Found 10359 publications. Showing page 395 of 415:
2025
Marine plastic litter is subject to different abiotic and biotic forces that lead to its degradation, the main driver being UV-induced photodegradation. Since UV-exposure leads to both physical and chemical degradation of plastic, leading to a release of micro- and nanoplastics as well as leaching of chemicals and degradation products – it is expected to have radical impacts on plastics fate and effects in the marine environment. The number of laboratory studies investigating the mechanisms of plastic UV-degradation in seawater has increased significantly in the past 10 years, but are the exposures designed in a manner that allow observations to be extrapolated to environmental fate? Most studies to date focus on quantifying plastic fragmentation and surface changes, but is this relevant for impact assessments? Here, we provide a review of the current scientific literature on UV-degradation of plastic under marine conditions. Plastic fragmentation processes and surface changes as well as implications of UV-degradation of plastics on additive leaching and the toxicity of UV-weathered versus non-weathered plastics are highlighted. Furthermore, experimental set-ups are critically inspected and recommendations for future studies are issued.
2025
Analysis of source regions and transport pathways of sub-micron aerosol components in Europe
It is important to study aerosols and their origins, as they pose various negative health and environmental impacts. In this study, we combined year-long datasets from 15 different countries with Trajectory Statistical Methods (TSMs) for the first time at this comprehensive scale. We found possible source regions and seasonal variations of various particulate matter (PM) components in Europe, including total organic aerosol (OA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), oxygenated OA (OOA), ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3), and sulphate (SO4). We found that for all of the studied components, Eastern Europe was among the highest contributors. For NO3, other important source regions were Northern France and the Benelux, while for SO4 there were significant contributions from the Mediterranean region. We also compared our measurement-based model with simulated concentrations of an atmospheric chemistry transport model (CAMx). We observed a satisfactory agreement in regions where we had sufficient coverage with air pollution monitoring stations. The main deviations for OA were found around the Po Valley, where CAMx consistently estimated higher concentrations, while the TSM analysis did not highlight it as a hotspot because long-term monitoring datasets in this region are lacking. CAMx also underestimated the concentrations around Poland, mainly from residential burning. Our results provide opportunities to refine European emission inventories and deliver valuable information on long-range transported air pollutants. This work suggests that policies mitigating air pollution in Eastern Europe and the Benelux could help improve overall air quality in entire Europe more efficiently.
2025
Transboundary pollution by heavy metals and POPs
Meteorological Synthesizing Centre – East (MSC-E)
2025
2025
Oceans pull carbon from air; world not ready to scale up technologies - India Today
Some emissions, especially from aviation, shipping and heavy industry, are nearly impossible to eliminate entirely.
2025
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2025
CompSafeNano project: NanoInformatics approaches for safe-by-design nanomaterials
The CompSafeNano project, a Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) project funded under the European Union's Horizon 2020 program, aims to advance the safety and innovation potential of nanomaterials (NMs) by integrating cutting-edge nanoinformatics, computational modelling, and predictive toxicology to enable design of safer NMs at the earliest stage of materials development. The project leverages Safe-by-Design (SbD) principles to ensure the development of inherently safer NMs, enhancing both regulatory compliance and international collaboration. By building on established nanoinformatics frameworks, such as those developed in the H2020-funded projects NanoSolveIT and NanoCommons, CompSafeNano addresses critical challenges in nanosafety through development and integration of innovative methodologies, including advanced in vitro models, in silico approaches including machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven predictive models and 1st-principles computational modelling of NMs properties, interactions and effects on living systems. Significant progress has been made in generating atomistic and quantum-mechanical descriptors for various NMs, evaluating their interactions with biological systems (from small molecules or metabolites, to proteins, cells, organisms, animals, humans and ecosystems), and in developing predictive models for NMs risk assessment. The CompSafeNano project has also focused on implementing and further standardising data reporting templates and enhancing data management practices, ensuring adherence to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) data principles. Despite challenges, such as limited regulatory acceptance of New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) currently, which has implications for predictive nanosafety assessment, CompSafeNano has successfully developed tools and models that are integral to the safety evaluation of NMs, and that enable the extensive datasets on NMs safety to be utilised for the re-design of NMs that are inherently safer, including through prediction of the acquired biomolecule coronas which provide the biological or environmental identities to NMs, promoting their sustainable use in diverse applications. Future efforts will concentrate on further refining these models, expanding the NanoPharos Database, and working with regulatory stakeholders thereby fostering the widespread adoption of SbD practices across the nanotechnology sector. CompSafeNano's integrative approach, multidisciplinary collaboration and extensive stakeholder engagement, position the project as a critical driver of innovation in NMs SbD methodologies and in the development and implementation of computational nanosafety.
