Found 9941 publications. Showing page 316 of 398:
The influence of residential wood combustion on the concentrations of PM2.5 in four Nordic cities
Residential wood combustion (RWC) is an important contributor to air quality in numerous regions worldwide. This study is the first extensive evaluation of the influence of RWC on ambient air quality in several Nordic cities. We have analysed the emissions and concentrations of PM2.5 in cities within four Nordic countries: in the metropolitan areas of Copenhagen, Oslo, and Helsinki and in the city of Umeå. We have evaluated the emissions for the relevant urban source categories and modelled atmospheric dispersion on regional and urban scales. The emission inventories for RWC were based on local surveys, the amount of wood combusted, combustion technologies and other relevant factors. The accuracy of the predicted concentrations was evaluated based on urban concentration measurements. The predicted annual average concentrations ranged spatially from 4 to 7 µg m−3 (2011), from 6 to 10 µg m−3 (2013), from 4 to more than 13 µg m−3 (2013) and from 9 to more than 13 µg m−3 (2014), in Umeå, Helsinki, Oslo and Copenhagen, respectively. The higher concentrations in Copenhagen were mainly caused by the relatively high regionally and continentally transported background contributions. The annual average fractions of PM2.5 concentrations attributed to RWC within the considered urban regions ranged spatially from 0 % to 15 %, from 0 % to 20 %, from 8 % to 22 % and from 0 % to 60 % in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Umeå and Oslo, respectively. In particular, the contributions of RWC in central Oslo were larger than 40 % as annual averages. In Oslo, wood combustion was used mainly for the heating of larger blocks of flats. In contrast, in Helsinki, RWC was solely used in smaller detached houses. In Copenhagen and Helsinki, the highest fractions occurred outside the city centre in the suburban areas. In Umeå, the highest fractions occurred both in the city centre and its surroundings.
2020
Concentration Fluctuations from Localized Atmospheric Releases
We review the efforts made by the scientific community in more than seventy years to elucidate the behaviour of concentration fluctuations arising from localized atmospheric releases of dynamically passive and non-reactive scalars. Concentration fluctuations are relevant in many fields including the evaluation of toxicity, flammability, and odour nuisance. Characterizing concentration fluctuations requires not just the mean concentration but also at least the variance of the concentration in the location of interest. However, for most purposes the characterization of the concentration fluctuations requires knowledge of the concentration probability density function (PDF) in the point of interest and even the time evolution of the concentration. We firstly review the experimental works made both in the field and in the laboratory, and cover both point sources and line sources. Regarding modelling approaches, we cover analytical, semi-analytical, and numerical methods. For clarity of presentation we subdivide the models in two groups, models linked to a transport equation, which usually require a numerical resolution, and models mainly based on phenomenological aspects of dispersion, often providing analytical or semi-analytical relations. The former group includes: large-eddy simulations, Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes methods, two-particle Lagrangian stochastic models, PDF transport equation methods, and heuristic Lagrangian single-particle methods. The latter group includes: fluctuating plume models, semi-empirical models for the concentration moments, analytical models for the concentration PDF, and concentration time-series models. We close the review with a brief discussion highlighting possible useful additions to experiments and improvements to models.
