Found 9746 publications. Showing page 32 of 390:
2023
There is concern over possible effects on ecosystems and humans from exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and chemicals with similar properties. The main objective of this study was to develop, evaluate, and apply the Nested Exposure Model (NEM) designed to simulate the link between global emissions and resulting ecosystem exposure while accounting for variation in time and space. NEM, using environmental and biological data, global emissions, and physicochemical properties as input, was used to estimate PCB-153 concentrations in seawater and biota of the Norwegian marine environment from 1930 to 2020. These concentrations were compared to measured concentrations in (i) seawater, (ii) an Arctic marine food web comprising zooplankton, fish and marine mammals, and (iii) Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) and Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) from large baseline studies and monitoring programs. NEM reproduced PCB-153 concentrations in seawater, the Arctic food web, and Norwegian fish within a factor of 0.1–31, 0.14–3.1, and 0.09–21, respectively. The model also successfully reproduced measured trophic magnification factors for PCB-153 at Svalbard as well as geographical variations in PCB-153 burden in Atlantic cod between the Skagerrak, North Sea, Norwegian Sea, and Barents Sea, but estimated a steeper decline in PCB-153 concentration in herring and cod during the last decades than observed. Using the evaluated model with various emission scenarios showed the important contribution of European and global primary emissions for the PCB-153 load in fish from Norwegian marine offshore areas.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2023
Establishment of an early warning system (EWS) for the identification of new and existing potentially hazardous substances is a key component of PARC. An EWS includes early warning monitoring toolboxes to identify chemical hazards in a broad range of biotic and abiotic matrices and products with a special focus on aqueous environment that may be associated with an unacceptable health risk. Effect-based monitoring (EBM) and effect-directed analysis (EDA) are identified as key toolboxes for prioritizing chemical hazards in various matrices including water, soil, sediment, sludge, air, dust, aquatic and terrestrial biota, human samples, products like food contact materials, and food. This report gives an overview of i) sampling strategies, ii) sample preparation methods for bioassays and chemical analysis, iii) EBM using bioassays, iv) chemical analytical methods including target, suspect and nontarget screening, v) EDA and iceberg modelling, and vi) future perspectives and needs for an EWS.
Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC)
2023
Regionally sourced bioaerosols drive high-temperature ice nucleating particles in the Arctic
Primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) play an important role in the climate system, facilitating the formation of ice within clouds, consequently PBAP may be important in understanding the rapidly changing Arctic. Within this work, we use single-particle fluorescence spectroscopy to identify and quantify PBAP at an Arctic mountain site, with transmission electronic microscopy analysis supporting the presence of PBAP. We find that PBAP concentrations range between 10−3–10−1 L−1 and peak in summer. Evidences suggest that the terrestrial Arctic biosphere is an important regional source of PBAP, given the high correlation to air temperature, surface albedo, surface vegetation and PBAP tracers. PBAP clearly correlate with high-temperature ice nucleating particles (INP) (>-15 °C), of which a high a fraction (>90%) are proteinaceous in summer, implying biological origin. These findings will contribute to an improved understanding of sources and characteristics of Arctic PBAP and their links to INP.
Springer Nature
2023
The Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP) framework plays a crucial role in the paradigm shift of toxicity testing towards the development and use of new approach methodologies. AOPs developed for chemicals are in theory applicable to nanomaterials (NMs). However, only subtle efforts have been made to integrate information on NM-induced toxicity into existing AOPs. In a previous study, we identified AOPs in the AOP-Wiki associated with the molecular initiating events (MIEs) and key events (KEs) reported for NMs in scientific literature. In a next step, we analyzed these AOPs and found that mitochondrial toxicity plays a significant role in several of them at the molecular and cellular levels. In this study, we aimed to generate hypothesis-based AOPs related to NM-induced mitochondrial toxicity. This was achieved by integrating science-based information collected on NM-induced mitochondrial toxicity into all existing AOPs in the AOP-Wiki, which already includes mitochondrial toxicity as a MIE/KE. The results showed that several AOPs in the AOP-Wiki related to the lung, liver, cardiovascular and nervous system, with extensively defined KEs and key event relationships (KERs), could be utilized to develop AOPs that are relevant for NMs. Our results also indicate that the majority of the studies included in our literature review were of poor quality, particularly in reporting NM physico-chemical characteristics, and NM-relevant mitochondrial MIEs were scarcely reported. This study highlights the potential role of NM-induced mitochondrial toxicity in human-relevant adverse outcomes and identifies useful AOPs in the AOP-Wiki for the development AOPs that are relevant for NMs.
