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Microfibers (MF) are one of the major classes of microplastic found in the marine environment on a global scale. Very little is known about how they move and distribute from point sources such as wastewater effluents into the ocean. We chose Adventfjorden near the settlement of Longyearbyen on the Arctic Svalbard archipelago as a case study to investigate how microfibers emitted with untreated wastewater will distribute in the fjord, both on a spatial and temporal scale. Fiber abundance in the effluent was estimated from wastewater samples taken during two one-week periods in June and September 2017. Large emissions of MFs were detected, similar in scale to a modern WWTP serving 1.3 million people and providing evidence of the importance of untreated wastewater from small settlements as major local sources for MF emissions in the Arctic. Fiber movement and distribution in the fjord mapped using an online-coupled hydrodynamic-drift model (FVCOM-FABM). For parameterizing a wider spectrum of fibers from synthetic to wool, four different density classes of MFs, i.e., buoyant, neutral, sinking, and fast sinking fibers are introduced to the modeling framework. The results clearly show that fiber class has a large impact on the fiber distributions. Light fibers remained in the surface layers and left the fjord quickly with outgoing currents, while heavy fibers mostly sank to the bottom and deposited in the inner parts of the fjord and along the northern shore. A number of accumulation sites were identified within the fjord. The southern shore, in contrast, was much less affected, with low fiber concentrations throughout the modeling period. Fiber distributions were then compared with published pelagic and benthic fauna distributions in different seasons at selected stations around the fjord. The ratios of fibers to organisms showed a very wide range, indicating hot spots of encounter risk for pelagic and benthic biota. This approach, in combination with in-situ ground-truthing, can be instrumental in understanding microplastic pathways and fate in fjord systems and coastal areas and help authorities develop monitoring and mitigation strategies for microfiber and microplastic pollution in their local waters.
2021
The Monitoring Nitrous Oxide Sources (MIN
The Monitoring Nitrous Oxide Sources (MIN2OS) satellite project aims at monitoring global-scale nitrous oxide (N2O) sources by retrieving N2O surface fluxes from the inversion of space-borne N2O measurements that are sensitive to the lowermost atmospheric layers under favorable conditions. MIN2OS will provide emission estimates of N2O at a horizontal resolution of 1° × 1° on the global scale and 10 × 10 km2 on the regional scale on a weekly to monthly basis depending on the application (e.g., agriculture, national inventories, policy, scientific research). Our novel approach is based on the development of: 1) a space-borne instrument operating in the Thermal InfraRed domain providing, in clear sky conditions, N2O mixing ratio in the lowermost atmosphere (900 hPa) under favorable conditions (summer daytime) over land and under favorable and unfavorable (winter nighttime) conditions over the ocean and 2) an atmospheric inversion framework to estimate N2O surface fluxes from the atmospheric satellite observations. After studying three N2O spectral bands (B1 at 1240–1350 cm−1, B2 at 2150–2260 cm−1 and B3 at 2400–2600 cm−1), a new TIR instrument will be developed, centered at 1250–1330 cm−1, with a resolution of 0.125 cm−1, a Full Width at Half Maximum of 0.25 cm−1 and a swath of 300 km. To optimally constrain the retrieval of N2O vertical profiles, the instrument will be on-board a platform at ~830 km altitude in a sun-synchronous orbit crossing the Equator in descending node at 09:30 local time in synergy with two other platforms (Metop-SG and Sentinel-2 NG) expected to fly in 2031–32 aiming at detecting surface properties, agricultural information on the field scale and vertical profiles of atmospheric constituents and temperature. The lifetime of the MIN2OS project would be 4–5 years to study the interannual variability of N2O surface fluxes. The spectral noise can be decreased by at least a factor of 5 compared to the lowest noise accessible to date with the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer-New Generation (IASI-NG) mission. The N2O total error is expected to be less than ~1% (~3 ppbv) along the vertical. The preliminary design of the MIN2OS project results in a small instrument (payload of 90 kg, volume of 1200 × 600 × 300 mm3) with, in addition to the spectrometer, a wide field and 1-km resolution imager for cloud detection. The instruments could be hosted on a small platform, the whole satellite being largely compatible with a dual launch on VEGA-C. The MIN2OS project has been submitted to the European Space Agency Earth Explorer 11 mission ideas.