Springer
2020
2020
The high persistence of PFAS is sufficient for their management as a chemical class
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic organic substances with diverse structures, properties, uses, bioaccumulation potentials and toxicities. Despite this high diversity, all PFAS are alike in that they contain perfluoroalkyl moieties that are extremely resistant to environmental and metabolic degradation. The vast majority of PFAS are therefore either non-degradable or transform ultimately into stable terminal transformation products (which are still PFAS). Under the European chemicals regulation this classifies PFAS as very persistent substances (vP). We argue that this high persistence is sufficient concern for their management as a chemical class, and for all “non-essential” uses of PFAS to be phased out. The continual release of highly persistent PFAS will result in increasing concentrations and increasing probabilities of the occurrence of known and unknown effects. Once adverse effects are identified, the exposure and associated effects will not be easily reversible. Reversing PFAS contamination will be technically challenging, energy intensive, and costly for society, as is evident in the efforts to remove PFAS from contaminated land and drinking water sources.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2020
2020
Review on the methodology supporting the health impact assessment by the European Environment Agency
2020
2020
Aerosol particles are major short-lived climate forcers, because of their ability to interact with incoming solar radiation. Therefore, addressing mean levels and sources of Arctic aerosols is of high importance in the battle against climate change, due to the Arctic amplification. In the Eastern Arctic, from Finland to Alaska, only one monitoring station exists (HMO Tiksi) and the levels of the Arctic aerosols are usually recorded by sporadic campaigns, while other stations exist in Canada, Finland and Europe. From April 2015 to December 2016, the research station "Ice Base Cape Baranova" (79°16.82'N, 101°37.05'E), located on the Bolshevik island was established in the Siberian high Arctic. Samples were analyzed for equivalent Black Carbon (eBC), Organic Carbon (OC), Elemental Carbon (EC), water-soluble ions, and elements. To identify the spatial origin of the sources, the Potential Source Contributions Function (PSCF) was used in combination with FLEXPART emission sensitivities. OC is the most dominant PM compound in the Ice Cape Baranova station and mostly originates from gas flaring and other industrial regions at lower latitudes, as well as from biomass burning during summertime. Sulfate concentrations were affected by anthropogenic sources in the cold seasons and by natural sources in the warm ones showing distinct seasonal patterns. K+ and Mg2+ originate from sea-salt in winter and from forest fires in summer. The interannual variability of eBC was in good agreement with the general Arctic seasonal trends and was mainly affected by gas flaring, low latitude industrial sources and from biomass burning emissions. Cl− depletion was very low, while Na+ and Cl− originated from the locally formed sea spray.
Stockholm University Press
2020
The impact of atmospheric reactive nitrogen (Nr) deposition on carbon (C) sequestration in soils and biomass of unfertilized, natural, semi-natural and forest ecosystems has been much debated. Many previous results of this dC∕dN response were based on changes in carbon stocks from periodical soil and ecosystem inventories, associated with estimates of Nr deposition obtained from large-scale chemical transport models. This study and a companion paper (Flechard et al., 2020) strive to reduce uncertainties of N effects on C sequestration by linking multi-annual gross and net ecosystem productivity estimates from 40 eddy covariance flux towers across Europe to local measurement-based estimates of dry and wet Nr deposition from a dedicated collocated monitoring network. To identify possible ecological drivers and processes affecting the interplay between C and Nr inputs and losses, these data were also combined with in situ flux measurements of NO, N2O and CH4 fluxes; soil NO−3
leaching sampling; and results of soil incubation experiments for N and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as well as surveys of available data from online databases and from the literature, together with forest ecosystem (BASFOR) modelling.
Multi-year averages of net ecosystem productivity (NEP) in forests ranged from −70 to 826 g C m−2 yr−1 at total wet + dry inorganic Nr deposition rates (Ndep) of 0.3 to 4.3 g N m−2 yr−1 and from −4 to 361 g C m−2 yr−1 at Ndep rates of 0.1 to 3.1 g N m−2 yr−1 in short semi-natural vegetation (moorlands, wetlands and unfertilized extensively managed grasslands). The GHG budgets of the forests were strongly dominated by CO2 exchange, while CH4 and N2O exchange comprised a larger proportion of the GHG balance in short semi-natural vegetation. Uncertainties in elemental budgets were much larger for nitrogen than carbon, especially at sites with elevated Ndep where Nr leaching losses were also very large, and compounded by the lack of reliable data on organic nitrogen and N2 losses by denitrification. Nitrogen losses in the form of NO, N2O and especially NO−3
were on average 27 % (range 6 %–54 %) of Ndep at sites with Ndep < 1 g N m−2 yr−1 versus 65 % (range 35 %–85 %) for Ndep > 3 g N m−2 yr−1. Such large levels of Nr loss likely indicate that different stages of N saturation occurred at a number of sites. The joint analysis of the C and N budgets provided further hints that N saturation could be detected in altered patterns of forest growth. Net ecosystem productivity increased with Nr deposition up to 2–2.5 g N m−2 yr−1, with large scatter associated with a wide range in carbon sequestration efficiency (CSE, defined as the NEP ∕ GPP ratio). At elevated Ndep levels (> 2.5 g N m−2 yr−1), where inorganic Nr losses were also increasingly large, NEP levelled off and then decreased. The apparent increase in NEP at low to intermediate Ndep levels was partly the result of geographical cross-correlations between Ndep and climate, indicating that the actual mean dC∕dN response at individual sites was significantly lower than would be suggested by a simple, straightforward regression of NEP vs. Ndep.
