Few studies report the occurrence of microplastics (MP), including tire wear particles (TWP) in the marine atmosphere, and little data is available regarding their size or sources. Here we present active air sampling devices (low- and high-volume samplers) for the evaluation of composition and MP mass loads in the marine atmosphere. Air was sampled during a research cruise along the Norwegian coast up to Bear Island.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Fenwei Plain is one of China's most polluted regions, with poor atmospheric dispersion conditions and an outdated energy structure. After implementing multiple policies in recent years, significant reductions in air pollutant concentrations were observed. In this study, based on the Lagrangian-Bayesian inversion framework FLEXINVERT, we constructed a variable resolution inversion system focusing on the Fenwei Plain and inferred the carbon monoxide (CO) emissions using in-situ atmospheric CO observations from April 2014 to March 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlack carbon emitted by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass has a net warming effect in the atmosphere and reduces the albedo when deposited on ice and snow; accurate knowledge of past emissions is essential to quantify and model associated global climate forcing. Although bottom-up inventories provide historical Black Carbon emission estimates that are widely used in Earth System Models, they are poorly constrained by observations prior to the late 20th century. Here we use an objective inversion technique based on detailed atmospheric transport and deposition modeling to reconstruct 1850 to 2000 emissions from thirteen Northern Hemisphere ice-core records.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe combine observations from Western USA and inverse modelling to constrain global atmospheric emissions of microplastics (MPs) and microfibers (MFs). The latter are used further to model their global atmospheric dynamics. Global annual MP emissions were calculated as 9.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUAVs operating in a leader-follower formation demand the knowledge of the relative pose between the collaborating members. This necessitates the RF-communication of this information which increases the communication latency and can easily result in lost data packets. In this work, rather than relying on this autopilot data exchange, a visual scheme using passive markers is presented.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEstimation of a source term, i.e. release rate, of atmospheric radionuclide emissions is of key interest for nuclear emergency response and further accident analysis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuring the Lunar New Year Holiday of 2020, China implemented an unprecedented lockdown to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, which strongly affected the anthropogenic emissions. We utilized elemental carbon observations (equivalent to black carbon, BC) from 42 sites and performed inverse modeling to determine the impact of the lockdown on the weekly BC emissions and quantify the effect of the stagnant conditions on BC observations in densely populated eastern and northern China. BC emissions declined 70% (eastern China) and 48% (northern China) compared to the first half of January.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlack carbon (BC) aerosols perturb climate and impoverish air quality/human health-affecting ∼1.5 billion people in South Asia. However, the lack of source-diagnostic observations of BC is hindering the evaluation of uncertain bottom-up emission inventories (EIs) and thereby also models/policies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn 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 Cs, 51 GBq of Sr, 2 GBq of Pu, 33 MBq of Pu, 66 MBq of Pu and 504 MBq of Am 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.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderstanding the role of short-lived climate forcers such as black carbon (BC) at high northern latitudes in climate change is hampered by the scarcity of surface observations in the Russian Arctic. In this study, highly time-resolved Equivalent BC (EBC) measurements during a ship campaign in the White, Barents, and Kara Seas in October 2015 are presented. The measured EBC concentrations are compared with BC concentrations simulated with a Lagrangian particle dispersion model coupled with a recently completed global emission inventory to quantify the origin of the Arctic BC.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF30 years after the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant (CNPP) accident, its radioactive releases still remain of great interest mainly due to the long half-lives of many radionuclides emitted. Observations from the terrestrial environment, which hosts radionuclides for many years after initial deposition, are important for health and environmental assessments. Furthermore, such measurements are the basis for validation of atmospheric transport models and can be used for constraining the still not accurately known source terms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSince 2011, the scientific community has worked to identify the exact transport and deposition patterns of radionuclides released from the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) in Japan. Nevertheless, there still remain many unknowns concerning the health and environmental impacts of these radionuclides. The present paper reviews the current understanding of the FDNPP accident with respect to interactions of the released radionuclides with the environment and impacts on human and non-human biota.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this study we conduct a detailed comparison of the modelling response of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant (FDNPP) accident with global and local observations. We use five different model versions characterized by different horizontal and vertical resolutions of the same General Circulation Model (GCM). Transport efficiencies of (137)Cs across the world are presented as an indication of the expected radioactive impact.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRadioactive contamination in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia after the Chernobyl accident left large rural and forest areas to their own fate. Forest succession in conjunction with lack of forest management started gradually transforming the landscape. During the last 28 years dead wood and litter have dramatically accumulated in these areas, whereas climate change has increased temperature and favored drought.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe present paper studies how a random event (earthquake) and the subsequent disaster in Japan affect transport and deposition of fallout and the resulting health consequences. Therefore, except for the original accident in March 2011, three additional scenarios are assessed assuming that the same releases took place in winter 2010, summer 2011 and autumn 2011 in order to cover a full range of annual seasonality. This is also the first study where a large number of fission products released from the accident are used to assess health risks with the maximum possible efficiency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) in Japan resulted in the release of a large number of fission products that were transported worldwide. We study the effects of two of the most dangerous radionuclides emitted, (137)Cs (half-life: 30.2years) and (134)Cs (half-life: 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe earthquake and the subsequent tsunami that occurred offshore of Japan resulted in an important loss of life and a serious accident at the nuclear facility of Fukushima. The "hot spots" of the release are evaluated here applying the model LMDZORINCA for (137)Cs. Moreover, an assessment is attempted for the population and the environment using the dosimetric scheme of the WHO and the interactive tool ERICA, respectively.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParticulate (POC) and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important parameter for the pollution assessment of coastal marine systems, especially those affected by anthropogenic, domestic, and industrial activities. In the present paper, a similar marine system (Saronikos Gulf) located in the west-central Aegean Sea (eastern Mediterranean Sea) was examined, in terms of the temporal and spatial distribution of organic carbon (POC and DOC), with respect to marine sources and pathways. POC was maximum in winter in the Saronikos Gulf, due to the bloom of phytoplankton, whereas in the Elefsis Bay (located in the north side of the Saronikos Gulf) in summer, since phytoplankton grazes in the Bay in the end of summer (except for winter).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParticle-reactive radionuclide (234)Th and its ratios with the conservative (238)U were used to trace the marine processes occurring over short timescales in the bottom nepheloid layer (BNL) of seven stations in the Saronikos Gulf and the Elefsis Bay (Greece) during three seasons (summer 2008, autumn 2008 and winter 2009). Summer was considered as a steady season where low physical processes occur and stratification is well established, autumn as a commutative period and winter as period of extensive trawling and physical activities. The obtained ratio profiles showed excess of (234)Th relative to (238)U in the BNL of the sampling area during summer, caused by the dissolved fraction of (234)Th.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe activity concentrations of (137)Cs in the water column of the Saronikos Gulf and Elefsis Bay (Greece) determined during four cruises between winter 2007 and winter 2009 are evaluated in the present study. The activity concentrations of (137)Cs ranged between 1.0 ± 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe levels of natural radioactivity have been evaluated in the water column of an eastern Mediterranean region (Saronikos Gulf), with respect to the relevant environmental parameters. A novel methodology was used for the determination of natural radionuclides, which substitutes the time-consuming radiochemical analysis, based on an in situ sample preconcentration using ion-selective manganese fibres placed on pumping systems. With regard to the results obtained, (238)U-series radionuclides were found at the same level or lower than those observed previously in Mediterranean regions indicating the absence of technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material (TENORM) activities in the area.
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