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2020
2020
2020
The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken.
2020
Grenseområdene Norge-Russland. Luft- og nedbørkvalitet, årsrapport 2019.
Smelteverkene i nordvest-Russland slipper ut store mengder svoveldioksid (SO2) og tungmetaller. Utslippene påvirker luft- og nedbørkvalitet i grenseområdene. Miljøovervåkingen viser at grenseverdier for SO2 er overholdt i kalenderåret 2019, samt for vinter 2018/19. I januar 2019 var det to episoder med høye konsentrasjoner av SO2 på Svanvik. 25. januar ble det sendt varsel til befolkningen i området. Målsettingsverdier for Ni og As er overholdt.
NILU
2020
Safe(r) by design implementation in the nanotechnology industry
The implementation of Safe(r) by Design (SbD) in industrial innovations requires an integrated approach where the human, environmental and economic impact of the SbD measures is evaluated across and throughout the nanomaterial (NM) life cycle. SbD was implemented in six industrial companies where SbD measures were applied to NMs, nano-enabled products (NEPs) and NM/NEP manufacturing processes. The approach considers human and environmental risks, functionality of the NM/NEP and costs as early as possible in the innovation process, continuing throughout the innovation progresses. Based on the results of the evaluation, a decision has to be made on whether to continue, stop or re-design the NM/NEP/process or to carry out further tests/obtain further data in cases where the uncertainty of the human and environmental risks is too large. However, SbD can also be implemented at later stages when there is already a prototype product or process available, as demonstrated in some of the cases. The SbD measures implemented in some of the case studies did not result in a viable solution. For example the coating of silicon nanoparticles with amorphous carbon increased the conductivity, the stability and reduced the dustiness of the particles and therefore the risk of explosion and the exposure to workers. However the socioeconomic assessment for their use in lithium-ion batteries for cars, when compared to the use of graphite, showed that the increase in performance did not overcome the higher production costs. This work illustrates the complexities of selecting the most appropriate SbD measures and highlights that SbD cannot be solely based on a hazard and exposure assessment but must include other impacts that any SbD measures may have on sustainability including energy consumption and waste generation as well as all associated monetary costs.
2020
The paper provides the annual update of the European air quality concentration maps and population exposure estimates for human health related indicators of pollutants PM10 (annual average, 90.4 percentile of daily means), PM2.5 (annual average), ozone (93.2 percentile of maximum daily 8-hour means, SOMO35, SOMO10) and NO2 (annual average), and vegetation related ozone indicators (AOT40 for vegetation and for forests) for the year 2017. The report contains also NOx annual average concentration map for 2017. The trends in exposure estimates in the period 2005-2017 for PM10 and ozone, resp. in the period 2007-2017 for PM2.5 are summarized. The analysis is based on interpolation of annual statistics of the 2017 observational data reported by EEA Member countries in 2016 and stored in the Air Quality e-reporting database. The mapping method is the Regression – Interpolation – Merging Mapping. It combines monitoring data, chemical transport model results and other supplementary data using linear regression model followed by kriging of its residuals (residual kriging). The paper presents the mapping results and gives an uncertainty analysis of the interpolated maps.
ETC/ATNI
2020
Monitoring of the atmospheric ozone layer and natural ultraviolet radiation. Annual Report 2019.
This report summarizes the results from the Norwegian monitoring programme on stratospheric ozone and UV radiation
measurements. The ozone layer has been measured at three locations since 1979: In Oslo/Kjeller, Tromsø/Andøya and
Ny-Ålesund. The UV measurements started in 1995. The results show that there was a significant decrease in stratospheric
ozone above Norway between 1979 and 1997. After that, the ozone layer stabilized at a level ~2% below pre-1980 level.
2019 was characterized by low ozone values in April and an “ozone hole” in Southern Norway in December 2019.
