An assessment of land-based climate and carbon reversibility in the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator

Future levels of climate change depend not only on carbon emissions but also on carbon uptake by the land and the ocean. Here we are using the Earth system model (ESM1) version of the Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator (ACCESS) to explore the potential and impact of removing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere through the climate and carbon cycle reversibility experiment. This experiment builds on the standard Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) experiment, increasing CO₂ at 1% per year until 4xCO₂ is reached. The atmospheric CO₂ levels are then decreased at the same rate which brings the CO₂ back to pre-industrial levels. We then continue to run the model with constant CO₂ for another 350 years. Our analysis focuses on the response of the land carbon cycle. We find that carbon stores are largely reversible at the global scale over the timescale of changing CO₂. However, carbon stores continue to decrease after CO₂ returns to its initial value, and the land loses another 40 Pg of carbon (PgC) with the largest change in the tropics. It takes about 300 years beyond the period of changing CO₂ for the carbon stores to recover. Interestingly, we saw strong regional variations in the strength of the land response to changing CO₂. Australia showed the largest increase/decrease in biomass carbon (about 40%) and the largest variability in productivity, which was strongly correlated with rainfall. This highlights the importance of assessing the regional response to understanding the processes underlying the response and the sensitivity of these processes within each model. This understanding will benefit future multi-model analyses of this reversibility experiment. It also illustrates more generally the potential to use Earth system model experiments as part of the evaluation of proposed applications of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies. As such, we recommend that these types of modelling experiments be included when mitigation policies are developed.

     

污染环境的刑事责任问题探讨

根据一些发达国家的法律实践和我国环境保护工作的实际需要,探讨了对环境造成严重恶果的行为,应设立“污染环境罪”来调整人们行为的最后法律手段的必要性,并就污染环境罪的基本特征及与其它法律责任的区别作了分析和阐述,提出在我国刑法中应专条补充设立“污染环境罪”规定的建议。     

论环境安全视角下的我国灾害防治法制建设

当今社会面临的日趋严重且类型众多的灾害，构成了对生态环境安全的巨大威胁，为此各国都在致力于发挥法制手段在灾害防治中的不可替代的作用。我国是个多灾国家，在减灾法治方面虽已取得了一定成就，但总体上还比较薄弱，因此进一步加强该领域的法制建设十分重要。从我国环境安全保障角度及与国际经验的比较来看，完善我国减灾法制建设的基本工作涉及到减灾法制体系的理论研究、立法模式的选择及其充实方向、行政体制的理顺及执法司法功能的强化等多个方面。     

Local Arctic air pollution: Sources and impacts

Local emissions of Arctic air pollutants and their impacts on climate, ecosystems and health are poorly understood. Future increases due to Arctic warming or economic drivers may put additional pressures on the fragile Arctic environment already affected by mid-latitude air pollution. Aircraft data were collected, for the first time, downwind of shipping and petroleum extraction facilities in the European Arctic. Data analysis reveals discrepancies compared to commonly used emission inventories, highlighting missing emissions (e.g. drilling rigs) and the intermittent nature of certain emissions (e.g. flaring, shipping). Present-day shipping/petroleum extraction emissions already appear to be impacting pollutant (ozone, aerosols) levels along the Norwegian coast and are estimated to cool and warm the Arctic climate, respectively. Future increases in shipping may lead to short-term (long-term) warming (cooling) due to reduced sulphur (CO₂) emissions, and be detrimental to regional air quality (ozone). Further quantification of local Arctic emission impacts is needed.     

Optimization of circular plate separators with cross flow for removal of oil droplets and solid particles

A circular gravity-phase separator using coalescing medium with cross flow was developed to remove oil and suspended solids from wastewaters. Coalescence medium in the form of inclined plates promotes rising of oil droplets through coalescence and settling of solid particles through coagulation. It exhibits 22.67% higher removal of total suspended solids (TSS) compared to separators without coalescing medium. Moreover, it removed more than 70% of oil compared to conventional American Petroleum Institute separators, which exhibit an average of 33% oil removal. The flowrate required to attain an effluent oil concentration of 10 mg/L (Q(o10)) at different influent oil concentrations (C(io)) can be represented by Q(o10) x 10(-5) = -0.0012C(io) + 0.352. The flowrate required to attain an effluent TSS concentration of 50 mg/L (Q(ss50)) at different influent TSS concentrations (C(iss)) can be represented by Q(ss50) x 10(-5) = 1.0 x 10(6) C(iss)(-2.9576). The smallest removable solid particle size was 4.87 microm.     