2021
The AirGAM 2022r1 air quality trend and prediction model
This paper presents the AirGAM 2022r1 model – an air quality trend and prediction model developed at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) in cooperation with the European Environment Agency (EEA) over 2017–2021. AirGAM is based on nonlinear regression GAMs – generalised additive models – capable of estimating trends in daily measured pollutant concentrations at air quality monitoring stations, discounting for the effects of trends and time variations in corresponding meteorological data. The model has been developed primarily for the compounds NO2, O3, PM10, and PM2.5. Meteorological input data consist of temperature, wind speed and direction, planetary boundary layer height, relative and absolute humidity, cloud cover, and precipitation over the period considered. The exact set of meteorological variables used in the model depends on the compound selected for analysis. In addition to meteorological variables introduced in the model as covariates, i.e. explanatory variables for the concentration levels, the model also incorporates time variables such as the day of the week, day of the year, and overall time, which is related to the model's trend term. The trend analysis is performed at each station separately. Thus, the model only considers the temporal features of concentrations and meteorology at a station, rather than any spatial correlations or dependencies between stations. AirGAM is implemented using the R language for statistical computing and, in particular, the GAM package mgcv. In the model, meteorological and time covariates are represented and estimated as smooth nonlinear functions of the corresponding variables. Thus, the trend term is defined and estimated as a smooth nonlinear function of time over the period selected for analysis. Once fitted to training data, the model may be used as a prediction tool capable of predicting air pollutant concentrations for new sets of meteorological and time data which are not in the training set – e.g. for cross-validation or forecasting purposes. The model does not explicitly use emissions or background concentrations – these are sought to be implicitly represented through the estimated nonlinear relations between meteorology, time, and concentrations. In addition to meteorology-adjusted trends, the program also produces unadjusted trends – i.e. trends based on the same regression set-up but only including the time covariates. Both types of trends can be output in the same run, making it possible to compare them. Ideally, the meteorology-adjusted trend will show the trend in concentration mainly due to changes in emissions or physicochemical processes not induced by changes in meteorology. AirGAM has been developed and tested primarily in trend studies based on measurement data hosted by the EEA, including the AirBase data (before 2013) and the Air Quality e-Reporting (AQER) data from 2013 and onwards. Still, the model is general and could be applied in other regions with other input data. The EEA data provide daily or hourly surface measurements at individual monitoring stations in Europe. For input meteorological data, we extract time series from the gridded meteorological re-analysis (ERA5) provided by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for each monitoring station. The paper presents results with the model for all AirBase/AQER stations in Europe from the latest EEA trend study for 2005–2019.
2023
In the Barents Sea, pelagic and coastal polar bears are facing various ecological challenges that may explain the difference in their pollutant levels. We measured polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, polybrominated diphenyl ethers in fat, and perfluoroalkyl substances in plasma in pelagic and coastal adult female polar bears with similar body condition. We studied polar bear feeding habits with bulk stable isotope ratios of carbon and nitrogen. Nitrogen isotopes of amino acids were used to investigate their trophic position. We studied energy expenditure by estimating field metabolic rate using telemetry data. Annual home range size was determined, and spatial gradients in pollutants were explored using latitude and longitude centroid positions of polar bears. Pollutant levels were measured in harp seals from the Greenland Sea and White Sea–Barents Sea as a proxy for a West–East gradient of pollutants in polar bear prey. We showed that pelagic bears had higher pollutant loads than coastal bears because (1) they feed on a higher proportion of marine and higher trophic level prey, (2) they have higher energy requirements and higher prey consumption, (3) they forage in the marginal ice zones, and (4) they feed on prey located closer to pollutant emission sources/transport pathways.
2019
In the beginning of April 2020, large fires that started in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) established after the Chernobyl accident in 1986 caused media and public concerns about the health impact from the resuspended radioactivity. In this paper, the emissions of previously deposited radionuclides from these fires are assessed and their dispersion and impact on the population is examined relying on the most recent data on radioactive contamination and emission factors combined with satellite observations. About 341 GBq of 137Cs, 51 GBq of 90Sr, 2 GBq of 238Pu, 33 MBq of 239Pu, 66 MBq of 240Pu and 504 MBq of 241Am were released in 1st–22nd April 2020 or about 1,000,000,000 times lower than the original accident in 1986 and mostly distributed in Central and East Europe. The large size of biomass burning particles carrying radionuclides prevents long-range transport as confirmed by concentrations reported in Europe. The highest cumulative effective doses (> 15 μSv) were calculated for firefighters and the population living in the CEZ, while doses were much lower in Kiev (2–5 μSv) and negligible in Belarus, Russia and Europe. All doses are radiologically insignificant and no health impact o
2020
As part of the ongoing key comparison BIPM.QM-K1, a comparison has been performed between the ozone standard of Norway maintained by the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and the common reference standard of the key comparison, maintained by the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM). The instruments have been compared over a nominal ozone amount-of-substance fraction range from 0 nmol/mol to 500 nmol/mol.
