Solid-phase microextraction coupled with atomic emission spectroscopy--rapid screening for volatile chlorinated compounds

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with atomic emission spectroscopy was evaluated as a rapid screening tool for volatile halogenated compounds in water samples. After extraction, the SPME fiber was introduced to the injector where the analytes were rapidly and efficiently desorbed. The analytes entered the detector over a short period of time and produced one well-defined analyte signal. Element selective responses were measured to confirm the presence and to roughly estimate the content of volatile compounds. The total time for extraction and detection was approximately 5 min, which makes this method a rapid and promising technique for determination of total amount of volatile halogenated compounds. The proposed technique may prove useful as a screening test in order to pinpoint the samples that need further assessment by capillary gas chromatography.     

Tracing recovery from acidification in the western Norwegian Nausta watershed

A novel method, redundancy analysis (RDA), has been used to examine whether chemical recovery from acidification in the western Norwegian Nausta watershed produces detectable recovery within the community structure of the macro-zoobenthos. The RDA results have been compared with measures of recovery based on the changes detected using highly specialized and regionally defined biological acidity indices. We found that the beginning of biological recovery in the Nausta watershed was recognizable during the period 1989-1998. Recovery occurred in the upper reaches and in the tributaries. The multivariate approach proved to complement the acidity indices approach, and much biological information can be gained by their combined use. The RDA method is conservative, i.e. does not overestimate biological recovery, and it is not geographically constrained as are the acidity indices. We also found that seasonal climatic factors strongly influence the benthic community, and may confound the detection of the biological recovery process.     

Mitigation costs,distributional effects,and ancillary benefits of carbon policies in the Nordic countries,the U.K., and Ireland

This paper provides a survey of top-downmodelling analyses of carbon (C) abatementmitigation costs, distributional effectsand ancillary benefits in the Nordiccountries, the U.K. and Ireland. Specialemphasis is placed on the effects ofrevenue recycling and tax exemptions.According to the analyses, modestemissions reductions can be met withoutsubstantial costs for the countriesstudied, and a strong double dividend isfound in some analyses. The gross domesticproduct (GDP) or welfare effects are mostlyin the range of –0.4 and 1.2 percent whenC emissions are reduced by 20–30 per cent.Lowest costs are obtained without taxexemptions and with tax revenues used toreduce distortionary taxes. Ancillarybenefits are mostly in the range35–80/MgC^-1, i.e., about the same order ofmagnitude as the mitigation costs.Distributional effects are mostlyregressive, unless the tax revenues aredistributed in lump-sum fashion with equaltransfers to each household.     

The Norwegian Red List between science and policy

This article explores how science and policy interact using the Norwegian Red List 2006 as a case example. The paper draws on concepts from the sociology of science, interviews with key informants, as well as analysis of a Norwegian newspaper debate about a controversial conservation issue.The paper highlights how the relationship between science and policy can best be described as an interaction rather than simply a transmission of knowledge from one to the other. In addition, the study focuses on the active construction and communication of the science–policy relationship. Regulators, scientists and NGOs, it is argued, strategically define the relationship between science and policy as more straightforward than it really is.The paper suggests that the shaping, simplification and communication of scientific knowledge is best understood as a social process that occurs in three stages, which may overlap to varying degrees. The shaping of scientific knowledge for policy occurs first within the scientific domain. The shaping, we suggest, is the result of both the broader institutional context and a more specific micro-level social context, but it is also the outcome of requirements inherent in the genre of science communication. In the second stage, regulators and actors in the public debate redefine and simplify scientific knowledge to make it better suited to the policy arena. In the final stage, scientists, regulators and NGOs actively seek to define science as objectively true, and independent of the policy arena. By doing so, they are able to strengthen their arguments, regardless of their position on particular issues. But they also contribute to shrouding the social nature of scientific production.     