2023
Low-Cost Particulate Matter Sensors for Monitoring Residential Wood Burning
Conventional monitoring systems for air quality, such as reference stations, provide reliable pollution data in urban settings but only at relatively low spatial density. This study explores the potential of low-cost sensor systems (LCSs) deployed at homes of residents to enhance the monitoring of urban air pollution caused by residential wood burning. We established a network of 28 Airly (Airly-GSM-1, SP. Z o.o., Poland) LCSs in Kristiansand, Norway, over two winters (2021–2022). To assess performance, a gravimetric Kleinfiltergerät measured the fine particle mass concentration (PM2.5) in the garden of one participant’s house for 4 weeks. Results showed a sensor-to-reference correlation equal to 0.86 for raw PM2.5 measurements at daily resolution (bias/RMSE: 9.45/11.65 μg m–3). High-resolution air quality maps at a 100 m resolution were produced by combining the output of an air quality model (uEMEP) using data assimilation techniques with the network data that were corrected and calibrated by using a proposed five-step network data processing scheme. Leave-one-out cross-validation demonstrated that data assimilation reduced the model’s RMSE, MAE, and bias by 44–56, 38–48, and 41–52%, respectively.
2023
State of the Climate in 2022: The Arctic
American Meteorological Society
2023
Volcanoes are known to be important emitters of atmospheric gases and aerosols, which for certain volcanoes can include halogen gases and in particular HBr. HBr emitted in this way can undergo rapid atmospheric oxidation chemistry (known as the bromine explosion) within the volcanic emission plume, leading to the production of bromine oxide (BrO) and ozone depletion. In this work, we present the results of a modelling study of a volcanic eruption from Mt Etna that occurred around Christmas 2018 and lasted 6 d. The aims of this study are to demonstrate and evaluate the ability of the regional 3D chemistry transport model Modèle de Chimie Atmosphérique de Grande Echelle (MOCAGE) to simulate the volcanic halogen chemistry in this case study, to analyse the variability of the chemical processes during the plume transport, and to quantify its impact on the composition of the troposphere at a regional scale over the Mediterranean basin.
The comparison of the tropospheric SO2 and BrO columns from 25 to 30 December 2018 from the MOCAGE simulation with the columns derived from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) satellite measurements shows a very good agreement for the transport of the plume and a good consistency for the concentrations if considering the uncertainties in the flux estimates and the TROPOMI columns. The analysis of the bromine species' partitioning and of the associated chemical reaction rates provides a detailed picture of the simulated bromine chemistry throughout the diurnal cycle and at different stages of the volcanic plume's evolution. The partitioning of the bromine species is modulated by the time evolution of the emissions during the 6 d of the eruption; by the meteorological conditions; and by the distance of the plume from the vent, which is equivalent to the time since the emission. As the plume travels further from the vent, the halogen source gas HBr becomes depleted, BrO production in the plume becomes less efficient, and ozone depletion (proceeding via the Br+O3 reaction followed by the BrO self-reaction) decreases. The depletion of HBr relative to the other prevalent hydracid HCl leads to a shift in the relative concentrations of the Br− and Cl− ions, which in turn leads to reduced production of Br2 relative to BrCl.
The MOCAGE simulations show a regional impact of the volcanic eruption on the oxidants OH and O3 with a reduced burden of both gases that is caused by the chemistry in the volcanic plume. This reduction in atmospheric oxidation capacity results in a reduced CH4 burden. Finally, sensitivity tests on the composition of the emissions carried out in this work show that the production of BrO is higher when the volcanic emissions of sulfate aerosols are increased but occurs very slowly when no sulfate and Br radicals are assumed to be in the emissions. Both sensitivity tests highlight a significant impact on the oxidants in the troposphere at the regional scale of these assumptions.
All the results of this modelling study, in particular the rapid formation of BrO, which leads to a significant loss of tropospheric ozone, are consistent with previous studies carried out on the modelling of volcanic halogens.