2020
Atmospheric measurements show an increase in CH4 from the 1980s to 1998 followed by a period of near‐zero growth until 2007. However, from 2007, CH4 has increased again. Understanding the variability in CH4 is critical for climate prediction and climate change mitigation. We examine the role of CH4 sources and the dominant CH4 sink, oxidation by the hydroxyl radical (OH), in atmospheric CH4 variability over the past three decades using observations of CH4, C2H6, and δ13CCH4 in an inversion. From 2006 to 2014, microbial and fossil fuel emissions increased by 36 ± 12 and 15 ± 8 Tg y−1, respectively. Emission increases were partially offset by a decrease in biomass burning of 3 ± 2 Tg y−1 and increase in soil oxidation of 5 ± 6 Tg y−1. A change in the atmospheric sink did not appear to be a significant factor in the recent growth of CH4.
2018
Radiocarbon (14C) analysis of carbonaceous aerosols is used for source apportionment, separating the carbon content into fossil vs. non-fossil origin, and is particularly useful when applied to subfractions of total carbon (TC), i.e. elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-soluble OC (WSOC), and water-insoluble OC (WINSOC). However, this requires an unbiased physical separation of these fractions, which is difficult to achieve. Separation of EC from OC using thermal–optical analysis (TOA) can cause EC loss during the OC removal step and form artificial EC from pyrolysis of OC (i.e. so-called charring), both distorting the 14C analysis of EC. Previous work has shown that water extraction reduces charring. Here, we apply a new combination of a WSOC extraction and 14C analysis method with an optimised separation that is coupled with a novel approach of thermal-desorption modelling for compensation of EC losses. As water-soluble components promote the formation of pyrolytic carbon, water extraction was used to minimise the charring artefact of EC and the eluate subjected to chemical wet oxidation to CO2 before direct 14C analysis in a gas-accepting accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS). This approach was applied to 13 aerosol filter samples collected at the Arctic Zeppelin Observatory (Svalbard) in 2017 and 2018, covering all seasons, which bear challenges for a simplified 14C source apportionment due to their low loading and the large portion of pyrolysable species. Our approach provided a mean EC yield of 0.87±0.07 and reduced the charring to 6.5 % of the recovered EC amounts. The mean fraction modern (F14C) over all seasons was 0.85±0.17 for TC; 0.61±0.17 and 0.66±0.16 for EC before and after correction with the thermal-desorption model, respectively; and 0.81±0.20 for WSOC.
2023
Methane emissions from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks
The amount of methane released to the atmosphere from the Nord Stream subsea pipeline leaks remains uncertain, as reflected in a wide range of estimates1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. A lack of information regarding the temporal variation in atmospheric emissions has made it challenging to reconcile pipeline volumetric (bottom-up) estimates1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 with measurement-based (top-down) estimates8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18. Here we simulate pipeline rupture emission rates and integrate these with methane dissolution and sea-surface outgassing estimates9,10 to model the evolution of atmospheric emissions from the leaks. We verify our modelled atmospheric emissions by comparing them with top-down point-in-time emission-rate estimates and cumulative emission estimates derived from airborne11, satellite8,12,13,14 and tall tower data. We obtain consistency between our modelled atmospheric emissions and top-down estimates and find that 465 ± 20 thousand metric tons of methane were emitted to the atmosphere. Although, to our knowledge, this represents the largest recorded amount of methane released from a single transient event, it is equivalent to 0.1% of anthropogenic methane emissions for 2022. The impact of the leaks on the global atmospheric methane budget brings into focus the numerous other anthropogenic methane sources that require mitigation globally. Our analysis demonstrates that diverse, complementary measurement approaches are needed to quantify methane emissions in support of the Global Methane Pledge19.