Mineral sequestration of carbon dioxide in basalt: A pre-injection overview of the CarbFix project

In this paper we describe the thermodynamic and kinetic basis for mineral storage of carbon dioxide in basaltic rock, and how this storage can be optimized. Mineral storage is facilitated by the dissolution of CO₂ into the aqueous phase. The amount of water required for this dissolution decreases with decreased temperature, decreased salinity, and increased pressure. Experimental and field evidence suggest that the factor limiting the rate of mineral fixation of carbon in silicate rocks is the release rate of divalent cations from silicate minerals and glasses. Ultramafic rocks and basalts, in glassy state, are the most promising rock types for the mineral sequestration of CO₂ because of their relatively fast dissolution rate, high concentration of divalent cations, and abundance at the Earth's surface. Admixture of flue gases, such as SO₂ and HF, will enhance the dissolution rates of silicate minerals and glasses. Elevated temperature increases dissolution rates but porosity of reactive rock formations decreases rapidly with increasing temperature. Reduced conditions enhance mineral carbonation as reduced iron can precipitate in carbonate minerals. Elevated CO₂ partial pressure increases the relative amount of carbonate minerals over other secondary minerals formed. The feasibility to fix CO₂ by carbonation in basaltic rocks will be tested in the CarbFix project by: (1) injection of CO₂ charged waters into basaltic rocks in SW Iceland, (2) laboratory experiments, (3) studies of natural analogues, and (4) geochemical modelling.     

Body mass and parental decisions in the Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica : how long should the parents guard the chick?

In Procellariiformes, the parents guard the chick after it has attained homeothermy. This strategy may reduce the probability that a small chick is taken by predators, but is costly as only one parent can forage at a time. The decision to leave the chick may therefore be a compromise between the chick's vulnerability to predators, the body condition of the parent on the nest and whether the foraging parent returns in time. We studied how the number of days that parents guarded the chick was related to the body mass of the parent at the nest and the time the foraging parent spent at sea in the Antarctic petrel Thalassoica antarctica. We also examined how the body mass of the parent on the nest and the duration of the foraging trips influenced the chicks' body condition at the end of the guarding period. When the foraging parent did not return to the nest in time to relieve its mate, the number of days the parent on the nest kept guarding the chick was positively related to its body mass on arrival in the colony. The number of days the foraging parent spent at sea was positively related to the body mass of its mate, but those that returned in time had a shorter stay at sea relative to their mate's body mass than those that did not return before their mate had left. Apparently, both the body mass of the parent at the nest and the ability of the foraging parent to adjust its stay at sea to the mate's body mass is important for the number of days the parents guard the chick and also the chick's body condition at this point. The inability to return to the nest before the mate has left may be the result of needing a minimum amount of time at sea to find food, or because some parents having low foraging success and therefore prolong their stay at sea. Received: 10 October 1997 / Accepted after revision: 14 March 1998     

Oil Exploration under Climate Treaties

In this paper we focus on how an international climate treaty will influence the exploration of oil in non-OPEC countries. We present a numerical intertemporal global equilibrium model for the fossil fuel markets. The international oil market is modelled with a cartel (OPEC) and a competitive fringe on the supply side, following a Nash–Cournot approach. An initial resource base for oil is given in the non-OPEC region. However, the resource base changes over time due to depletion, exploration, and discovery. When studying the effects of different climate treaties on oil exploration, two contrasting incentives apply. If an international carbon tax is introduced, the producer price of oil will drop compared to the reference case. This gives an incentive to reduce oil production and exploration. However, the oil price may increase less rapidly over time, which gives an incentive to expedite production and exploration. In fact, in the case of a rising carbon tax we find the last incentive to be the strongest, which means that an international climate treaty may increase oil exploration in non-OPEC countries for the coming decades and reduce OPEC's market share.     

