processes might enable new ways to operate Langmuir probes with higher sampling rates and better accuracy.
2022
2022
2022
Epidemiological studies have increasingly shown that ambient air pollution is not only associated with mortality but also with the occurrence of a number of long and short-term diseases. Further, the Global Burden of Disease study clearly indicated, that e. g. particulate matter pollution is also associated with a considerable burden of disease related to morbidity effects.
In addition to the most recent EEA’s health risk assessments, this report estimates the morbidity related health burden associated with exposure to the same three key air pollutants: fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). Years lived with disability (YLDs) or attributable hospitalisation cases are assessed for the year 2019 for numerous European countries, depending on the respective data availability. Besides, the methodological approach as well as reviews on evidence-based health outcomes, health data and concentration-response functions are provided.
For the ten considered risk-outcome pairs, the results showed the highest morbidity related burden of disease in Europe for PM2.5 associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with 51.6 YLDs per 100 000 inhabitants ≥25 years. For NO2 the highest morbidity burden resulted from diabetes mellitus (DM) with 54.6 YLDs per 100 000 inhabitants ≥35 years. For short-term O3 exposure hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases were estimated at 18 attributable cases per 100 000 inhabitants ≥65 years.
In addition to the estimates, the report contains suggestions for further sensitivity analyses. These would allow a better assessment of the effects resulting from different input data on the results.
The estimations presented in this report are the first of its kind that are carried out for a wide range of morbidity health outcomes associated with different outdoor air pollutants in Europe, using a consistent methodology and data from European health databases.
ETC/HE
2022