2025
On coarse patterns in the atmospheric concentration of ice nucleating particles
The atmospheric concentration of ice nucleating particles active at around −10 °C (INP−10) is very low. Nevertheless, these particles play a role in the development of cloud systems, so their spatial and temporal patterns merit attention. We collated available datasets on INP−10 to identify such patterns. Among the five low altitude observatories in northern Eurasia, median values throughout May to October were lowest in Scandinavia (4 and 6 m−3), somewhat higher in central Europe (11 m−3), substantially higher in the West Siberian Plain (69 m−3) and highest in the Central Yakutian Lowland (204 m−3), suggesting that the abundance of INP−10 in northern Eurasia may increase with continentality and from West to East. The range of values at the same observatories was narrower throughout November to April (2 to 27 m−3). On average, by an order of magnitude smaller values were reported for the four Arctic observatories. Consequently, increasing poleward transport of air masses from the midlatitudes likely raises the concentration of INP−10 in the Arctic, particularly when air masses had surface contact in eastern parts of northern Eurasia.
2023
Radiative transfer modeling is used to investigate the effect of aerosol optical properties and water vapor on cloud-free sky radiances at various atmospheric conditions. Simulations are generated by changing the most critical aerosol optical properties, namely aerosol optical depth, Ångström exponent, the single-scattering albedo, the precipitable water, and the solar zenith angle (SZA) in three different spectral ranges: ultraviolet A, visible, and near-infrared.
2023
Emission ensemble approach to improve the development of multi-scale emission inventories
Many studies have shown that emission inventories are one of the inputs with the most critical influences on the results of air quality modelling. Comparing emission inventories among themselves is, therefore, essential to build confidence in emission estimates. In this work, we extend the approach of Thunis et al. (2022) to compare emission inventories by building a benchmark that serves as a reference for comparisons. This benchmark is an ensemble that is based on three state-of-the-art EU-wide inventories: CAMS-REG, EMEP and EDGAR. The ensemble-based methodology screens differences between inventories and the ensemble. It excludes differences that are not relevant and identifies among the remaining ones those that need special attention. We applied the ensemble-based screening to both an EU-wide and a local (Poland) inventory.
The EU-wide analysis highlighted a large number of inconsistencies. While the origin of some differences between EDGAR and the ensemble can be identified, their magnitude remains to be explained. These differences mostly occur for SO2 (sulfur oxides), PM (particulate matter) and NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic carbon) for the industrial and residential sectors and reach a factor of 10 in some instances. Spatial inconsistencies mostly occur for the industry and other sectors.
At the local scale, inconsistencies relate mostly to differences in country sectorial shares that result from different sectors/activities being accounted for in the two types of inventories. This is explained by the fact that some emission sources are omitted in the local inventory due to a lack of appropriate geographically allocated activity data. We identified sectors and pollutants for which discussion between local and EU-wide emission compilers would be needed in order to reduce the magnitude of the observed differences (e.g. in the residential and industrial sectors).
The ensemble-based screening proved to be a useful approach to spot inconsistencies by reducing the number of necessary inventory comparisons. With the progressive resolution of inconsistencies and associated inventory improvements, the ensemble will improve. In this sense, we see the ensemble as a useful tool to motivate the community around a single common benchmark and monitor progress towards the improvement of regionally and locally developed emission inventories.
2024
The chlorinated polyfluoroalkyl ether sulfonate F-53B is used as a mist suppressant in the Chinese electroplating industry. Because of the regulations on perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS), its use is expected to increase. Until now, F-53B toxicity data have been scarce and are, to our knowledge, lacking for birds. This study therefore investigated the effects of PFOS and F-53B, separately and as mixtures, on the development of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus). Compounds were injected in ovo, before incubation, at 150 and 1500 ng/g egg. At embryonic day 20, a significantly lower heart rate was observed in all treated groups compared to the control group and hatchlings exposed to the high dose of F-53B had a significantly enlarged liver (8%). Embryonic survival was not affected and no significant effects on hatchling body mass or oxidative stress parameters were found. Our results suggest that these compounds likely have different toxicity thresholds for the investigated endpoints, and/or different modes of action. This study thereby underlines the potential developmental toxicity of PFOS and F-53B at environmentally relevant concentrations. Assessment of PFOS alternatives should therefore continue, preferably prior to their large scale use, as they should be ensured to be less harmful than PFOS itself.
