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2023
2023
2023
Plastic pollution (including microplastics) has been reported in a variety of biotic and abiotic compartments across the circumpolar Arctic. Due to their environmental ubiquity, there is a need to understand not only the fate and transport of physical plastic particles, but also the fate and transport of additive chemicals associated with plastic pollution. Further, there is a fundamental research gap in understanding long-range transport of chemical additives to the Arctic via plastics as well as their behavior under environmentally relevant Arctic conditions. Here, we comment on the state of the science of plastic as carriers of chemical additives to the Arctic, and highlight research priorities going forward. We suggest further research on the transport pathways of chemical additives via plastics from both distant and local sources and laboratory experiments to investigate chemical behavior of plastic additives under Arctic conditions, including leaching, uptake, and bioaccumulation. Ultimately, chemical additives need to be included in strategic monitoring efforts to fully understand the contaminant burden of plastic pollution in Arctic ecosystems.
2023
2023
2023
2023
Revidert tiltaksutredning for lokal luftkvalitet i Drammen
NILU – Norsk institutt for luftforskning har, i samarbeid med Asplan Viak AS, utarbeidet en tiltaksutredning for lokal luftkvalitet i Drammen kommune. Tiltaksutredningen omfatter en kartlegging av luftkvaliteten i Drammen ved trafikkberegninger og utslipps- og spredningsberegninger for svevestøv (PM10 og PM2,5) for Dagens situasjon 2021 og Referansesituasjonen 2030 og for 2030 med tiltak rettet mot svevestøv. Basert på resultatene fra beregningene og i samarbeid med oppdragsgiver, styringsgruppe og referansegruppe, er det foreslått en revidert handlingsplan som skal behandles politisk.
NILU
2023
Aerosols are an important constituent of the atmosphere both influencing the climate system and contributing to increasing pollution of the Arctic. At the same time, their adequate monitoring is a big challenge, as instruments on the ground only can sample aerosols in the lowermost atmosphere. For this reason, these measurements are complemented with observations of aerosol optical depth (AOD) which quantify the total amount of aerosols throughout the atmosphere from the attenuation of direct sunlight (and moonlight). This procedure requires extremely careful instrument calibration and removal of cloud contaminated data. In Svalbard, such measurements have been performed by several research groups with different instruments, mostly in Ny-Ålesund and in Hornsund, but also on research vessels offshore. In the framework of the SSF Strategic Grant project ReHearsol, all AOD data from the Svalbard region since 2002 have been collected and made available to the SIOS research community. They indicate that number and intensity of Arctic haze episodes occurring in late winter and spring have decreased consistently and significantly in the last 20 years, while pollution events in summer/early autumn, caused by boreal biomass burning, are on the rise, though not as consistently. Comparison between in-situ measurements at Gruvebadet Atmosphere Laboratory in Ny-Ålesund and AOD measurements indicate that most (more than 65%) of the episodes with high aerosol load are not captured by surface measurements. This finding does not change when one includes in-situ measurements at Zeppelin Observatory (475 m a.s.l.). Studying extensive high-AOD episodes such as those in summer 2019 requires a multi-tool approach including in-situ and remote-sensing measurements combined with model tools.