2025
The complex and dynamic nature of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has hindered understanding of its chemical composition, sources, and toxic effects. In the first steps of a larger study, here, we aimed to elucidate relationships between source regions, ambient conditions, and the chemical composition in water extracts of PM2.5 samples (n = 85) collected over 16 months at an observatory in the Yellow Sea. In each extract, we quantified elements and major ions and profiled the complex mixtures of organic compounds by nontarget mass spectrometry. More than 50,000 nontarget features were detected, and by consensus of in silico tools, we assigned a molecular formula to 13,907 features. Oxygenated compounds were most prominent, followed by mixed nitrogenated/oxygenated compounds, organic sulfates, and sulfonates. Spectral matching enabled identification or structural annotation of 43 substances, and a workflow involving SIRIUS and MS-DIAL software enabled annotation of 74 unknown per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances with primary source regions in China and the Korean Peninsula. Multivariate modeling revealed seasonal variations in chemistry, attributable to the combination of warmer temperatures and maritime source regions in summer and to cooler temperatures and source regions of China in winter.
2025
2025
Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) are critical in safeguarding network infrastructures against malicious attacks. Traditional IDSs often struggle with knowledge representation, real-time detection, and accuracy, especially when dealing with high-throughput data. This paper proposes a novel IDS framework that leverages machine learning models, streaming data, and semantic knowledge representation to enhance intrusion detection accuracy and scalability. Additionally, the study incorporates the concept of Digital Sovereignty, ensuring that data control, security, and privacy are maintained according to national and regional regulations. The proposed system integrates Apache Kafka for real-time data processing, an automatic machine learning pipeline (e.g., Tree-based Pipeline Optimization Tool (TPOT)) for classifying network traffic, and OWL-based semantic reasoning for advanced threat detection. The proposed system, evaluated on NSL-KDD and CIC-IDS-2017 datasets, demonstrated qualitative outcomes such as local compliance, reduced data storage needs due to real-time processing, and improved adaptability to local data laws. Experimental results reveal significant improvements in detection accuracy, processing efficiency, and Sovereignty alignment.
2025
Skogens helsetilstand i Norge. Resultater fra skogskadeovervåkingen i 2023
Skogens helsetilstand påvirkes i stor grad av klima og værforhold, enten direkte ved tørke, frost og vind, eller indirekte ved at klimaet påvirker omfanget av soppsykdommer og insektangrep. Klimaendringene og den forventede økningen i klimarelaterte skogskader gir store utfordringer for forvaltningen av framtidas skogressurser. Det samme gjør invaderende skadegjørere, både allerede etablerte arter og nye som kan komme til Norge i nær framtid. I denne rapporten presenteres resultater fra skogskadeovervåkingen i Norge i 2023 og trender over tid for følgende temaer:
(i) Landsrepresentativ skogovervåking;
(ii) Intensiv skogovervåking;
(iii) Overvåking av bjørkemålere i Troms og Finnmark;
(iv) Barkbilleovervåkingen 2023: økende fangster – særlig i stormrammede områder;
(v) Søk etter Ips-arter utenfor det nordvestlige hjørnet av granas utbredelse i Europa;
(vi) Askeskuddsyke;
(vii) Andre spesielle skogskader i 2023.
NIBIO
2025
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2025
An important prerequisite for accurately characterizing economic exposure from climate change at the national scale is a spatial inventory of economic activity and value creation. Current options for such inventories are limited, being either spatially precise but economically bounded sector-specific or owner-specific datasets, or gridded gross domestic product (GDP) products with coarse spatial resolution and inadequate sectoral resolution. To address these limitations, we develop a map of national GDP with high spatial and sectoral resolution. We stress this with meter-scale flood hazard maps to characterize GDP at risk from flooding. We further couple this to a macroeconomic input–output analysis to use the new sectoral resolution to estimate the scope of indirect economic exposure to flood at a national scale.
2025
Environmental pollutants in the terrestrial and urban environment 2024
Samples from the urban terrestrial environment in the Oslo area were analysed for metals and a large number of organic environmental pollutants. The selected sample types that were analysed were soil, earthworm, fieldfare and sparrowhawk eggs, liver samples of brown rat, red fox and badger and blood serum from dog. Biomagnification potential was estimated based on detected data for relevant predator-prey pairs.
NILU
2025
This report gives an overview of annual statistics and results from the monitoring programme of ozone in EMEP 2023.
NILU
2025
State of the Climate in 2024: The Arctic
The Arctic environment in 2024 continued on a trajectory that has put it in a state far different from that of the twentieth century. Ongoing accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continues to quickly warm the Arctic, resulting in rapid changes in the cryosphere that are driving cascading impacts to climate, ecological, and societal systems.
Many weather- and climate-related impacts in the Arctic are the result of compounding change, such as increased riverbank erosion, which is proximately due to increased river discharge from higher seasonal precipitation, yet is also exacerbated by thawing permafrost. However, even individual storms occur within very different ocean and ice conditions than were typically present in the late twentieth century. As a result, the impacts, including high winds, excessive precipitation, and coastal inundation, may be quite different nowadays, as exemplified by the October 2024 storm in northwest Alaska that produced severe coastal flooding in several communities. To share some of these impacts with a wider audience, select extreme weather impacts around the greater Arctic have been highlighted through the inclusion of sidebars in recent State of the Climate Arctic chapters (e.g., Benestad et al. 2023; Thoman et al. 2024).