2018
Environmental factors that can influence telomeres are diverse, but the association between telomeres and exposure to environmental contaminants is yet to be elucidated. To date, prior studies have focused on legacy persistent chlorinated pollutants (POPs), while the effects of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been poorly documented. Here, we investigated the associations among PFAS congeners, absolute telomere length (cross-sectional approach), and telomere dynamics (rate of telomere length change over time, longitudinal approach) in one of the most contaminated arctic top predators, the glaucous gull Larus hyperboreus from Svalbard. We further estimated the effect of PFAS on apparent survival rates and re-sighting probabilities using a 10-year capture/recapture dataset (2010–2019). We found that birds exposed to higher concentrations of perfluorononadecanoate (PFNA) (median of 1565 pg/mL of ww in males and 1370 pg/mL of ww in females) and perfluorotetradecanoate (PFTeDA) (median of 370 pg/mL of ww in males and 210 pg/mL of ww in females) showed the slowest rate of telomere shortening. We also found that high blood concentrations of perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) (median of 120 pg/mL of ww in males and 150 pg/mL of ww in females) and perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS) (median of 495 pg/mL of ww in males and 395 pg/mL of ww in females) were positively associated with higher re-sighting probabilities and apparent survival in males but not in females. Our work is the first to report an association between single PFAS compounds and telomeres, and the first to link PFAS exposure with survival probabilities, suggesting that the effect of PFAS exposure might be more tied to the type of compound rather than the total concentration of PFAS.
2020
Dimethyl Sulfide-Induced Increase in Cloud Condensation Nuclei in the Arctic Atmosphere
Oceanic dimethyl sulfide (DMS) emissions have been recognized as a biological regulator of climate by contributing to cloud formation. Despite decades of research, the climatic role of DMS remains ambiguous largely because of limited observational evidence for DMS-induced cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) enhancement. Here, we report concurrent measurement of DMS, physiochemical properties of aerosol particles, and CCN in the Arctic atmosphere during the phytoplankton bloom period of 2010. We encountered multiple episodes of new particle formation (NPF) and particle growth when DMS mixing ratios were both low and high. The growth of particles to sizes at which they can act as CCN accelerated in response to an increase in atmospheric DMS. Explicitly, the sequential increase in all relevant parameters (including the source rate of condensable vapor, the growth rate of particles, Aitken mode particles, hygroscopicity, and CCN) was pronounced at the DMS-derived NPF and particle growth events. This field study unequivocally demonstrates the previously unconfirmed roles of DMS in the growth of particles into climate-relevant size and eventual CCN activation.
2021
We conducted a theoretical analysis of the relationship between red-to-blue (RBR) color intensities and aerosol optical properties. RBR values are obtained by radiative transfer simulations of diffuse sky radiances. Changes in atmospheric aerosol concentration (parametrized by aerosol optical depth, AOD), particle’s size distribution (parametrized by Ångström exponent, AE) and aerosols’ scattering (parametrized by single scattering albedo—SSA) lead to variability in sky radiances and, thus, affect the RBR ratio. RBR is highly sensitive to AOD as high aerosol load in the atmosphere causes high RBR. AE seems to strongly affect the RBR, while SSA effect the RBR, but not to such a great extent.
2023
Effects of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on the Hprt gene mutations in V79 hamster cells
The genotoxicity of anatase/rutile TiO2 nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs, NM105 at 3, 15 and 75 µg/cm2) was assessed with the mammalian in-vitro Hypoxanthine guanine phosphoribosyl transferase (Hprt) gene mutation test in Chinese hamster lung (V79) fibroblasts after 24 h exposure. Two dispersion procedures giving different size distribution and dispersion stability were used to investigate whether the effects of TiO2 NPs depend on the state of agglomeration. TiO2 NPs were fully characterised in the previous European FP7 projects NanoTEST and NanoREG2. Uptake of TiO2 NPs was measured by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). TiO2 NPs were found in cytoplasmic vesicles, as well as close to the nucleus. The internalisation of TiO2 NPs did not depend on the state of agglomeration and dispersion used. The cytotoxicity of TiO2 NPs was measured by determining both the relative growth activity (RGA) and the plating efficiency (PE). There were no substantial effects of exposure time (24, 48 and 72 h), although a tendency to lower RGA at longer exposure was observed. No significant difference in PE values and no increases in the Hprt gene mutant frequency were found in exposed relative to unexposed cultures in spite of evidence of uptake of NPs by cells.
