Found 2236 publications. Showing page 16 of 224:
Environmental Contaminants in an Urban Fjord, 2021
This report presents data from the first year of a new 5-year period of the Urban Fjord programme. The programme started in 2013 and has since been altered/advanced. In 2021 the programme covers sampling and analyses of stormwater, river water, effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (inputs to the fjord), fjord sediment, blue mussel, cod and (river) trout, all from the Inner Oslofjord area. A total of 260 single compounds/isomers were analysed and frequent detection was found of benzothiazoles in abiotic aqueous phases, UV-compounds in most matrices, metals in all matrices, PBDEs in biota, chlorinated paraffins in all matrices and PCBs in biota and abiotic particle phases. Four
Norsk institutt for vannforskning (NIVA)
2022
Health Risk Assessment of Air Pollution and the Impact of the New WHO Guidelines
Air pollution is a major cause of premature death and disease and is the single largest environmental health risk in Europe. Heart disease and stroke are the most common reasons for premature deaths attributable to air pollution, followed by lung diseases and lung cancer.
The health risk assessment methodology assumptions have been recently adapted to follow the recommendations by the World Health Organisation (WHO), released in 2021. The new global air quality guidelines by WHO provide up-to-date health-based guideline levels for major health-damaging air pollutants and new recommendations for assessing the risk of exposure to air pollution.
This report estimates the health risk related to air pollution in 2020 based on the latest methodology. The estimates consider the number of premature deaths and years of life lost related to exposure to fine particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen dioxide, both for the 27 Member States of the European Union and for additional 14 European countries (Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, and Türkiye).
A sensitivity analysis to the changes in concentration-response functions and counterfactual concentrations is performed to understand the impact of such changes on the mortality outcome estimates. The sensitivity analysis included both old and new health risk methodology assumptions but also the recommendation from the ELAPSE study on the concentration response functions. The ELAPSE project includes some of the most recent studies on the health effects at low air pollution levels by examining associations between exposures to relatively low levels of air pollution across Europe, including levels below the current EU standards.
The results for 2020 show that the largest health risks are estimated for the countries with the largest populations. However, in relative terms, when considering e.g., years of life lost per 100 000 inhabitants, the largest relative risks are observed in central and eastern European countries for PM2.5, in central and southern European countries for NO2, and south and eastern European for O3. The lowest impact is found for the northern and north-western parts of Europe, where the concentrations are lowest. The number of premature deaths attributed to air pollution in 2020 compared to 2019, increased for PM2.5 and decreased for NO2 and O3. Apart from the changes in concentrations and demographics, the COVID-19 pandemics seems to also have an influence on these changes. For PM2.5, the reduction in concentrations were counteracted by the excess of deaths due to the pandemics. In the case of NO2, the reduction in concentrations was more pronounced as a result of the lockdown measures and the drastic reduction in traffic and its impact in reducing mortality was bigger than the increasing impact of excess of deaths due to COVID-19.
Changing assumptions on concentration-response functions and counterfactual concentrations have implications for estimating mortality health outcomes. The sensitivity analysis shows that it is not straightforward to assess which assumptions estimates the highest health impacts when both factors change. In this case, the final outcome will depend on the concentration at the grid-cell level. The latest assumptions are expected to reduce the health outcomes for PM2.5 and increase for NO2 and O3, when compared to the previous one. When aggregated to all countries, the health outcomes are reduced by over 40 % for PM2.5 and increased by 50 % and 30 % for NO2 and O3, respectively, in 2020. However, this change varies across countries depending on the concentration level the population in the individual countries is exposed to.
ETC/HE
2022
This scoping study proposes a methodology to develop indicator(s) on the risk of chemicals on various types of ecosystems, habitats and species. This indicator is designed to answer the very different needs coming from environmental policy and strategies. Its aim is to reflect the consequences of human activities (e.g., farming) on ecosystems taking into account different protection goals that can cover specific or protected habitats (or the relevant communities or species in these habitats) or intensively used areas such as agricultural landscapes, which are very relevant in terms of representativity.
In order to develop such an indicator, the methodological approach retained to calculate maps showing a specific risk, illustrated as different degrees of exceedance of tolerable effect thresholds, is to combine different layers of information on which areas/habitats/ecosystems, contain which species, that are exposed to which amounts of chemicals. Information on the sensitivity of the species towards different toxicological effects, and how sensitive the species are to the applied chemicals, is used as ‘connectors’ between the different layers of spatial information.
The report highlights the data required for the development of such an indicator and their availability through a review of existing databases. A case study illustrates the applicability of the indicator and the need for further development.
