Application of remote sensing to exposure monitoring

Although exposure assessments cannot be completed remotely, remote sensing techniques provide an invaluable adjunct in exposure monitoring programs. Exposure can be defined as the summation over time, in all media, of the amount of a pollutant available at the exchange boundaries of the receptor during a specified period. This paper describes a few remote monitoring techniques that provide direct measurement input into an exposure assessment and several that furnish quantitative or qualitative information leading to decisions regarding how to monitor, such that the source-exposure-dose relationships can be fully defined. Two general classes of remote sensing systems are included in this discussion-passive and active. Passive systems depend on a measurement of the energy reflected or emitted by a target and active systems use an energy source, e.g., a laser to perform the environmental interrogation. Airborne as well as ground-based remote monitoring measurements or systems are also considered in this paper.     

Field Study of Wind and Traffic to Test a Street Canyon Pollution Model

In the U.K., local authorities have new duties to review and assess air quality. Dispersion models are important tools in this process. The performance of a street canyon model, AEOLIUS, in calculating carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in urban areas is discussed. A field experiment was conducted in a busy street canyon in Leek, Staffordshire. Wind speed and direction were measured at three heights adjacent to the street. The canyon's CO concentrations and traffic counts were recorded. Predicted concentrations of CO, calculated using AEOLIUS, were compared with the observed values. The concept of a roof-top wind is discussed, as are the consequences of using wind measurements from outside the town. Choice of wind measurement location and height of the anemometer above the canyon had a pronounced effect on calculating the roof-top wind. Two methods of deriving a street level wind speed from a roof-top wind speed gave results that differ by up to a factor of two. AEOLIUS had variable skill at predicting CO concentrations depending on the roof-top wind direction: possible reasons for this variability are explored. A sensitivity study of the model showed that vehicle emissions have the greatest impact on predicted concentrations. Implications for local air quality management are discussed.     

Monitoring the condition of the Canadian forest environment: The relevance of the concept of ‘ecological indicators’

The Canadian forest environment is characterized by high spatial and temporal variability, especially in the west. Our forests vary according to climate, landform, and surficial geology, and according to the type, intensity, extent of, and the time since the last disturbance. Most Canadian forests have had a history of repeated acute, episodic disturbance from fire, insects, wind, diseases and/or logging, with a frequency of disturbance varying from a few decades to many centuries. These sources of variability have resulted in a complex and continually changing mosaic of forest conditions and stages of successional development.Monitoring the quality of this dynamic forested landscape mosaic is extremely difficult, and in most cases the concept of a relatively simple index of forest ecosystem quality or condition (i.e. an ecological indicator) is probably inappropriate. Such ecological indicators are better suited for monitoring chronic anthropogenically induced disturbances that are continuous in their effect (e.g. acid rain, heavy metal pollution, air pollution, and the greenhouse effect) in ecosystems that, in the absence of such chronic disturbance, exhibit very slow directional change (e.g. lakes, higher order streams and rivers). Monitoring the effects of a chronic anthropogenic disturbance to forest ecosystems to determine if it is resulting in a sustained, directional alteration of environmental quality will require a definition of the expected pattern of episodic disturbance and recovery therefrom (i.e. patterns of secondary succession in the absence of the chronic disturbance). Only when we have such a temporal fingerprint of forest ecosystem condition for normal patterns of disturbance and recovery can we determine if the ecosystem condition is being degraded by chronic human-induced alteration of the environment. Thus, degradation is assessed in terms of deviations from the expected temporal pattern of conditions rather than in terms of an instantaneous assessment of any particular condition. The concept of ecological rotation (the time for a given ecosystem to recover from a given disturbance back to some defined successional condition) is useful in the definition of these temporal fingerprints. This requires information on the intensity of disturbance, the frequency of disturbance, and the rate of successional recovery. Only when all three of these are known or estimated can statements be made as to whether the ecosystem is in a longterm sustainable condition or not.The somewhat overwhelming complexity of this task has led forest ecologists to use ecosystem-level computer simulation models. Appropriately structured and calibrated models of this type can provide predictions of the overall temporal patterns of ecosystem structure and functions that can be expected to accompany a given frequency and character of episodic disturbance. Such models can also be used to examine the long-term consequences of chronic disturbances such as acid rain and climatic change. Predictive ecosystem-level models should be used in conjunction with some method of stratifying the inherent spatial biophysical variability of the forest environment, such as the biogeoclimatic classification system of British Columbia.     

Comparative Studies on the Usefulness of Seven Ecological Indices for the Marine Coastal Monitoring Close to the Shore on the Swedish East Coast

The simultaneous behaviour of seven ecological indices(Hurlberts, Margalefs, Menhinicks, Shannons,species number, Jaccards and saprobic index) wasstudied based on phytoplankton data close to the shoreon the East coast of Sweden during the summer 1998.The sampling stations had a similar eutrophicationlevel and were located in bays. Standard phytoplanktondatabases were used in calculating the indices, whichwere later compared using cluster analysis.Hurlberts, Margalefs, Menhinicks, Shannons andspecies number indices, as measure of communitydiversity, produced similar trends which oftendiffered from those based on Jaccards index ofsimilarity. However, the simultaneous use of theseindices was found meaningful as a possible part of themonitoring close to the shore. The application of asaprobic index lead to erroneous conclusions in thestudied case.     