2020
Microfibers (MFs) are frequently reported as the most dominant type of microplastic (MP) found in the marine water column and sediments. A major source of MFs is the use and washing of textiles. Although WWTPs can remove up to 98% of MP, estimates suggest billions of MP are still released from a single WWTP annually. Intrinsic properties (polymer type, density, size) will influence environmental degradation, settling times, and ingestion of MFs by marine organisms. Less well understood is the influence of environmental degradation on the fate of MFs. In the current study, we compare the effect of UV exposure on the degradation and fragmentation of polyester (PET), polyamide (nylon; PA), polyacrylonitrile (acrylic; PAN) and wool fibers. Degradation of MFs was conducted in seawater under environmentally relevant exposure conditions using simulated sunlight. PA, PET and wool MFs exhibited changes in surface morphology after just 2 weeks from the start of exposure, followed by fragmentation after
2020
2020
Crumb rubber toxicity in coastal marine systems
Crumb rubber granulate (CRG) produced from end of life tires (ELTs) is commonly applied on indoor and outdoor synthetic turf pitches (STPs), playgrounds, safety surfaces and walkways. In addition to fillers, stabilizers, cross-linking agents and secondary components (e.g. pigments, oils, resins, fibers), ELTs contain high levels of organic additive compounds and heavy metals. While previous environmental studies have focused on terrestrial soil and freshwater ecosystems, in Norway many sites applying CRG are coastal. In the current study, the organic chemical and metal content of 'fresh' and 'weathered' CRG and their seawater leachates was investigated, and the uptake of crumb rubber by the brown crab (Cancer pagurus) was studied as an example of an exposure route for CRG to coastal marine organisms. A combination of pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (py-GC-MS) and chemical extraction followed by GC-MS analysis revealed similar organic chemical profiles for pristine and weathered CRG, including additives such as benzothiazole, N-1,3-dimethylbutyl-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine and a range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenolic compounds (e.g. bisphenols). ICP-MS analysis indicated g/kg quantities of Zn and mg/kg quantities of Fe, Mn, Cu, Co, Cr, Pb and Ni in the CRG. A mixture of organic additives, metals and other inorganic compounds readily leached from the CRG into seawater. Benzothiazole was the organic compound with highest concentration (average of 136 mg/L), while PAHs (ranging from <LOD to 0.58 mg/L) and phenolic compounds (e.g. 2,4-bisphenol F and 4,4’-bisphenol F at 0.012 and 0.006 mg/L, respectively) were present in low abundance. Zn was the most abundant metal in the leachates (23.8 mg/L) followed by Fe (0.08 mg/L) and Co (0.06 mg/L). While organic chemical concentrations in the leachates stabilized within days, metals continued to leach out over the 30 day period. Brown crabs were exposed to two concentrations of CRG (0.5 and 0.05 g/L) in two size fractions (5 mm and 250 µm diameter) for 24 hours. Ingestion of the rubber and subsequent gut evacuation were studied over 5 days. Image analysis of filtered stomach contents confirmed uptake of rubber particles in different sizes, but also efficient gut evacuation upon transfer to clean water. We discuss the implications of CRG and leachate toxicity in acute and long-term exposure scenarios for marine coastal ecosystems.
2020
EEA-33 Industrial Emissions Country Profiles. Methodology report. Updated July 2020.
The industrial emissions country profiles summarise key data related to industry: its relevance with respect to economic contributions, energy and water consumption, as well as air and water emissions and waste generation. The country profiles are developed for the EEA-33 countries which includes the 28 EU Member States together with Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey.
The present revision (v. 3.0) of this report includes data available at date of release. This year, a new reporting, the so-called EU-Registry and thematic data reporting, is introduced in order to gather the former E-PRTR, LCP and IED reportings and finally replace them. The 2018 data are not yet readily available. Nevertheless, more quality checks have been performed on the latest E-PRTR database in order to have the cleanest final E-PRTR dataset possible. Hence, the industrial emissions country profiles are enriched with the most up-to-date data sources while still only covering the years up to 2017.
