Environmental measurement programs are often undertaken with the assumption that measurements at a given location will be comparable to others that would be observed at the same time in the immediate vicinity, but this assumption has seldom been tested. This paper does so. We discuss here the precision of atmospheric concentration measurements of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) near the North American Great Lakes-measurements that we have been conducting since 1994. We report the relative percent differences between the measured values for 100-200 duplicate samples, and through our use of surrogate (recovery) standards, we have separated the analytical error from the sampling error for the target compounds. The error contributions we calculated were on the order of 5% for the analytical error and 20% for the sampling error, suggesting that the latter is the greatest hindrance to increased precision. In a comparison of relative percent differences for measurements among different atmospheric phases, we observed the highest errors for precipitation samples, with an average median of 35 ± 3, which is more than for vapor-phase samples (27 ± 3) or particle-phase samples (27 ± 2). We suggest that sampling errors are principally the result of inaccuracies in measuring the sample volume and possibly the result of spatial heterogeneity of the atmosphere.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b04428 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Fiber Bragg Grating Thermometry and Post-Treatment Ablation Size Analysis of Radiofrequency Thermal Ablation on Ex Vivo Liver, Kidney and Lung.
Sensors (Basel)
January 2025
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Via Giuseppe La Masa 1, 20156 Milan, Italy.
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive procedure that utilizes localized heat to treat tumors by inducing localized tissue thermal damage. The present study aimed to evaluate the temperature evolution and spatial distribution, ablation size, and reproducibility of ablation zones in ex vivo liver, kidney, and lung using a commercial device, i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnusual Genomic and Biochemical Features of sp. nov-A Novel Bacterial Species Isolated from Anthill Soil.
Int J Mol Sci
December 2024
Faculty of Soil Science, M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie Gory, 1, 119991 Moscow, Russia.
The black garden ant () is a widely distributed species across Europe, North America, and North Africa, playing a pivotal role in ecological processes within its diverse habitats. However, the microbiome associated with remains poorly investigated. In the present study, we isolated a novel species, , from the soil of the anthill.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnhancing air quality predictions in Chile: Integrating ARIMA and Artificial Neural Network models for Quintero and Coyhaique cities.
PLoS One
January 2025
Escuela de Ingeniería Química, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.
In this comprehensive analysis of Chile's air quality dynamics spanning 2016 to 2021, the utilization of data from the National Air Quality Information System (SINCA) and its network of monitoring stations was undertaken. Quintero, Puchuncaví, and Coyhaique were the focal points of this study, with the primary objective being the construction of predictive models for sulfur dioxide (SO2), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and coarse particulate matter (PM10).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFitting of Soil-Water Characteristic Curves (SWCC) of Bukit Mewah, Malaysia soil using field monitoring dataset.
PLoS One
January 2025
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.
Rainfall-induced landslides are a frequent geohazard for tropical regions with prevalent residual soils and year-round rainy seasons. The water infiltration into unsaturated soil can be analyzed using the soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC) and permeability function which can be used to monitor and predict incoming landslides, showing the necessity of selecting the appropriate model parameter while fitting the SWCC model. This paper presents a set of data from six different sections of the studied slope at varying depths that are used to test the performance of three SWCC models, the van Genuchten-Mualem (vG-M), Fredlund-Xing (F-X) and Gardner (G).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCombined Impacts of Climate and Tree Physiology on Mercury Accumulation in Tropical and Subtropical Foliage and Robust Model Parametrization.
Environ Sci Technol
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Environmental Geochemistry, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China.
Atmospheric elemental mercury (Hg) assimilation by foliage contributes prevalently to the global atmospheric Hg sink in forests. Today, little is known about the mechanisms of foliar Hg accumulation and how climate factors and tree physiology interact to impact it. Here, we examined meteorological factors, foliar physiological traits, and Hg accumulation rates from leaf emergence to senescence in a tropical rainforest, tropical savanna, and subtropical evergreen broadleaf forest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!