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Environmental pollutants in the terrestrial and urban environment 2020
Samples from the urban terrestrial environment in the Oslo area were analysed for metals and a large number of organic environmental pollutants. The selected species were earthworm, fieldfare, tawny owl, red fox and brown rat. Air- and soil-samples were also included in the study to further the understanding on sources and uptake of pollutants. A food-chain approach was used to investigate trophic magnification of the different compounds.
NILU
2021
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
2021
The Integrated Carbon Observation System in Europe
Since 1750, land use change and fossil fuel combustion has led to a 46 % increase in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations, causing global warming with substantial societal consequences. The Paris Agreement aims to limiting global temperature increases to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels. Increasing levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), in the atmosphere are the primary cause of climate change. Approximately half of the carbon emissions to the atmosphere is sequestered by ocean and land sinks, leading to ocean acidification but also slowing the rate of global warming. However, there are significant uncertainties in the future global warming scenarios due to uncertainties in the size, nature and stability of these sinks. Quantifying and monitoring the size and timing of natural sinks and the impact of climate change on ecosystems are important information to guide policy-makers’ decisions and strategies on reductions in emissions. Continuous, long-term observations are required to quantify GHG emissions, sinks, and their impacts on Earth systems. The Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS) was designed as the European in situ observation and information system to support science and society in their efforts to mitigate climate change. It provides standardized and open data currently from over 140 measurement stations across 12 European countries. The stations observe GHG concentrations in the atmosphere and carbon and GHG fluxes between the atmosphere, land surface and the oceans. This article describes how ICOS fulfills its mission to harmonize these observations, ensure the related long-term financial commitments, provide easy access to well-documented and reproducible high-quality data and related protocols and tools for scientific studies, and deliver information and GHG-related products to stakeholders in society and policy.
American Meteorological Society
2021
2021
2021
Links to Copernicus data and services. Status and recommendations.
This report presents available Copernicus data from both its satellite and service component. It contains a comprehensive overview of the status of use of Copernicus data and products in the work of the European Environment Agency (EEA) and provides recommendations to make better use of Copernicus information focusing on the activities of the European Topic Centre for Air pollution, Transport, Noise, and Industry pollution (ETC/ATNI). Specific recommended activities to make better use of Copernicus data involve mapping and emission activities at ETC/ATNI, trend analysis, noise, and air quality assessments as well as the development of on-line air quality services and the implementation of urban sustainability studies.
ETC/ATNI
2021
2021
2021
On behalf of Aluminiumindustriens Miljøsekretariat (AMS), NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research has conducted a sampling campaign in the surroundings of the Hydro Sunndal aluminium smelter in order to update the knowledge on air quality around the smelter today. Samples were taken in summer 2019 and analysed for PM2.5, PM10, metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, As, Al, V, Ga, Sb, Bi), particle-bound PAHs, SO2, particle-bound and gaseous fluorides. As a consequence of reduced emissions compared to earlier measurements, the ambient concentrations of PM10, Cr, Pb, BaP (for PAHs), SO2 and fluorides were strongly reduced. All measured compounds had concentrations below limit values and recommended
guideline values.
NILU
2021
2021
2021
We present 18 years (2001–2018) of aerosol measurements, including organic and elemental carbon (OC andEC), organic tracers (levoglucosan, arabitol, mannitol, trehalose, glucose, and 2-methyltetrols), trace elements, andions, at the Birkenes Observatory (southern Norway) – a site representative of the northern European region. The OC/EC (2001–2018) and the levoglucosan (2008–2018) time series are the longest in Europe, with OC/EC available for the PM10, PM2.5 (fine), and PM10–2.5 (coarse) size fractions, providing the opportunity for a nearly 2-decade-long assessment. Using positive matrix factorization (PMF), we identify seven carbonaceous aerosol sources at Birkenes: mineral-dust-dominated aerosol (MIN), traffic/industry-like aerosol (TRA/IND), short-range-transported biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOASRT), primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP), biomass burning aerosol (BB), ammonium-nitrate-dominated aerosol (NH4NO3), and (one low carbon fraction) sea salt aerosol (SS).
We observed significant (p < 0.05), large decreases in EC in PM10 (−3.9 % yr−1) and PM2.5 (−4.2 % yr−1) anda smaller decline in levoglucosan (−2.8 % yr−1), suggesting that OC/EC from traffic and industry is decreasing, whereas the abatement of OC/EC from biomass burning has beenslightly less successful. EC abatement with respect to anthropogenic sources is further supported by decreasing EC fractions in PM2.5 (−3.9 % yr−1) and PM10(−4.5 % yr−1).