This report describes the underlying methodology to the industrial emissions country profiles that are presented as a Tableau story on the EEA webpages ([1]).
The scope of industry in this respect includes in short all industrial activities reported under the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) excluding agriculture (activity code 7.(a) and 7.(b)). The data sources include Eurostat, the E-PRTR, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reported under the Monitoring Mechanism Regulation (MMR) and air pollutant emission inventories reported under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP), each of which have their own data categories. A recently developed EEA-mapping which align these different categories is used ([2]). The data sources and industry scope is presented in full detail in the Annexes following this report.
The water and air pollutants including greenhouse gases are selected based on criteria related to their relative impact. Emissions of heavy metals to air and water have been combined by weighted averages using both eco toxicology and human toxicology characterisation factors ([3]). The amounts of hazardous and non-hazardous waste reported under Eurostat is presented, but excluding the major mineral waste that dominates the mining and construction sectors.
The data quality is evaluated and gap filling of Eurostat data is performed when needed. A method for E-PRTR outlier handling is proposed and applied where appropriate.
The significance of industry, given by gross value added (GVA), energy consumption and water use, as well as generation of waste are presented in the Tableau story as a sector percentage of EEA-33 gross total as well as percentage of country total. The trend in air and water pollution is presented as totals per pollutants relative to the latest year (2017). For the latest year the emissions are also given as percentage per sector relative to country total. The details on how the presented data is processed and aggregated is described in Annex 2.
The report is to a large extent based on previous methodology reports for “Industrial pollution country profiles”, but is also further developed to reflect feedback received through Eionet review and general requests from EEA and the European Commission.
ETC/ATNI
2020
Emissions outsourcing in the EU. A review of potential effects on industrial pollution.
This study reviews potential evidence for emissions outsourcing in the European Union as the reduction in industrial emissions in Europe may be linked to the relocation of industry abroad (i.e. away from Europe). Emission trends of selected industrial pollutants to air (PAH, SOx, B(a)P, PCB, Pb, Zn and Ni) were established for both domestic emissions and embodied emissions in imports using available data in the EXIOBASE environmentally extended multiregional input-output system. Despite the overall decreasing trends of domestic emissions in Europe, a great variation was observed in the decrease rate of direct emissions and the increase rates in embodied emissions, due to increasing import of associated products. In addition to the analysis of data in EXIOBASE, a review of literature shows that industries’ responses to environmental regulations differ greatly based on the nature of industrial activities. Despite imposing higher costs to industries, no evidence was found in the reviewed literature that European environmental regulations caused industries to relocate. However, once industries aim to relocate outside of Europe to benefit from economic factors, such as lowering their production cost, the degree by which environmental regulations are enforced in the country of relocation can play a significant role in selecting their new location.
ETC/ATNI
2020
The ClairCity Horizon2020 project aims to contribute to citizen-inclusive air quality and carbon policy making in middle-sized European cities. It does so by investigating citizens’ current behaviours as well as their preferred future behaviours and policy measures in six European cities1 through an extensive citizen and stakeholder engagement process. The project also models the possible future impacts of citizens’ policy preferences and examines implementation possibilities for these measures in the light of the existing institutional contexts in each city (Figure 0-1). This report summarises the main policy results for Amsterdam (the Netherlands).
ClairCity Project
2020
We present an observing simulated system experiment (OSSE) dedicated to evaluate the potential added value from the Sentinel-4 and the Sentinel-5P observations on tropospheric ozone composition. For this purpose, the ozone data of Sentinel-4 (Ultraviolet Visible Near-infrared) and Sentinel-5P (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument) on board a geostationary (GEO) and a low-Earth-orbit (LEO) platform, respectively, have been simulated using the DISAMAR inversion package for the summer 2003. To ensure the robustness of the results, the OSSE has been configured with conservative assumptions. We simulate the reality by combining two chemistry transport models (CTMs): the LOng Term Ozone Simulation - EURopean Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) and the Transport Model version 5 (TM5). The assimilation system is based on a different CTM, the MOdele de Chimie Atmospherique a Grande Echelle (MOCAGE), combined with the 3-D variational technique. The background error covariance matrix does not evolve in time and its variance is proportional to the field values. The simulated data are formed of six eigenvectors to minimize the size of the dataset by removing the noise-dominated part of the observations. The results show that the satellite data clearly bring direct added value around 200 hPa for the whole assimilation period and for the whole European domain, while a likely indirect added value is identified but not for the whole period and domain at 500 hPa, and to a lower extent at 700 hPa. In addition, the ozone added value from Sentinel-5P (LEO) appears close to that from Sentinel-4 (GEO) in the free troposphere (200-500 hPa) in our OSSE. The outcome of our study is a result of the OSSE design and the choice within each of the components of the system.