Monitoring Forest Carbon Sequestration with Remote Sensing and Carbon Cycle Modeling

Sources and sinks of carbon associated with forests depend strongly on the management regime and spatial patterns in potential productivity. Satellite remote sensing can provide spatially explicit information on land cover, stand-age class, and harvesting. Carbon-cycle process models coupled to regional climate databases can provide information on potential rates of production and related rates of decomposition. The integration of remote sensing and modeling thus produces spatially explicit information on carbon storage and flux. This integrated approach was employed to compare carbon flux for the period 1992–1997 over two 165-km² areas in western Oregon. The Coast Range study area was predominately private land managed for timber production, whereas the West Cascades study area was predominantly public land that was less productive but experienced little harvesting in the 1990s. In the Coast Range area, 17% of the land base was harvested between 1991 and 2000. Much of the area was in relatively young, productive-age classes that simulations indicate are a carbon sink. Mean annual harvest removals from the Coast Range were greater than mean annual net ecosystem production. On the West Cascades study area, a relatively small proportion (< 1%) of the land was harvested and the area as a whole was accumulating carbon. The spatially and temporally explicit nature of this approach permits identification of mechanisms underlying land base carbon flux. Published online     

Levels and trends of HBCD and BDEs in the European and Asian environments, with some information for other BFRs

In this paper, we review recent data for brominated flame retardants (particularly BDEs, HBCD and TBBP-A) in samples from the European and Asian environments, including recent temporal trend studies. Research is active and we cite over 100 studies published during 2005-2007. Environmental compartments studied comprise the atmosphere, indoor and outdoor air, sewage sludges, soils and sediments and a variety of biological samples and food chains. Findings include that the lack of reference materials for use in analytical quality control and method validation identified earlier has been addressed, and certified concentrations are now available for a number of BDE congeners in six pre-existing and one new reference materials. BDE209 was certified in three samples of indoor dust. The analysis of BDE209 remains problematic, but suitable methods for its determination are available and need to be applied. The contamination of indoor environments with BFRs has been recognised as representing a significant uptake pathway, particularly via dust. Additional data for TBBP-A are needed from areas, where it is produced and used, primarily Asia, as the worst-case scenario. As a reactive flame retardant it is less likely to leach from finished products. Also, issues regarding the importance of e-waste recycling as a source of BFRs to the local populations and the local environment require urgent study, certainly in China and possibly elsewhere. Generally, trends show a levelling in concentrations of BDEs and increases in concentrations of HBCD wherever determined and BDE209 in Asia.     

Levels and trends of brominated flame retardants in the European environment

In this paper, we review those data which have recently become available for brominated flame retardants (particularly the brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD)) in samples from the European environment. Environmental compartments studied comprise the atmosphere, sediments and soils, sewage sludges, and a variety of biological samples and food chains. This is currently a very active research area, and we cite over 70 studies reported in the literature during 2003-04. Findings include that the input of BDEs (especially BDE209) to the Baltic Sea by atmospheric deposition now exceeds that of PCBs by a factor of almost 40 times. Sewage sludge samples from both industrial and background locations show concentrations of BDEs, HBCD and tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) that are of a similar order, indicating that the major source is from diffuse leaching from products into wastewater streams from users, households and industries generally. Point-sources from industries using BFRs (e.g. the textile industry) also generate local hot-spots. Sediment core studies identified the presence of two of the three PBDE formulations. The penta-mix formulation was clearly present from the beginning of the 1970s, but the deca-mix only appeared in the late 1970s. BDE183, BDE209 and HBCD were detected in peregrine falcons from Sweden and other birds feeding on terrestrial food chains. BDEs are found widely distributed in fish, including those from high mountain lakes in Europe, as a consequence of long-range atmospheric transport and deposition. A temporal trend study in archived freeze-dried mussels from the Seine estuary, France, indicated an exponential increase in BDE concentrations during the period 1982-1993, which levelled off in 1999 and 2001 and then began to decline after 2002. HBCD was detected in liver and blubber samples from harbour seals and harbour porpoises from the Wadden and North Seas, though very few animals yielded positive values for TBBP-A. There are difficulties in comparing data on summation operatorBDE from studies in which different suites of BDE congeners have been determined, and we suggest a common suite which will allow the study of all three commercial PBDE formulations.