2023
It is of considerable interest to identify chemicals which may represent a hazard and risk to environmental and human health in remote areas. The OECD POV and LRTP Screening Tool (“The Tool”) for assessing chemicals for persistence (P) and long-range transport potential (LRTP) has been extensively used for combined P and LRTP assessments in various regulatory contexts, including the Stockholm Convention (SC) on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The approach in The Tool plots either the Characteristic Travel Distance (CTD, in km), a transport-oriented metric, or the Transfer Efficiency (TE, in %), which calculates the transfer from the atmosphere to surface compartments in a remote region, against overall persistence (POV). For a chemical to elicit adverse effects in remote areas, it not only needs to be transported and transferred to remote environmental surface media, it also needs to accumulate in these media. The current version of The Tool does not have a metric to quantify this process. We screened a list of >12 000 high production volume chemicals (HPVs) for the potential to be dispersed, transferred, and accumulate in surface media in remote regions using the three corresponding LRTP metrics of the emission fractions approach (EFA; ϕ1, ϕ2, ϕ3), as implemented in a modified version of The Tool. Comparing the outcome of an assessment based on CTD/TE and POV with the EFA, we find that the latter classifies a larger number of HPVs as having the potential for accumulation in remote regions than is classified as POP-like by the existing approach. In particular, the EFA identifies chemicals capable of accumulating in remote regions without fulfilling the criterion for POV. The remote accumulation fraction of the EFA is the LRTP assessment metric most suited for the risk assessment stage in Annex E of the SC. Using simpler metrics (such as half-life criteria, POV, and LRTP–POV combinations) in a hazard-based assessment according to Annex D is problematic as it may prematurely screen out many of the chemicals with potential for adverse effects as a result of long-range transport.
2023
Uptake of organic contaminants from car tire microplastics in Arctic marine species
Car tire particles represent an important environmental challenge that is difficult to alleviate. The particles stem from abrasion during driving, so-called tire wear particles (TWPs), down-cycled end-oflife tire crumb rubber (CR) granulate that is used widely as low-cost infill on sports fields, or degradation products from discarded tires. The material contains a variety of additives and chemical residues from the manufacturing process, including metals, especially high concentrations of zinc, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and benzothiazoles (Halsband et al., 2020), but also paraphenylenediaminesb (PPDs) and numerous other organic chemicals. In urbanized areas, TWPs arebemitted from vehicles, while CR is dispersed from artificial sports fields and other urban surfaces to the environment. This suggests that particulate and chemical runoff to coastal systems is likely and represents a route of exposure to marine organisms. In the Arctic, even small human settlements can represent local sources of TWPs and CR granulate emissions. Here, we summarize recent experimental studies examining the responses of different marine animals to tire rubber particle or leachate exposure, focusing on toxicity and the uptake kinetics of tire-related organic chemicals into organs and tissues. We present data for different ecological functional groups relevant to the Arctic, including copepods, shrimps, crabs, and fish, representing different body sizes, marine habitats, and feeding modes, and thus varying exposure scenarios. Our findings from GC-HRMS SIM chromatography demonstrate that several tire additives are taken up into tissues. Although the available data indicates many tire-derived organic chemicals do not seem to bioaccumulate, mapping of tire rubber particle and chemical distributions in Arctic coastal systems, dose-response toxicity testing and risk assessments of environmental concentrations are warranted, also with a view to potential trophic transfer within the Arctic marine food chain.
2023
Status for miljøet i norske havområder - Rapport fra Overvåkingsgruppen 2023
I denne rapporten gir Overvåkingsgruppen, for første gang, en felles vurdering av miljøtilstanden i Barentshavet og havområdene utenfor Lofoten, Norskehavet og Nordsjøen med Skagerrak. Det er også første rapport som bruker resultater fra det nylig utviklede fagsystemet for vurdering av økologisk tilstand. I denne rapporten dekkes to hovedtemaer: (1) Dominerende trekk i status og utvikling i økosystemet i alle tre havområdene, basert på vurderingene av økologisk tilstand, Overvåkingsgruppens rapport om forurensning fra 2022, indikatorer fra Overvåkingsgruppen som ikke er dekket under vurdering av økologisk tilstand, samt rapporter og annen relevant informasjon fra forskning, og (2) en vurdering av karbonbinding i marint plankton, marine vegetasjonstyper og marine sedimenter. I tillegg er det gitt en oppsummering for endringer i ytre påvirkning, vurdering av kunnskapsbehov samt en vurdering av indikatorverdier i forhold til referanseverdier og tiltaksgrenser. Vurderingen av dominerende trekk i utvikling og tilstand av miljøet som er gitt i kapittel 2, utgjør Overvåkingsgruppens bidrag til Faglig forums samlerapport om det faglige grunnlaget for revisjon og oppdatering av de helhetlige forvaltningsplanene for norske havområder.