2020
American Chemical Society (ACS)
2020
Seabirds like gulls are common indicators in contaminant monitoring. The herring gull (Larus argentatus) is a generalist with a broad range of dietary sources, possibly introducing a weakness in its representativeness of aquatic contamination. To investigate the herring gull as an indicator of contamination in an urban‐influenced fjord, the Norwegian Oslofjord, we compared concentrations of a range of lipophilic and protein‐associated organohalogen contaminants (OHCs), Hg, and dietary markers in blood (n = 15), and eggs (n = 15) between the herring gull and the strict marine‐feeding common eider (Somateria mollissima) in the breeding period of May 2017. Dietary markers showed that the herring gull was less representative of the marine food web than the common eider. We found higher concentrations of lipophilic OHCs (wet weight and lipid weight) and Hg (dry weight) in the blood of common eider (mean ± SE ∑PCB = 210 ± 126 ng/g ww, 60 600 ± 28 300 ng/g lw; mean Hg = 4.94 ± 0.438 ng/g dw) than of the herring gull (mean ± SE ∑PCB = 19.0 ± 15.6 ng/g ww, 1210 ± 1510 ng/g lw; mean Hg = 4.26 ± 0.438 ng/g dw). Eggs gave opposite results; higher wet weight and lipid weight OHC concentrations in the herring gull (mean ± SE ∑PCB = 257 ± 203 ng/g ww, 3240 ± 2610 ng/g lw) than the common eider (mean ± SE ∑PCB = 18.2 ± 20.8 ng/g ww, 101 ± 121 ng/g lw), resulting in higher OHC maternal transfer ratios in gulls than eiders. We suggest that the matrix differences are due to fasting during incubation in the common eider. We suggest that in urban areas, herring gull might not be representative as an indicator of marine contamination but rather urban contaminant exposure. The common eider is a better indicator of marine pollution in the Oslofjord. The results are influenced by the matrix choice, as breeding strategy affects lipid dynamics regarding the transfer of lipids and contaminants to eggs and remobilization of contaminants from lipids to blood during incubation, when blood is drawn from the mother. Our results illustrate the benefit of a multispecies approach for a thorough picture of contaminant status in urban marine ecosystems. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;00:1–12. © 2020 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)
John Wiley & Sons
2020
Environmental factors that can influence telomeres are diverse, but the association between telomeres and exposure to environmental contaminants is yet to be elucidated. To date, prior studies have focused on legacy persistent chlorinated pollutants (POPs), while the effects of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been poorly documented. Here, we investigated the associations among PFAS congeners, absolute telomere length (cross-sectional approach), and telomere dynamics (rate of telomere length change over time, longitudinal approach) in one of the most contaminated arctic top predators, the glaucous gull Larus hyperboreus from Svalbard. We further estimated the effect of PFAS on apparent survival rates and re-sighting probabilities using a 10-year capture/recapture dataset (2010–2019). We found that birds exposed to higher concentrations of perfluorononadecanoate (PFNA) (median of 1565 pg/mL of ww in males and 1370 pg/mL of ww in females) and perfluorotetradecanoate (PFTeDA) (median of 370 pg/mL of ww in males and 210 pg/mL of ww in females) showed the slowest rate of telomere shortening. We also found that high blood concentrations of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) (median of 120 pg/mL of ww in males and 150 pg/mL of ww in females) and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) (median of 495 pg/mL of ww in males and 395 pg/mL of ww in females) were positively associated with higher re-sighting probabilities and apparent survival in males but not in females. Our work is the first to report an association between single PFAS compounds and telomeres, and the first to link PFAS exposure with survival probabilities, suggesting that the effect of PFAS exposure might be more tied to the type of compound rather than the total concentration of PFAS.
2020