NILU
2020
Crumb rubber toxicity in coastal marine systems
Crumb rubber granulate (CRG) produced from end of life tires (ELTs) is commonly applied on indoor and outdoor synthetic turf pitches (STPs), playgrounds, safety surfaces and walkways. In addition to fillers, stabilizers, cross-linking agents and secondary components (e.g. pigments, oils, resins, fibers), ELTs contain high levels of organic additive compounds and heavy metals. While previous environmental studies have focused on terrestrial soil and freshwater ecosystems, in Norway many sites applying CRG are coastal. In the current study, the organic chemical and metal content of 'fresh' and 'weathered' CRG and their seawater leachates was investigated, and the uptake of crumb rubber by the brown crab (Cancer pagurus) was studied as an example of an exposure route for CRG to coastal marine organisms. A combination of pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry (py-GC-MS) and chemical extraction followed by GC-MS analysis revealed similar organic chemical profiles for pristine and weathered CRG, including additives such as benzothiazole, N-1,3-dimethylbutyl-N'-phenyl-p-phenylenediamine and a range of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and phenolic compounds (e.g. bisphenols). ICP-MS analysis indicated g/kg quantities of Zn and mg/kg quantities of Fe, Mn, Cu, Co, Cr, Pb and Ni in the CRG. A mixture of organic additives, metals and other inorganic compounds readily leached from the CRG into seawater. Benzothiazole was the organic compound with highest concentration (average of 136 mg/L), while PAHs (ranging from <LOD to 0.58 mg/L) and phenolic compounds (e.g. 2,4-bisphenol F and 4,4’-bisphenol F at 0.012 and 0.006 mg/L, respectively) were present in low abundance. Zn was the most abundant metal in the leachates (23.8 mg/L) followed by Fe (0.08 mg/L) and Co (0.06 mg/L). While organic chemical concentrations in the leachates stabilized within days, metals continued to leach out over the 30 day period. Brown crabs were exposed to two concentrations of CRG (0.5 and 0.05 g/L) in two size fractions (5 mm and 250 µm diameter) for 24 hours. Ingestion of the rubber and subsequent gut evacuation were studied over 5 days. Image analysis of filtered stomach contents confirmed uptake of rubber particles in different sizes, but also efficient gut evacuation upon transfer to clean water. We discuss the implications of CRG and leachate toxicity in acute and long-term exposure scenarios for marine coastal ecosystems.
2020
Combining information from several channels of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU-UV) irradiance meter, one may determine the total ozone column (TOC) amount. A NILU-UV instrument has been deployed and operated on two locations at Troll research station in Jutulsessen, Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, for several years. The method used to determine the TOC amount is presented, and the derived TOC values are compared with those obtained from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) located on NASA’s AURA satellite. The findings show that the NILU-UV TOC amounts correlate well with the results of the OMI and that the NILU-UV instruments are suitable for monitoring the long-term change and development of the ozone hole. Because of the large footprint of OMI, NILU-UV is a more suitable instrument for local measurements.
2020
2020
Air pollution is one of the world’s leading environmental causes of death. The epidemiological relationship between outdoor air pollution and the onset of health diseases associated with death is now well established. Relevant toxicological proofs are now dissecting the molecular processes that cause inflammation, reactive species generation, and DNA damage. In addition, new data are pointing out the role of airborne particulates in the modulation of genes and microRNAs potentially involved in the onset of human diseases. In the present review we collect the relevant findings on airborne particulates of one of the biggest hot spots of air pollution in Europe (i.e., the Po Valley), in the largest urban area of this region, Milan. The different aerodynamic fractions are discussed separately with a specific focus on fine and ultrafine particles that are now the main focus of several studies. Results are compared with more recent international findings. Possible future perspectives of research are proposed to create a new discussion among scientists working on the toxicological effects of airborne particles.
2020
2020
2020
Atmospheric inversions have been used for the past two decades to derive large-scale constraints on the sources and sinks of CO2 into the atmosphere. The development of dense in situ surface observation networks, such as ICOS in Europe, enables in theory inversions at a resolution close to the country scale in Europe. This has led to the development of many regional inversion systems capable of assimilating these high-resolution data, in Europe and elsewhere. The EUROCOM (European atmospheric transport inversion comparison) project is a collaboration between seven European research institutes, which aims at producing a collective assessment of the net carbon flux between the terrestrial ecosystems and the atmosphere in Europe for the period 2006–2015. It aims in particular at investigating the capacity of the inversions to deliver consistent flux estimates from the country scale up to the continental scale.