ETC/HE
2022
Epidemiological studies have increasingly shown that ambient air pollution is not only associated with mortality but also with the occurrence of a number of long and short-term diseases. Further, the Global Burden of Disease study clearly indicated, that e. g. particulate matter pollution is also associated with a considerable burden of disease related to morbidity effects.
In addition to the most recent EEA’s health risk assessments, this report estimates the morbidity related health burden associated with exposure to the same three key air pollutants: fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). Years lived with disability (YLDs) or attributable hospitalisation cases are assessed for the year 2019 for numerous European countries, depending on the respective data availability. Besides, the methodological approach as well as reviews on evidence-based health outcomes, health data and concentration-response functions are provided.
For the ten considered risk-outcome pairs, the results showed the highest morbidity related burden of disease in Europe for PM2.5 associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with 51.6 YLDs per 100 000 inhabitants ≥25 years. For NO2 the highest morbidity burden resulted from diabetes mellitus (DM) with 54.6 YLDs per 100 000 inhabitants ≥35 years. For short-term O3 exposure hospital admissions due to respiratory diseases were estimated at 18 attributable cases per 100 000 inhabitants ≥65 years.
In addition to the estimates, the report contains suggestions for further sensitivity analyses. These would allow a better assessment of the effects resulting from different input data on the results.
The estimations presented in this report are the first of its kind that are carried out for a wide range of morbidity health outcomes associated with different outdoor air pollutants in Europe, using a consistent methodology and data from European health databases.
ETC/HE
2022
Atmospheric Supply of Nitrogen, Copper, HCB, BDE-99, SCCP and PFOS to the Baltic Sea in 2020.
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
2022
Beregning av korrosjonsklasse fra miljøparametere i Fitjar. Lokasjon (59°56’11.5″N 5°19’58.4″Ø)
Korrosjonsklasse ble beregnet på lokasjon (59°56'11.5"N 5°19'58.4"Ø) i Fitjar, Vestland, Norge, fra årsgjennomsnitt for miljøparametere etter ISO 9223 og ISO 12944-2. Det ble funnet at korrosjonsklassen med høy sannsynlighet er C3 og at dette i hovedsak er bestemt av våt-tiden på omtrent 4500 timer/år, som gjennomsnitt i perioden 2007-2022. Dette er godt innenfor grensene for C3 når saltavsetningen er < 60 mg Cl-/m2døgn og SO2 konsentrasjonen i luft < 30 µg/m3. Disse betingelsene synes med stor sannsynlighet oppfylt på lokasjonen i Fitjar som årsgjennomsnitt i normalår.
NILU
2022
The main goal of this feasibility study was to evaluate the potential of adding value to the Sentinel 5P TROPOMI methane product over Norway and the Arctic through the synergistic use of relevant observations from other Sentinel satellites and machine learning. We assessed the data availability of ESA operational and research-based WFMD XCH4 products over the Northern hemisphere, the Nordic countries and the Arctic/Northern latitudes. ESA’s XCH4 data have poor coverage over Norway. Seeing the two datasets as complementary, seems to be the most reasonable approach for utilization them. Furthermore, we investigated potential synergies between satellite products from different platforms. A random forest (RF) machine learning algorithm was implemented. It shows the importance of daytime land surface temperature (LST) as predictor variable for CH4. Our results indicate that the RF-model has a very good capability of filling small gaps in the data.
NILU
2022
The EmSite model for high resolution emissions from machinery in construction sites
The report describes the EmSite model developed to estimate exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from non-road mobile
machinery (NRMM) used in building and construction. The model is based on a complete national database of the exact
location of construction and building activity, machine registries and variables that affect emissions (ground conditions, meteorology, type of ground material). EmSite model allows us to determine, i) the location, area and time of construction projects at fine resolution; ii) energy demand for NRMM; and iii) fuel consumption, air pollutants and GHGs emissions. For exhaust emissions, specific dynamic emission factors for NRMMs were developed. For non-exhaust emissions, an approach based on the Tier 1 (EMEP/EEA Guidebook, 2019) was chosen. EmSite allows for bottom-up estimates for NRMM employed in construction, and the results are comparable with official air pollutant and GHGs emissions.
NILU
2022
NILU and Hydro Aluminium performed a test campaign for measurements of CF4 and C2F6 for stack emissions at Husnes
Aluminium Smelter. Time-integrated samples were taken with evacuated canisters combined with low-flow restrictors for
continuous sampling periods as long as 6 weeks. The samples were analyzed at NILU with a Medusa preconcentration
method combined with GC-MS SIM. As a main conclusion, time integrated sampling together with Medusa GC-MS
methodology is a very precise alternative to the traditional attempts to quantify PFC-emission.
NILU
2022