Average surface air temperatures for the Arctic overall (poleward of 60°N) for 2024 averaged 1.27°C above the 1991–2020 baseline average, the second-highest annual temperature since records began in 1900. For the 11th consecutive year, the Arctic annual temperature anomaly was larger than the global average anomaly. Seasonally, summer (July–September) 2024 ranked as the third-highest average temperature, and autumn (October–December) 2024 saw its highest average temperature on record. At the subseasonal scale, an intense August heatwave brought all-time record high temperatures to parts of the northwest North American Arctic. Closely but not completely tied to spring and summer air temperature trends, productivity of tundra and boreal forest vegetation has dramatically increased in recent decades. Overall “tundra greenness” was the fifth highest since 1982. However, local to regional “browning” (reduced vegetation productivity) shows that disturbance factors besides temperatures, such as wildfire, can be important.
Sea ice is one of the most iconic features of the Arctic environment and plays an important role in regulating global climate, regional ecosystems, and economic activities. Sea ice extent typically reaches the annual maximum in March, and in 2024 the maximum was near the 1991–2020 average overall, but somewhat below average in the Barents Sea and Gulf of St. Lawrence. The annual minimum sea ice extent occurs in September, and in 2024 the September monthly average was the sixth lowest in the 46-year satellite record. The Northern Sea Route along the north Russia coast opened later than the past 20 years’ average due to persistent ice in the southwest Chukchi Sea. The Northwest Passage’s southern route through northwest Canada opened again this year and, quite unusually, the deepwater northern route was also almost entirely ice free at the end of September.
Decreasing sea ice extent during the late spring and summer months exposes larger areas of ocean to direct warming during the time of year of high incoming solar radiation. Poleward of 65°N, open ocean surface temperatures typically peak in August. In 2024, late summer sea surface temperature anomalies showed significant regional variability, with the waters in the Barents and Kara Seas 2°C–4°C warmer than normal. In sharp regional contrast, Chukchi Sea sea surface temperatures were the lowest in more than 40 years, while just to the east, sea surface temperatures in the southern Beaufort Sea were significantly above the 1991–2020 average.
Like sea ice, permafrost (soils or other earth materials that have remained frozen for at least two years) is an important feature of Arctic environments that occurs widely on land and throughout some submarine continental shelf areas that were exposed land during the last Ice Age (about 15,000 years ago). Unlike many parts of the Arctic environmental system, permafrost temperatures and the summer surface thaw zone cannot be monitored from space-borne instruments and depend on in situ measurements. While long-term observations are not available over most of the Asian Arctic, observations elsewhere show multi-decade warming of deeper permafrost continuing across the Arctic, with some sites in North America and Svalbard having seen their highest temperatures on record in 2024. Overall, colder permafrost is warming more rapidly; areas where permafrost temperatures are close to freezing have slower rates of warming as ice changes phase to liquid water.
Precipitation monitoring in the Arctic has historically been limited due to the lack of in situ measurements over the Arctic Ocean, a sparse land station network, and significant problems with solid precipitation undercatch because of the inherent difficulties in capturing solid precipitation in strong wind environments. Recent advances in reanalyses that combine observations and computer simulations now allow for more robust regional-scale precipitation analysis and historical comparisons. In 2024, Arctic-wide annual precipitation was the third highest on record, and summer (July through September) precipitation was the highest since 1950. Rivers serve as regional integrators of precipitation. Arctic river discharge overall for both 2023 and 2024 was close to the 1991–2020 average, albeit with significant differences across basins. For example, in North America, Mackenzie River discharge was well below average in both years, but Yukon River discharge was above average in both years; most basins in Eurasia saw above-normal discharge in 2024 but below-average discharge in 2023.
In much of the Arctic, snow is the dominant form of precipitation for most of the year, and the presence or absence of snow cover is a critical factor in many climate and environmental processes. During the 2023/24 snow season, there were marked regional and continental scale differences in snow cover duration. The snow cover duration varied from the shortest to date in the twenty-first century over parts of Canada to at or near the longest in this century in parts of the Nordic and Asian Arctic.
Melt and discharge from the Greenland Ice Sheet play important roles in modulating North Atlantic weather and climate. In 2024, the total amount of ice decreased, as it has every year since the late 1990s, but the loss was 50%−80% less than the 2002 − 23 annual average. This was the result of an unusual but persistent weather pattern that inhibited the development and persistence of warm air masses over Greenland during the summer. Ongoing monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet, which holds enough water to raise global sea levels by more than seven meters if entirely melted, is critical for understanding drivers of melt and ice sheet dynamics.
The Arctic stratosphere experienced two major sudden warming events early in 2024 that resulted in enhanced ozone transport into the region from lower latitudes. As a result, surface ultraviolet radiation was reduced in parts of the Asian Arctic in spring and the central Arctic and North America in summer.
Special Notes: The 1991–2020 baseline is used in this chapter except where data availability requires use of a different baseline. This chapter includes a focus on Arctic river discharge (section 5h), which alternates yearly with a section on glaciers and ice caps outside of Greenland.
2025