Found 10359 publications. Showing page 362 of 415:
2023
2023
Increased contribution of biomass burning to haze events in Shanghai since China’s clean air actions
High levels of East Asian black carbon (BC) aerosols affect ecological and environmental sustainability and contribute to climate warming. Nevertheless, the BC sources in China, after implementing clean air actions from 2013‒2017, are currently elusive due to a lack of observational constraints. Here we combine dual-isotope-constrained observations and chemical-transport modelling to quantify BC’s sources and geographical origins in Shanghai. Modelled BC concentrations capture the overall source trend from continental China and the outflow to the Pacific. Fossil sources dominate (~70%) BC in relatively clean summer. However, a striking increase in biomass burning (15‒30% higher in a fraction of biomass burning compared to summer and 2013/2014 winter), primarily attributable to residential emissions, largely contributes to wintertime BC (~45%) pollution. It highlights the increasing importance of residential biomass burning in the recent winter haze associated with >65% emissions from China’s central-east corridor. Our results suggest clearing the haze problem in China’s megacities and mitigating climate impact requires substantial reductions in regional residential emissions, besides reducing urban traffic and industry emissions.
2023
Fine-resolution spatio-temporal maps of near-surface urban air temperature (Ta) provide crucial data inputs for sustainable urban decision-making, personal heat exposure, and climate-relevant epidemiological studies. The recent availability of IoT weather station data allows for high-resolution urban Ta mapping using approaches such as interpolation techniques or machine learning (ML). This study is aimed at executing these approaches and traditional numerical modeling within a practical and operational framework and evaluate their practicality and efficiency in cases where data availability, computational constraints, or specialized expertise pose challenges. We employ Netatmo crowd-sourced weather station data and three geospatial mapping approaches: (1) Ordinary Kriging, (2) statistical ML model (using predictors primarily derived from Earth Observation Data), and (3) weather research and forecasting model (WRF) to predict/map daily Ta at nearly 1-km spatial resolution in Warsaw (Poland) for June–September and compare the predictions against observations from 5 meteorological reference stations. The results reveal that ML can serve as a viable alternative approach to traditional kriging and numerical simulation, characterized by reduced complexity and higher computational speeds within the domain of urban meteorological studies (overall RMSE = 1.06 °C and R2 = 0.94, compared to ground-based meteorological stations). The results have implications for identifying the urban regions vulnerable to overheating and evidence-based urban management in response to climate change. Due to the open-sourced nature of the applied predictors and input parsimony, the ML method can be easily replicated for other EU cities.
2023
2023
The choice of the minimum ventilation rate (Vmin) in a demand-controlled ventilation strategy can influence energy demand but also introduce outdoor air pollutants. The latter may have direct health effects, as well as affect indoor chemical reactions. In this paper, we evaluate the effect of ventilation rates and operation hours on the level of CO2, nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3) in a classroom during normal use. We compared the baseline ventilation scenario (S0) with a Vmin of 430 m3/h with S1; Vmin of 150 m3/h for normal ventilation operation time (6:30-17:00) and continuous ventilation for 24h (S2). We found that S1 with reduced Vmin would lower the ozone concentration by 35% during the hours before occupancy compared to S0. Moreover, continuous ventilation during night time with a low Vmin resulted in almost as high O3 concentrations as the baseline ventilation scenario. As O3 reacts easily with certain VOCs to produce secondary organic aerosols, the level of Vmin and the ventilation duration would impact the indoor air quality upon entering the classroom.
2023
2023
Information on the global production and environmental releases of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) is of critical importance for regulating and eliminating these chemical substances of worldwide environmental and health concerns. Here, we conduct an extensive literature review to collect and curate quantitative information on the historical global production and multimedia environmental releases of 25 intentionally produced POPs. Our assembled data indicate that as of 2020, a cumulative total of 31 306 kilotonnes (kt) of the 25 POPs had been synthesized and commercialized worldwide, resulting in cumulative releases of 20 348 kt into the global environment. As of 2020, short-chain chlorinated paraffins were the most produced POP, with a historical global cumulative tonnage amounting to 8795 kt, whereas α-hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) had the largest historical global cumulative environmental releases of 6567 kt among these 25 POPs. The 1970s witnessed the peak in the annual global production of the 25 investigated POPs. The United States and Europe used to be the hotspots of environmental releases of the 25 investigated POPs, notably in the 1960s and 1970s. By contrast, global environmental releases occurred primarily in China in the 2000s–2010s. Preliminary efforts are also made to integrate the production volume information with “hazard” attributes (persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity, and long-range transport potential) in the evaluation of potential environmental impacts of the 25 POPs. The results show that dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are potentially associated with higher environmental impacts than other POPs because they are among the top rankings in both the global cumulative production and hazard indicators. This work for the first time reveals the astonishing magnitudes of POP production and environmental releases in contemporary human history. It also underscores the importance of tonnage information in assessments of POPs, POP candidates, and other chemicals of emerging concern.
2023
Environmental pollutants in the terrestrial and urban environment 2021. Revised report.
Samples from the urban terrestrial environment in the Oslo area were analysed for metals and a large number of organic environmental pollutants. The selected samples that were analysed were soil, earthworm, fieldfare egg and liver, brown rat liver, roe deer liver, vegetation, insects and red fox liver. Biomagnification-potential was estimated based on detected data for relevant predator-prey pairs.