Havforskningsinstituttet
2023
Finnfjord AS. Oppdaterte spredningsberegninger av utslipp til luft.
NILU har vurdert spredning av utslipp til luft fra Finnfjord AS sitt smelteverk ved Finnsnes. Bakgrunnen er oppdaterte krav fra Miljødirektoratet. Fokus i studien er på NOx, SO2 og støv/partikler. Det er utført lokale spredningsberegninger ved hjelp av modellen CONDEP. Regionale beregninger av konsentrasjoner og avsetning er utført med WRF-EMEP modellsystemet. En stor andel av forurensningen slippes ut fra tak. Dette kan gi turbulens og bygningsnedtrekk som igjen gir høye konsentrasjoner rett ved smelteverket og i umiddelbar nærhet. CONDEP-beregningene viser at for NO2 og støv/PM er norske grenseverdier overholdt. For SO2 kan overskridelse av grenseverdier oppstå opptil 500-600 m fra smelteverket. WRF-EMEP-beregningene viser liten påvirkning på regional skala. Av utslippene fra Finnfjord AS avsettes 16 % av nitrogen, 15 % av svovel og 12 % av PM innenfor det innerste gridet (105 x 105 km2). Det gis også anbefaling om målinger av SO2 og meteorologi for å tallfeste påvirkningen fra Finnfjord AS på omgivelsene.
NILU
2023
Establishment of an early warning system (EWS) for the identification of new and existing potentially hazardous substances is a key component of PARC. An EWS includes early warning monitoring toolboxes to identify chemical hazards in a broad range of biotic and abiotic matrices and products with a special focus on aqueous environment that may be associated with an unacceptable health risk. Effect-based monitoring (EBM) and effect-directed analysis (EDA) are identified as key toolboxes for prioritizing chemical hazards in various matrices including water, soil, sediment, sludge, air, dust, aquatic and terrestrial biota, human samples, products like food contact materials, and food. This report gives an overview of i) sampling strategies, ii) sample preparation methods for bioassays and chemical analysis, iii) EBM using bioassays, iv) chemical analytical methods including target, suspect and nontarget screening, v) EDA and iceberg modelling, and vi) future perspectives and needs for an EWS.
Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC)
2023
Regionally sourced bioaerosols drive high-temperature ice nucleating particles in the Arctic
Primary biological aerosol particles (PBAP) play an important role in the climate system, facilitating the formation of ice within clouds, consequently PBAP may be important in understanding the rapidly changing Arctic. Within this work, we use single-particle fluorescence spectroscopy to identify and quantify PBAP at an Arctic mountain site, with transmission electronic microscopy analysis supporting the presence of PBAP. We find that PBAP concentrations range between 10−3–10−1 L−1 and peak in summer. Evidences suggest that the terrestrial Arctic biosphere is an important regional source of PBAP, given the high correlation to air temperature, surface albedo, surface vegetation and PBAP tracers. PBAP clearly correlate with high-temperature ice nucleating particles (INP) (>-15 °C), of which a high a fraction (>90%) are proteinaceous in summer, implying biological origin. These findings will contribute to an improved understanding of sources and characteristics of Arctic PBAP and their links to INP.
2023
A flexible algorithm for network design based on information theory
A novel method for atmospheric network design is presented, which is based on information theory. The method does not require calculation of the posterior uncertainty (or uncertainty reduction) and is therefore computationally more efficient than methods that require this. The algorithm is demonstrated in two examples: the first looks at designing a network for monitoring CH4 sources using observations of the stable carbon isotope ratio in CH4 (δ13C), and the second looks at designing a network for monitoring fossil fuel emissions of CO2 using observations of the radiocarbon isotope ratio in CO2 (Δ14CO2).
2023
2023
2023