The project participants were provided with a common database of in situ-observed CO2 concentrations (including the observation sites that are now part of the ICOS network) and were tasked with providing their best estimate of the net terrestrial carbon flux for that period, and for a large domain covering the entire European Union. The inversion systems differ by the transport model, the inversion approach, and the choice of observation and prior constraints, enabling us to widely explore the space of uncertainties.
This paper describes the intercomparison protocol and the participating systems, and it presents the first results from a reference set of inversions, at the continental scale and in four large regions. At the continental scale, the regional inversions support the assumption that European ecosystems are a relatively small sink (−0.21±0.2
Pg C yr−1). We find that the convergence of the regional inversions at this scale is not better than that obtained in state-of-the-art global inversions. However, more robust results are obtained for sub-regions within Europe, and in these areas with dense observational coverage, the objective of delivering robust country-scale flux estimates appears achievable in the near future.
2020
Global occurrence, chemical properties, and ecological impacts of e-wastes (IUPAC Technical Report)
The waste stream of obsolete electronic equipment grows exponentially, creating a worldwide pollution and resource problem. Electrical and electronic waste (e-waste) comprises a heterogeneous mix of glass, plastics (including flame retardants and other additives), metals (including rare Earth elements), and metalloids. The e-waste issue is complex and multi-faceted. In examining the different aspects of e-waste, informal recycling in developing countries has been identified as a primary concern, due to widespread illegal shipments; weak environmental, as well as health and safety, regulations; lack of technology; and inadequate waste treatment structure. For example, Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, and China have all been identified as hotspots for the disposal of e-waste. This article presents a critical examination on the chemical nature of e-waste and the resulting environmental impacts on, for example, microbial biodiversity, flora, and fauna in e-waste recycling sites around the world. It highlights the different types of risk assessment approaches required when evaluating the ecological impact of e-waste. Additionally, it presents examples of chemistry playing a role in potential solutions. The information presented here will be informative to relevant stakeholders seeking to devise integrated management strategies to tackle this global environmental concern.
2020
The main goal for the “Towards better exploitation of Satellite data for monitoring Air Quality in Norway using
downscaling techniques” (Sat4AQN) project was to evaluate the potential of spatially downscaling satellite data using a
high-resolution Chemical Transport Model (CTM) to spatial scales that are more relevant for monitoring air quality in
urban areas and regional background sites in Norway. For this demonstration project, we focused on satellite aerosol
optical density (AOD) and particulate matter (PM) estimates.
NILU
2020
The current report provides a short overview of previous years’ studies on long-term trends in O3, NO2 and PM and the role of meteorological variability for the concentration of these pollutants. The previous studies on the link between trends and meteorology has shown that these links could be estimated by a careful design of model setups using CTMs (chemical transport models). The conclusions from this work is that CTMs are certainly useful tools for explaining pollutant trends in terms of the separate impact of individual physio-chemical drivers such as emissions and meteorology although computationally demanding. The statistical GAM model that have been developed as part of the recent ETC/ACM and ETC/ATNI tasks could be considered as complementary to the use of CTMs for separating the influence of meteorological variability from other processes. The main limitation of the statistical model is that it contains no parameterisation of the real physio-chemical processes and secondly, that it relies on a local assumption, i.e. that the observed daily concentrations could be estimated based on the local meteorological data. We found clear differences in model performance both with respect to geographical area and atmospheric species. In general, the best performance was found for O3 (although not for peak levels) with gradually lower performance for NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 in that order. With respect to area, the model produced the best predictions for Central Europe (Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria, Czech Republic) and poorer agreement with observations in southern Europe. Although the GAM model did not detect many meteorology induced long-term trends in the data, the model is well suited for separating the influence of meteorology from the other driving forces, such as emissions and boundary conditions. The GAM model thus provides robust and smooth long-term trend functions corrected for meteorology as well as the perturbations from year to year, reflecting the variability in weather conditions. One could consider to define a set of performance criteria to decide if the GAM model is applicable for a specific station and parameter.
ETC/ATNI
2020
VANDAM Final Report. June 2020.
The current document summaries the work carried out in the PRODEX project NILU VANDAM: PEA: 4000118977.
NILU
2020