NILU
2023
2023
Monitoring of the atmospheric ozone layer and natural ultraviolet radiation. Annual Report 2022.
This report summarizes the results from the Norwegian monitoring programme on stratospheric ozone and UV radiation measurements. The ozone layer has been measured at three locations since 1979: In Oslo/Kjeller, Tromsø/Andøya and Ny-Ålesund. The UV-measurements started in 1995. The results show that there was a significant decrease in stratospheric ozone above Norway between 1979 and 1997. After that, the ozone layer stabilized at a level ~2% below pre-1980 level. The year 2022 was characterized by annual average total ozone values slightly below “normal”.
NILU
2023
Particulate Matter Research and Management in Serbia
Clean air is a basic requirement for human health and well-being. According to [1], air pollution is the largest environmental health risk in Europe, with PM being responsible for majority of the adverse effects. The most commonly used metrics for PM is mass for different PM sizes by aerodynamic diameter: inhalable PM includes PM10 for particles equal or smaller than 10 μm, PM2.5 for those equal or smaller than 2.5 μm, and ultrafine particles for those smaller than 100 nm. The smaller the particles are, the deeper they penetrate deep into the lungs and even enter the cardiovascular system, increasing the risks to human health [2]. New ways of characterizing PM, and new understanding of mechanisms of adverse health effects, are emerging.
2023
Monitoring of environmental contaminants in freshwater food webs (MILFERSK) 2022
Samples of a benthic food chain in Lake Mjøsa have been collected, and the concentrations of emerging contaminants such as
Siloxanes, PFAS, UV-compounds, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, Musks, Benzothiazoles and Chlorinated paraffins in
addition to legacy contaminants such as Mercury, other Metals and PBDEs have been determined. For comparison, samples of
the top predator brown trout have been collected and analysed from Lake Femunden, a rural counterpart to the more urban
Lake Mjøsa.
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA)
2023
2023
Every year, almost 2 billion new vehicle tires are produced world-wide. At the same time >1 billion tires reach their end of life. During use, tire wear particles (TWPs) form through abrasion of the rubber material, and in contact with the road surface composites of both materials form tire and road wear particles (TRWPs). These emissions represent a large fraction of total microplastic pollution, and thus a pressing environmental challenge that cannot be counteracted by “green” urbanization through the electrification of car, truck, and airplane fleets. In fact, heavier electric cars may emit even more TWPs and increase the frequency of tire replacements. In addition to TWPs and TRWPs, crumb rubber (CR) produced from end-of-life tires has been a popular low-cost product as infill on artificial grass for outdoor sports pitches, where it has become a substitute for natural grass, sand, or gravel, but is prone to runoff into the surrounding environment.
2023
Phosphorus is a building block for all life and therefore plays an essential role in food production. Currently, large amounts of phosphorus enter the Norwegian food system from abroad in the form of mineral fertilizer, feedstuff, food, as well as micro-ingredients for animal feed, mainly in salmon farming. However, only a small fraction of this phosphorus ends up as food for humans, while the largest part accumulates in soil and water systems. This inefficiency entails two challenges:
1. Phosphorus supply is critical. Phosphate rock, the primary source of phosphorus for fertilizer and micro-ingredient production, is a limited resource that is highly concentrated in a few countries. Over 80% of global phosphate rock reserves are found in only 5 countries, and ~70% are located in Morocco and Morocco-occupied Western Sahara. The high concentration renders many countries vulnerable to geopolitical and economic instabilities and threatens food safety. The EU has therefore included phosphate rock on its list of Critical Raw Materials.
2. The accumulation of phosphorus in water systems can lead to eutrophication and dead zones, threatening fish stocks and other aquatic life. The high phosphorus concentration in soils due to overfertilization over long periods of time increases the danger of losses to water systems by runoff, further exacerbating the eutrophication risk.
A more circular use of phosphorus could simultaneously reduce supply and pollution risks. This is particularly relevant in Norway, where the government has an ambition to increase salmon and trout production from currently 1,5 to 5 million tons by 2050.
Achieving a circular phosphorus economy is a complex task: (i) The land- and the sea-based food systems are increasingly interlinked, for example through agricultural production of fish feed or the application of fish sludge on agricultural land. (ii) The Norwegian phosphorus cycle is increasingly interlinked with that of other countries as trade flows along the entire food supply chain are growing. (iii) Phosphorus fertilizers, both primary and recycled, are often contaminated with heavy metals such as cadmium, uranium, and zinc, which tend to accumulate in soils. Cleaning the phosphorus cycle is therefore vital for soil fertility and human health.
This report is based on the MIND-P project, which studied the Norwegian phosphorus cycle for both agriculture and aquaculture at a farm-by-farm basis and explored options for increasing circularity. The project identified farm-level and structural barriers to managing phosphorus resources more effectively.
We propose four fundamental strategies to overcome these barriers:
1. Develop and maintain a national nutrient accounting.
2. Minimize phosphorus losses and accumulations at farm level.
3. Establish infrastructures for capturing, processing, trade, and use of manure and fish sludge to produce high-quality recycled fertilizers that are tailored to the needs of the users in Norway and abroad.
4. Adopt a regulatory framework to promote a market for recycled fertilizer.
The strategies proposed here were developed with the support of an Advisory Panel consisting of representatives from government, industry, industry associations, and NGOs in an online and two physical workshops conducted in 2022.
Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet
2023