2020
Pollutant concentrations are poorly known for the largest animals on Earth, blue whales Balaenoptera musculus and fin whales Balaenoptera physalus. In this study, concentrations of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) were determined in blubber biopsies and stable isotope values for nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) were measured using skin biopsies for 18 blue whales and 12 fin whales sampled in waters surrounding the Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. The samples were collected in summer during the period 2014–2018. POPs were dominated by DDTs, PCBs and toxaphenes, with median concentrations in blue/fin whales being 208/341, 127/275 and 133/233 ng/g lipid weight, respectively. Linear models indicated that pollutant concentrations were 1.6–3 times higher in fin whales than in blue whales, which is likely related to the higher trophic positions of fin whales, as indicated by their higher δ15N. Lower δ13C in fin whales suggests that they feed at higher latitudes than blue whales; these values were not correlated with pollutant concentrations. Pollutant levels were approximately twice as high in males compared to females (intraspecifically), which indicates that females of these species offload pollutants to their offspring during gestation and lactation, similar to many other mammalian species. Pollutant concentrations in balaenopterid whales from Svalbard waters were generally much lower than in conspecific whales from the Mediterranean Sea or the Gulf of California, but higher than those in conspecifics from the Antarctic Peninsula.
2020
Active sampling methodology for atmospheric monitoring of cyclic volatile methylsiloxanes (cVMS) was improved to reduce sampling artifacts. A new sorbent, ABN Express (ABN), was evaluated for storage stability and measurement accuracy. Storage stability of cVMS on ABN showed less than 1% degradation of the individual 13C-labelled octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (13C4-D4), decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (13C5-D5) and dodecamethylcyclohexasiloxane (13C6-D6) after 14 days storage at room temperature and at −20 °C whereas significant degradation was observed on ENV+ sorbent at room temperature (37–62 %) and −20 °C (9–16 %). 13C4-D4 formed on ENV+ spiked with 13C5-D5, and both 13C4-D4 and 13C5-D5 formed on ENV+ spiked with 13C6-D6. However, this was not observed on the ABN sorbent. Performance of ABN was compared to ENV+ through an 8-month Arctic sampling campaign at the Zeppelin Observatory (Ny Ålesund, Svalbard). Good agreement between ABN and ENV+ was observed for D4 in the spring/summer months. However, D5 and D6 was found to be consistently higher on the ABN sorbent during this time period with D6 showing the greatest deviation. During the winter months, larger deviations were observed between ABN and ENV+ sorbents with a factor of 4 times higher atmospheric concentrations of both D5 and D6 found on ABN; indicating sorbent related degradation on ENV+. Our findings show that the ABN sorbent provides greater stability and accuracy for atmospheric monitoring of cVMS. Implications of these improvements towards atmospheric fate processes will be discussed.
2020
Social-Environmental Analysis for the Management of Coastal Lagoons in North Africa
This study provides an overview of 11 lagoons in North Africa, from the Atlantic to the Eastern Mediterranean. Lagoons are complex, transitional, coastal zones providing valuable ecosystem services that contribute to the welfare of the human population. The main economic sectors in the lagoons included fishing, shellfish harvesting, and salt and sand extraction, as well as maritime transport. Economic sectors in the areas around the lagoons and in the watershed included agriculture, tourism, recreation, industrial, and urban development. Changes were also identified in land use from reclamation, changes in hydrology, changes in sedimentology from damming, inlet modifications, and coastal engineering. The human activities in and around the lagoons exert multiple pressures on these ecosystems and result in changes in the environment, affecting salinity, dissolved oxygen, and erosion; changes in the ecology, such as loss of biodiversity; and changes in the delivery of valuable ecosystem services. Loss of ecosystem services such as coastal protection and seafood affect human populations that live around the lagoons and depend on them for their livelihood. Adaptive management frameworks for social–ecological systems provide options that support decision makers with science-based knowledge to deliver sustainable development for ecosystems. The framework used to support the decision makers for environmental management of these 11 lagoons is Drivers–Activities–Pressures–State Change–Impact (on Welfare)–Responses (as Measures).
