Rapport

VOC measurements 2019

Solberg, Sverre; Claude, Anja; Reimann, Stefan; Sauvage, Stéphane

This report presents VOC (volatile organic compound) measurements carried out during 2019 at EMEP monitoring sites. In total, 19 sites reported VOC-data from EMEP VOC sites this year. Some of the data-sets are considered preliminary and are not included in the report.
The monitoring of VOC has become more diverse with time in terms of instrumentation. Starting in the early 1990s with standardized methods based on manual sampling in steel canisters and adsorption tubes with subsequent analyses at the lab, the methods now consist of a variety of instruments and measurement principles, including automated continuous monitors and manual flask samples.
Within the EU infrastructure project ACTRIS, data quality issues related to measurements of VOC are an important topic. Many of the institutions providing VOC-data to EMEP are participating in the ACTRIS infrastructure project, either as formal partners or on a voluntary basis. Participation in ACTRIS means an extensive effort with data-checking including detailed discussions between the ACTRIS community and individual participants. There is no doubt that this extensive effort has benefited the EMEP-program substantially and has led to improved data quality in general.
Comparison between median levels in 2019 and the medians of the previous 10-years period, revealed similar geographical patterns as in the previous years. Changes in instrumentation, procedures and station network with time make it difficult though to provide a rigorous and pan-European assessment of long-term trends of the observed VOCs. In this report, we have estimated the trends in NMHC over the 2000-2019 period at five sites by three independent statistical methods. All three methods gave comparable estimates of the trends, although the Mann-Kendall method based on annual data (compared to daily data for the other two methods) found fewer significant trends.
These estimates indicate marked differences in the long-term trends for the individual species. Small or non-significant trends were found for ethane during 2000-2019. Propane also showed fairly small reductions. On the other hand, components linked to road traffic (ethene, ethyne and benzene) showed the strongest drop in mean concentrations, up to 60-80% at some stations.

NILU

Monitoring of long-range transported air pollutants in Norway. Annual Report 2020.

Aas, Wenche; Eckhardt, Sabine; Fiebig, Markus; Platt, Stephen Matthew; Solberg, Sverre; Yttri, Karl Espen; Zwaaftink, Christine Groot

This report presents results from the monitoring of atmospheric composition and deposition of air pollution in 2020, and focuses on main components in air and precipitation, particulate and gaseous phase of inorganic constituents, particulate carbonaceous matter, ground level ozone and particulate matter. The level of pollution in 2020 was generally low and this can partly be explained by special weather conditions in the first months with mostly clean, marine air from the west. The extensive restrictions on human activity in connection with the pandemic in Europe, have probably also contributed to lower levels of air pollution at the Norwegian background stations. In 2020, it was an unusual wide-spread episode during October causing high concentrations of most pollutants at all the sites.

NILU

Maximizing output from non-target screening

Andreasen, Birgitta; van Bavel, Bert; Fishcher, Stellan; Haglund, Peter; Rostkowski, Pawel; Reid, Malcolm James; Samanipour, Saer; Schlabach, Martin; Veenaas, Cathrin; Dam, Maria

The purpose of this project is to dig deeper into the data material already generated in the Suspect screening in Nordic countries: Point sources in city areas (TemaNord: 2017:561) to further optimize the benefits of the major work that has already been done. Samples (effluent, sediment, and biota) from all of the Nordic countries were carefully selected, sampled and analysed by a consortium of some of the Nordic region’s most experienced scientific groups in analyses of emerging environmental contaminants. But where perhaps the full potential of the generated data is still to be realized. This project will try to further identify and describe the substances already detected, to be able to better understand what substances we in modern Nordic societies release into the sea via our wastewater.

Nordic Council of Ministers

PAH measurements at Lista. January 2020 – December 2020.

Hak, Claudia

On behalf of Aluminiumindustriens Miljøsekretariat (AMS) and Alcoa Lista, NILU – Norwegian institute for air research has
conducted a sampling campaign in the surroundings of the Alcoa Lista aluminium smelter in order to update the knowledge on PAH-concentrations around the smelter today. Samples were taken in the period January – December 2020 and
analysed for particle bound PAHs. As a consequence of reduced emissions compared to earlier measurements, the ambient
concentrations of benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) were reduced. BaP had an annual average concentration below the target value at
both sampling sites. At Huseby, the lower assessment threshold was exceeded. PAH-levels in the area were similar to those observed in Norwegian cities.

NILU

An update on low-cost sensors for the measurement of atmospheric composition

Peltier, Richard E.; Castell, Nuria; Clements, Andrea L.; Dye, Tim; Hüglin, Christoph; Kroll, Jesse H.; Lung, Shih-Chun Candice; Ning, Zhi; Parsons, Matthew; Penza, Michèle; Reisen, Fabienne; Scheidemesser, Erika von; Arfire, Adrian; Boso, Àlex; Fu, Qingyan; Hagan, David; Henshaw, Geoff; Jayaratne, Rohan; Jones, Roderic; Kelly, Kerry; Kilaru, Vasu; Mead, Iq; Morawska, Lidia; Papale, Dario; Polidori, Andrea; Querol, Xavier; Seddon, Jessica; Schneider, Philipp; Tarasova, Oksana; Yu, Alfred LC; Zellweger, Christoph

The report reflects on the state of the art in terms of accuracy, reliability and reproducibility of different sensors used for the measurements of reactive and greenhouse gases, and aerosols, along with the key analytical principles and what has been learned so far about low-cost sensors from both laboratory studies and real-world tests (up to August 2020). In some cases, scientific literature that had been accepted, but not yet published in a final form, was included in this review. Some national and international government documents were also included in this synthesis. The report includes eight distinct sections, including an Introduction to the Report, Main Principles and Components, Evaluation Activities, Sensor Performance, Communicating LCS to Society, and Expert Consensus and Advice. Communicating LCS to Society is a new section to the original 2018 report and includes a consensus viewpoint on strategies for communicating LCS data and technologies more broadly to the lay public. This report also includes a set of specific expert consensus recommendations for LCS users across different user groups.

WMO