2023
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are important parts of the Earth system. The physical and biological properties here to a large degree control and shape other parts of the Earth through atmospheric, cryospheric and oceanic connections. The Troll Observing Network – TONe - is a new comprehensive infrastructure centered around the Norwegian Troll Research Station in Dronning Maud Land. It will be an important contribution to global research efforts in this part of Antarctica, closing data gaps in Antarctic environmental observations and providing key data required to respond to the fundamental societal challenges and uncertainties facing the world today. The Norwegian and international partner consortium in TONe is in the process to develop the state-of-the-art, multi-platform, multi-disciplinary observatory network for environmental observations, and a remotely piloted aerial system (RPAS) services to collect data for studying and monitoring the atmosphere, terrestrial and marine environment. The observatory network consists of 8 observatories: an integrated cloud observatory, an atmosphere composition observatory, an infrasound array, an ionospheric observatory, a seismic array, an ice-shelf observatory, a multidisciplinary open ocean moored observatory and a sea-bird observatory. The key aspect of TONe is to ensure wide and free access to the data from the observatories and the RPAS services to the entire national and international research community. TONe as a whole will be implemented and fully operational from 2027, while single parts of the infrastructure will be available before that.
2023
It is of considerable interest to identify chemicals which may represent a hazard and risk to environmental and human health in remote areas. The OECD POV and LRTP Screening Tool (“The Tool”) for assessing chemicals for persistence (P) and long-range transport potential (LRTP) has been extensively used for combined P and LRTP assessments in various regulatory contexts, including the Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The approach in The Tool plots either the Characteristic Travel Distance (CTD, in km), a transport-oriented metric, or the Transfer Efficiency (TE, in %), which calculates the transfer from the atmosphere to surface compartments in a remote region, against overall persistence (POV). For a chemical to elicit adverse effects in remote areas, it not only needs to be transported and transferred to remote environmental surface media, it also needs to accumulate in these media. The current version of The Tool does not have a metric to quantify this process. We screened a list of >12 000 high production volume chemicals (HPVs) for the potential to be dispersed, transferred, and accumulate in surface media in remote regions using the three corresponding LRTP metrics of the emission fractions approach (EFA; ϕ1, ϕ2, ϕ3), as implemented in a modified version of The Tool. Comparing the outcome of an assessment based on CTD/TE and POV with the EFA, we find that the latter classifies a larger number of HPVs as having the potential for accumulation in remote regions than is classified as POP-like by the existing approach. In particular, the EFA identifies chemicals capable of accumulating in remote regions without fulfilling the criterion for POV. The remote accumulation fraction of the EFA is the LRTP assessment metric most suited for the risk assessment stage in Annex E of the SC. Using simpler metrics (such as half-life criteria, POV, and LRTP–POV combinations) in a hazard-based assessment according to Annex D is problematic as it may prematurely screen out many of the chemicals with potential for adverse effects as a result of long-range transport.
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
2023
2023
In order to measure progress towards the aims outlined by the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda, data are needed for the different indicators that are linked to each UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). Where statistical or scientific data are not sufficient or available, alternative data sources, such as data from citizen science (CS) activities, could be used.
Statistics Norway, together with the Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities, have developed a taxonomy for classifying indicators that are intended to measure the SDGs. The purpose of this taxonomy is to sort, evaluate, and compare different SDG indicators and to assess their usefulness by identifying their central properties and characteristics. This is done by organizing central characteristics under the three dimensions of Goal, Perspective, and Quality. The taxonomy is designed in a way that can help users to find the right indicators across sectors to measure progress towards the SDGs depending on their own context and strategic priorities. The Norwegian taxonomy also offers new opportunities for the re-use of data collected through CS activities. This paper presents the taxonomy and demonstrates how it can be applied for an indicator based on a CS data set, and we also suggest further use of CS data.
Ubiquity Press
2023
Low-Processing Data Enrichment and Calibration for PM2.5 Low-Cost Sensors
Particulate matter (PM) in air has been proven to be hazardous to human health. Here we focused on analysis of PM data we obtained from the same campaign which was presented in our previous study. Multivariate linear and random forest models were used for the calibration and analysis. In our linear regression model the inputs were PM, temperature and humidity measured with low-cost sensors, and the target was the reference PM measurements obtained from SEPA in the same timeframe.