Relationships between ecological variables and four organochlorine pollutants in an artic glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) population

The Arctic has become a sink for organochlorine contaminants (OCs) from lower latitudes, and relatively high levels have been found in different biota. Recent studies of the glaucous gull, Larus hyperboreus, a top predator in the arctic food web, have documented that high blood residues of various OCs are related to lower reproductive performance and reduced adult survival. Here we provide additional evidence that OCs are having ecological effects in the glaucous gull population at Bear Island in the Norwegian Arctic, and compare the effects of the four major OCs found in the glaucous gulls: HCB, oxychlordane, DDE and PCBs, which made up >95% of measured OCs. Firstly; it has previously been shown that gulls with high levels of PCBs in their blood spent more time away from the nest site during incubation than gulls with low levels. Here we reanalyzed the data and found that PCBs (P<0.02) and oxychlordane (P<0.05) were positive and significantly related to time away from the nest site, while DDE and HCB were not related to this trait. Secondly, among females which bred in an area where fish dominated the diet, and thus had high flight costs during feeding, early chick growth was negatively related to maternal levels of all four OCs, especially HCB and DDE (P<0.01). On the contrary, among females breeding in an area where the diet was dominated by eggs and young from nearby seabird colonies, and thus feeding costs were low, there were no effects of OC levels on early chick growth. This indicates that additional stress may be fundamental in causing reproductive effects of OCs in this population. Finally, during three breeding seasons we examined the probability of adults returning to the breeding grounds in the subsequent season, as a function of blood concentration of the four OCs. Overall, return rate from one year to the next was negatively related to blood residues of oxychlordane (P=0.02), but not significantly related to the other three compounds. Further support for the importance of oxychlordane was that a 60% drop in the blood levels between 1997 and 2000 led to a significant increase in return rate between these two years.     

Determination of selected pharmaceuticals and caffeine in sewage and seawater from Tromsø/Norway with emphasis on ibuprofen and its metabolites

Selected pharmaceuticals, among them analgesics, ss-blockers and anti-depressants as well as caffeine, the anti-bacterial triclosan and the insect repellent N,N-diethyl-3-toluamide (DEET) were determined in different sewage samples (sewage treatment plants, hospital effluents) from Troms?/Norway and in seawater from Troms?-Sound, into which the sewage is discharged. While caffeine, triclosan, ibuprofen and its major metabolites hydroxy- and carboxy-ibuprofen were present in all sewage samples, additional pharmaceuticals were observed in sewage containing hospital effluents. Concentrations were in the range of 20-293 microg/l (caffeine), 0.2-2.4 microg/l (triclosan) and 0.1-20 microg/l (sum ibuprofen + metabolites). In seawater, only caffeine (7-87 ng/l), DEET (0.4-13 ng/l) and ibuprofen + metabolites (sum concentration < LOQ-7.7 ng/l) were detected. Ibuprofen and its metabolites hydroxy- and carboxy-ibuprofen were quantified individually by use of the respective reference compounds. Relative amounts of the three compounds were determined in different types of water showing characteristic patterns, with hydroxy-ibuprofen being the major component in sewage whereas carboxy-ibuprofen was dominant in seawater samples. The patterns which were compared to those observed in similar samples from Germany indicated different transformation behaviour under limnic and marine conditions.     

Cost-effective environmental policy: implications of induced technological change

Cost-effective environmental policy generally requires that all emission sources are faced with the same tax. In this paper I discuss how the existence of induced technological change may alter this result, if at least some of the effect is external to the firm. Focusing on Learning by doing (LBD) effects in abatement activities, it is shown that emission sources with external learning effects should be faced with a higher tax than emission sources with only autonomous technological change. By using simple numerical simulations, it is further investigated to what degree a cost-effective climate policy differs from a free quota market, under various assumptions about learning effects, diffusion of technology and environmental targets. The results indicate that optimal taxes may be significantly higher in the industrial world than in the developing world. Moreover, the industrial world's share of global abatement may be much higher in a cost-effective solution than in a free quota market. The global cost savings of a fully flexible implementation of the Kyoto Protocol are further questioned, as potential spillover effects of technological growth in the industrial world are not internalised in the market.