PMF apportioned 72 % of EC to fossil fuel sources; this was further supported by PMF applied to absorption photometer data, which yielded a two-factor solution with alow aerosol Ångstrøm exponent (AAE=0.93) fraction, as-sumed to be equivalent black carbon from fossil fuel combustion (eBCFF), contributing 78 % to eBC mass. The higher AAE fraction (AAE=2.04) is likely eBC from BB (eBCBB). Source–receptor model calculations (FLEXPART) showed that continental Europe and western Russia were the main source regions of both elevated eBCBB and eBCFF.
Dominating biogenic sources explain why there was no downward trend for OC. A relative increase in the OC fraction in PM2.5(+3.2 % yr−1) and PM10(+2.4 % yr−1) underscores the importance of biogenic sources at Birkene (BSOA and PBAP), which were higher in the vegetative season and dominated both fine (53 %) and coarse (78 %) OC. Furthermore, 77 %–91 % of OC in PM2.5, PM10–2.5, and PM10 was attributed to biogenic sources in summer vs. 22 %–37 % in winter. The coarse fraction had the highest share of biogenic sources regardless of season and was dominated by PBAP, except in winter. Our results show a shift in the aerosol composition at Birkenes and, thus, also in the relative source contributions. The need for diverse offline and online carbonaceous aerosol speciation to understand carbonaceous aerosol sources, including their seasonal, annual, and long-term variability, has been demonstrated.
2021
2021
2021
DNA damage and repair activity are often assessed in blood samples from humans in different types of molecular epidemiology studies. However, it is not always feasible to analyse the s#38les on the day of collection without any type of storage. For instance, certain studies use repeated sampling of cells from the same subject or samples from different subjects collected at different time-points, and it is desirable to analyse all these samples in the same comet assay experiment. In addition, flawless comet assay analyses on frozen samples opens up for the possibility of using this technique on biobank material. In this article we discuss the use of cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), buffy coat (BC) and whole blood (WB) for analysis of DNA damage and repair using the comet assay. The published literature and the authors’ experiences indicate that various types of blood samples can be cryopreserved with only minor effect on the basal level of DNA damage. There is evidence to suggest that WB and PBMCs can be cryopreserved for several years without much effect on the level of DNA damage. However, care should be taken when cryopreserving WB and BCs. It is possible to use either fresh or frozen samples of blood cells, but results from fresh and frozen cells should not be used in the same dataset. The article outlines detailed protocols for the cryopreservation of PBMCs, BCs and WB samples.
Oxford University Press
2021
2021
Air Quality Plans and Measures. Analysis of data submitted from 2014 to 2020.
The submitted data were analysed with the aim to provide information to the EEA Member countries that can be used to improve their air quality management practices, and to give feedback on data quality and possible use. Previous studies in the framework of the Air Implementation Pilot (published in 2012 and 2013) made assessments of the measures and management practices but were not successful in defining the measures’ effectiveness, so the present report also looks into what kind of information can be obtained from the data.
In the period 2014 – 2020, 23 EEA member countries submitted at least one air quality plan. Most countries focus their plans on pollutants related to traffic: NO2 and/or PM10. Most measures target exceedances of NO2 (62 %), PM10 (26 %) and PM2.5 (10 %), and measures are reported that target exceedances of standards of benzo(a)pyrene, nickel and lead (all in PM10) as well as SO2. In one case, the measure is related to benzene.
« Traffic » is the main sector leading to exceedances, with 64 % of records, followed by « domestic heating » (14 %), « local industry » (10 %) and “Other” (8 %). The « Other » category when given further information could comprise a variety of sources including meteorology, agricultural residue burning, harbour activity or shipping.
The majority of the exceedances occurred in urban areas (65 %) followed by suburban areas (21 %), while 14 % of the exceedances addressed in the plans occurred in rural areas.
The available data consist of a large number of individual records (ranging from several hundreds to over 20 thousand depending on the reporting element) that in theory can be linked using unique identifiers. However, not all the records can be linked. While the basis for analysis can vary depending on which reporting segments are used, the overall results are consistent across the segments, and provide a very good overview of which air pollution abatement measures are taken by national and local authorities.
ETC/ATNI
2021
2021
2021
How Atmospheric Chemistry and Transport Drive Surface Variability of N2O and CFC-11
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2021
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.
Frontiers Media S.A.
2021