2020
We employ JRA-55 (Japanese 55-year Reanalysis), a recent second-generation global reanalysis providing data of high quality in the stratosphere, to examine whether a distinguishable effect of geomagnetic activity on Northern Hemisphere stratospheric temperatures can be detected. We focus on how the statistical significance of stratospheric temperature differences may be robustly assessed during years with high and low geomagnetic activity. Two problems must be overcome. The first is the temporal autocorrelation of the data, which is addressed with a correction of the t statistics by means of the estimate of the number of independent values in the series of correlated values. The second is the problem of multiplicity due to strong spatial autocorrelations, which is addressed by means of a false discovery rate (FDR) procedure. We find that the statistical tests fail to formally reject the null hypothesis, i.e. no significant response to geomagnetic activity can be found in the seasonal-mean Northern Hemisphere stratospheric temperature record.
2020
Risk governance of emerging technologies demonstrated in terms of its applicability to nanomaterials
Nanotechnologies have reached maturity and market penetration that require nano‐specific changes in legislation and harmonization among legislation domains, such as the amendments to REACH for nanomaterials (NMs) which came into force in 2020. Thus, an assessment of the components and regulatory boundaries of NMs risk governance is timely, alongside related methods and tools, as part of the global efforts to optimise nanosafety and integrate it into product design processes, via Safe(r)‐by‐Design (SbD) concepts. This paper provides an overview of the state‐of‐the‐art regarding risk governance of NMs and lays out the theoretical basis for the development and implementation of an effective, trustworthy and transparent risk governance framework for NMs. The proposed framework enables continuous integration of the evolving state of the science, leverages best practice from contiguous disciplines and facilitates responsive re‐thinking of nanosafety governance to meet future needs. To achieve and operationalise such framework, a science‐based Risk Governance Council (RGC) for NMs is being developed. The framework will provide a toolkit for independent NMs' risk governance and integrates needs and views of stakeholders. An extension of this framework to relevant advanced materials and emerging technologies is also envisaged, in view of future foundations of risk research in Europe and globally.
2020
Determining the Bio‐Based Carbon Content of Surfactants
In response to a mandate from the European Commission, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) called on the technical committee CEN/TC 276 to develop a European standard (EN 17035) to define bio‐based surfactants and enable quantification of the bio‐based carbon content of surfactants based on radiocarbon analyses. This analytical approach was tested through directly contracted analyses and through a round robin procedure at commercial facilities in Europe. Initial results were unsatisfactory and further investigation identified issues surrounding the degree of homogenization in the samples. In general, the samples were only homogeneous at the gram level while the maximum quantity of material that could be introduced to the analytical process was at the milligram level. Having identified the root cause of the discrepancies between measured and expected results, new samples were sent to six European laboratories. The results were satisfactory indicating linearity and accuracy across the measurement range.
2020
This modeling study presents the sectoral contributions of anthropogenic emissions in the four Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) on air pollution levels and the associated health impacts and costs over the Nordic and the Arctic regions for the year 2015. The Danish Eulerian Hemispheric Model (DEHM) has been used on a 50 km resolution over Europe in tagged mode in order to calculate the response of a 30 % reduction of each emission sector in each Nordic country individually. The emission sectors considered in the study were energy production, non-industrial/commercial heating, industry, traffic, off-road mobile sources and waste management/agriculture. In total, 28 simulations were carried out. Following the air pollution modeling, the Economic Valuation of Air Pollution (EVA) model has been used to calculate the associated premature mortality and their costs. Results showed that more than 80 % of the PM2.5 concentration was attributed to transport from outside these four countries, implying an effort outside the Nordic region in order to decrease the pollutant levels over the area. The leading emission sector in each country was found to be non-industrial combustion (contributing by more than 60 % to the total PM2.5 mass coming from the country itself), except for Sweden, where industry contributed to PM2.5 with a comparable amount to non-industrial combustion. In addition to non-industrial combustion, the next most important source categories were industry, agriculture and traffic. The main chemical constituent of PM2.5 concentrations that comes from the country itself is calculated to be organic carbon in all countries, which suggested that non-industrial wood burning was the dominant national source of pollution in the Nordic countries. We have estimated the total number of premature mortality cases due to air pollution to be around 4000 in Denmark and Sweden and around 2000 in Finland and Norway. These premature mortality cases led to a total cost of EUR 7 billion in the selected Nordic countries. The assessment of the related premature mortality and associated cost estimates suggested that non-industrial combustion, together with industry and traffic, will be the main sectors to be targeted in emission mitigation strategies in the future.
2019