An evaluation of benthic macroinvertebrate biomass methodology

This study shows that biological assessments of water quality status using biomass estimates of wet, dry, and ash-free dry weights and counts of individual organisms from a small, headwater stream in southwestern Ohio provide essentially similar results concerning the impact of a sewage treatment plant discharge. Of the indices of biotic status for the stream segment employed for data evaluation; Diversity Index (D), Community Diversity Index (d), Trophic Condition Index (TCI), and Empirical Biotic Index (EBI), the latter two provided evaluations most consistent with benchmark water chemistry and physics information concerning the trophic status of the stream. In addition, the percent composition of macro-invertebrate taxa by pollutional category; clean water, facultative, and pollution tolerant, as ascribed using TCI and EBI ranges for individual taxa collected in combination of Ekman grab, rock-filled basket sampler and drift net samples, proves adequate for interpretation of biotic status.     

Methane in ocean waters: Concentration and carbon isotope variability at East Pacific Rise and in the Arabian Sea

Methane concentrations and stable carbon isotope ratios of water samples from the East Pacific Rise (EPR) at 21°S and the Arabian Sea (24°N, 65°E) have been determined. EPR surface water is in equilibrium (ca. 50 nl/L and –50<¹³CH₄<–46) with atmospheric methane. Deep background water has the signature of the remaining fraction of atmospheric methane partially oxidized in the water column by bacteria. Bottom near, hydrothermally influenced vent methane (>100nl/L and –30<¹³CH₄<–22) is detectable only close to the seep site. There is no input of hydrothermal methane into the atmosphere. EPR water is considered to be rather a sink than a source of atmospheric methane. Surface waters of the Arabian Sea are enriched in methane relative to the atmosphere (source for atmospheric methane). Carbon isotope ratios point to a bacterial origin of methane (¹³CH₄<–55) that is generated in the surface waters. Concentration changes and variations of carbon isotope ratios also suggest that methane seeping from the sea floor sediments of the Arabian Sea is oxidized by bacterial activity and does not reach the atmosphere.     

Lichen biomonitoring networks in alberta

Lichen biomonitoring of air pollution has developed over a period of about 150 yr. Several valuable techniques now exist which could complement physical/chemical air quality monitoring programmes. The affects of air pollution and acid rain, in areas such as Alberta, where lichens and bryophytes make up a significant portion of the forest vegetation, must be considered important. In addition, bioaccumulation studies can be used to map the areas of heavy metal deposition, estimate actual depositional rates, and check the accuracy of pollutant dispersion models. Lichen biomonitoring techniques must now be calibrated with more glamorous effects on plant physiology, ecosystem processes, cancer incidence, etc.Paper presented at a Symposium held on 20–21 April 1982, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.     

Defining confusions — Confusing definitions

The term monitoring is used in a confusing and inconsistent way. This paper deals with the terminology used in this issue.     

Monitoring of the functioning of ecosystems

The theoretical basis, the content and the possible applications of the program Monitoring of ecosystems are considered. A functional definition of ecosystem is proposed, and some features of ecosystems are defined on this basis. The program Monitoring of ecosystems is visualized as a large-scale program of simple measurements of the rates of the main ecosystem processes. The expected results can be utilized in two ways: (1) a comparative knowledge of ecosystem functioning provides the fundamentals of geography of ecosystems, and (2) the constant, repeatable evaluation of a given ecosystem function provides a basis for its rational management.     

Monitoring the biotic aspects of our environment as a policy instrument

As all environmental programs also programs monitoring the biotic aspects of our environment (dealt with in this article) should contribute to a more effective and efficient environmental policy. These programs have to function therefore (as no other type of environmental information does, according to the authors) as cheap and efficient early warning and early control systems, providing decision makers with important and reliable monitoring results.How these monitoring programs should function in the decision making process is illustrated in abstract in this article by a simple control system with feedback (as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3).The monitoring programs dealt with in this article should enable us to detect and forecast changes in the most important biotic aspects of our environment and-by continuous monitoring-to control whether the use of policy instruments has been effective or not in averting or diminishing unwanted changes (problems).Two options of decision makers with respect to monitoring results are shown (either to disregard unwanted changes as a problem or to accept these changes as a problem and to do something about them). To contribute to an effective and efficient environmental policy monitoring results therefore have to be important and reliable enough to react upon.The question is raised which biotic aspects in our environment are (or have to be considered as) important (because of their own value, as indicators and/or as biotic conditions) and how reliable monitoring results can (have to) be obtained.It is discussed how environmentalists could try to make it more difficult for decision makers to duck the problems (by monitoring only important aspects and by using only perfectly clear targets and standards) and how they could try at the same time to make it easier for them to take action (by setting up integrated environmental monitoring programs in order to find out how desired and undesired changes can be influenced). The role of active publicity is stressed in this connection.