2023
Soil uptake of VOCs exceeds production when VOCs are readily available
Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are reactive gaseous compounds with significant impacts on air quality and the Earth's radiative balance. While natural ecosystems are known to be major sources of VOCs, primarily due to vegetation, soils, an important component of these ecosystems, have received relatively less attention as potential sources and sinks of VOCs. In this study, soil samples were collected from two temperate ecosystems: a beech forest and a heather heath, and then sieved, homogenized, and incubated under various controlled conditions such as different temperatures, oxic vs. anoxic conditions, and different ambient VOC levels. A dynamic flow-through system coupled to a proton transfer reaction-time of flight-mass spectrometry (PTR-ToF-MS) was used to measure production and/or uptake rates of selected VOCs, aiming to explore the processes and their controlling mechanisms. Our results showed that these soils were natural sources of a variety of VOCs, and the strength and profile of these emissions were influenced by soil properties (e.g. moisture, soil organic matter), oxic/anoxic conditions, and temperature. The soils also acted as sinks for most VOCs when VOC substrates at parts per billions levels (ranging between 0.18 and 68.65 ppb) were supplied to the headspace of the enclosed soils, and the size of the sink corresponded to the amount of VOCs available in the ambient air. Temperature-controlled incubations and glass bead simulations indicated that the uptake of VOCs by soils was likely driven by microbial metabolism, with a minor contribution from physical adsorption to soil particles. In conclusion, our study suggests that soil uptake of VOCs can mitigate the impact of other significant VOC sources in the near-surface environment and potentially regulate the net exchange of these trace gases in ecosystems.
Elsevier
2023
Safety-by-design and engineered nanomaterials: the need to move from theory to practice
As the governance of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) evolves, innovations in the prevention, mitigation, management, and transfer of risk shape discussion of how nanotechnology may mature and reach various marketplaces. Safety-by-Design (SbD) is one leading concept that, while equally philosophy as well as risk-based practice, can uniquely help address lingering uncertainties and concerns stemming from regulatory evaluation of ENM risk across worker, consumer, and environmental safety. This paper provides a discussion on the SbD concept across different disciplines aiming to identify different approaches and needs to meet regulatory requirements—ultimately, we argue that SbD is evolving both to meet the needs and discourse of various disciplines, and to apply within differing marketplaces and national regulatory structures. Understanding how SbD has evolved within ENM can yield a more practical application and development of SbD, and help guide or unify national and international ENM governance around a core set of safety-driven principles.
Springer
2023
Satellite remote sensing of Arctic fires - a literature and data review
The main aim of this report is to prepare for the proposed SGA #17 of the Caroline Herschel Framework Partnership Agreement on Copernicus User Uptake Work Programme 2020 named “Arctic peat- and forest-fire information system”. First, we summarize the scientific background of wildfires in the Arctic and the Northern boreal zone and describe observations of long-range transport of forest fire pollution. This is followed by an overview of satellite data and resources available for fire monitoring in these regions. This covers the fire ECVs, as well as smoke plume tracers. Furthermore, we list CAMS and CEMS resources, i.e., GWIS, EFFIS (including the latest country report for Norway), and GFAS, as well as other fire emission inventories. Knowledge gaps and limitations of satellite remote sen.sing, future missions, Norwegian user uptake and user groups are described.
NILU
2023
Aerosol Optical Properties and Type Retrieval via Machine Learning and an All-Sky Imager
This study investigates the applicability of using the sky information from an all-sky imager (ASI) to retrieve aerosol optical properties and type. Sky information from the ASI, in terms of Red-Green-Blue (RGB) channels and sun saturation area, are imported into a supervised machine learning algorithm for estimating five different aerosol optical properties related to aerosol burden (aerosol optical depth, AOD at 440, 500 and 675 nm) and size (Ångström Exponent at 440–675 nm, and Fine Mode Fraction at 500 nm). The retrieved aerosol optical properties are compared against reference measurements from the AERONET station, showing adequate agreement (R: 0.89–0.95). The AOD errors increased for higher AOD values, whereas for AE and FMF, the biases increased for coarse particles. Regarding aerosol type classification, the retrieved properties can capture 77.5% of the total aerosol type cases, with excellent results for dust identification (>95% of the cases). The results of this work promote ASI as a valuable tool for aerosol optical properties and type retrieval.
MDPI
2023
2023