Publications

Status report of air quality in Europe for year 2023, using validated data

Targa, Jaume; Colina, María; Banyuls, Lorena; Ortiz, Alberto González; Soares, Joana

This report presents summarised information on the status of air quality in Europe in 2023, based on validated air quality monitoring data officially reported by the member and cooperating countries of the EEA. It aims at informing on the status of ambient air quality in Europe in 2023 and on the progress towards meeting the European air quality standards for the protection of health, as well as the WHO air quality guidelines. The report also compares the air quality status in 2023 with the previous years. The pollutants covered in this report are particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), tropospheric ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), benzene (C6H6) and toxic metals (As, Cd, Ni, Pb). Measured concentrations above the European air quality standards for PM10, PM2.5, O3, and NO2 were reported by 18, 6, 20, and 9 reporting countries for 2022, respectively. Exceedances of the air quality standards for BaP, SO2, CO, and benzene were measured in, respectively, 9, 2, 2, and 0 reporting countries in 2023. Exceedances of European standards for toxic metals were reported by 5 stations for As, none for Cd, 1 for Pb and 2 for Ni.

ETC/HE

Status report of Norway. EUR 19448

Berge, E.; Slørdal, L.H.

Status report with respect to measurements, modelling and emissions of particulate matter in EMEP: An integrated approach. EMEP report, 5/2000

Contributions from: Lazaridis, M.; Semb, A.; Pacyna, J.; Hov, Ø.; Schaug, J.; Larssen, S.; Tarrasón, L.; Tsyro, S.; Simpson, D.; Olendrzynski, K.; Andersson-Sköld, Y.

Status report. 1 April 2010 - 1 July 2010. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Gjerstad, K.I.

Status report. 1 January 2008 - 31 Mars 2008. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Gjerstad, K.I.; Sundvor, I.

Status report. 1 January 2010 - 1 April 2010. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Gjerstad, K.I.

Status report. 1 July 2008 - 30 September 2008. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Gjerstad, K.I.

Status report. 1 July 2010 - 1 October 2010. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Hak, C.; Gjerstad, K.I.

Status report. 1 October 2009 - 1 January 2010. Environmental surveillance of emissions to air from Snøhvit-Hammerfest LNG. NILU OR

Gjerstad, K.I.

Stepping-up accurate quantification of chlorinated paraffins: Successful certification of the first matrix reference material

Ricci, Marina; de Boer, Jacob; Johansen, Jon Eigill; Huiling, Liu; Dumas, Pierre; Warner, Nicholas Alexander; Pērkons, Ingus; McGrath, Thomas Jacob; Borgen, Anders; Bjørneby, Stine Marie; Tomasko, Jakub; Steer, Helena; Lentjes, Anouk; van Velzen, Martin; van Mourik, Louise

Background
Chlorinated paraffins (CPs) are industrial chemicals categorised as persistent organic pollutants because of their toxicity, persistency and tendency to long-range transport, bioaccumulation and biomagnification. Despite having been the subject of environmental attention for decades, analytical methods for CPs still struggle reaching a sufficient degree of accuracy. Among the issues negatively impacting the quantification of CPs, the unavailability of well-characterised standards, both as pure substances and as matrix (certified) reference materials (CRMs), has played a major role. The focus of this study was to provide a matrix CRM as quality control tool to improve the comparability of CPs measurement results.

Results
We present the process of certification of ERM®-CE100, the first fish reference material assigned with certified values for the mass fraction of short-chain and medium-chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs and MCCPs, respectively). The certification was performed in accordance with ISO 17034:2016 and ISO Guide 35:2017, with the value assignment step carried out via an intercomparison of laboratories of demonstrated competence in CPs analysis and applying procedures based on different analytical principles. After confirmation of the homogeneity and stability of the CRM, two certified values were assigned for SCCPs, depending on the calibrants used: 31 ± 9 μg kg−1 and 23 ± 7 μg kg−1. The MCCPs certified value was established as 44 ± 17 μg kg−1. All assigned values are relative to wet weight in the CRM that was produced as a fish paste to enhance similarity to routine biota samples.

Significance and novelty
The fish tissue ERM-CE100 is the first matrix CRM commercially available for the analysis of CPs, enabling analytical laboratories to improve the accuracy and the metrological traceability of their measurements. The certified CPs values are based on results obtained by both gas and liquid chromatography coupled with various mass spectrometric techniques, offering thus a broad validity to laboratories employing different analytical methods and equipment.

Elsevier

Stocks, flows and sinks of plastic polymers within products in Norway from 2000 to 2050 - Assessment of future waste management practices and recycling targets

Hauser, Marina Jennifer; Abbasi, Golnoush; Ebrahimi, Babak; Bouman, Evert

Storage and reporting of odd samples. NILU OR

Knudsen, S.; Narayansamy, M.

The report gives recommendation on the storage and the reporting of measurements from odd samples. It is important that the report contains the measurements and description of the measurements for later use. A recommendation for storing the measurements is making a simple database with a library function. The library function will give the path to samples with given key words and where to find them.