Columnar aerosol optical and radiative properties according to season and air mass transport pattern over East Asia

The column-integrated optical and radiative properties of aerosols in the downwind area of East Asia were investigated based on sun/sky radiometer measurements performed from February 2004 to June 2005 at Gwangju (35.23° N, 126.84° E) and Anmyeon (36.54° N, 126.33° E), Korea. The observed aerosol data were analyzed for differences among three seasons: spring (March-May), summer (June-August), and autumn/winter (September-February). The data were also categorized into five types depending on the air mass origin in arriving in the measurement sites: (a) from a northerly direction in spring (S(N)), (b) from a westerly direction in spring (S(W)), (c) cases with a low ?ngstr?m exponent (<0.8) in spring (dust), (d) from a northerly direction in autumn/winter (AW(N)), and (e) from a westerly direction during other seasons (AW(W)). The highest ?ngstr?m exponents (α) at Gwangju and Anmyeon were 1.43?±?0.30 and 1.49?±?0.20, respectively, observed in summer. The lowest column-mean single-scattering albedo (ω) at 440 nm observed at Gwangju and Anmyeon were 0.89?±?0.02 and 0.88?±?0.02, respectively, during a period marked by the advection of dust from the Asian continent. The highest ω values at Gwangju and Anmyeon were 0.95?±?0.02 and 0.96?±?0.02, respectively, observed in summer. Variations in the aerosol radiative-forcing efficiency (β) were related to the conditions of the air mass origin. The forcing efficiency in summer was -131.7 and -125.6 W?m(-2) at the surface in Gwangju and Anmyeon, respectively. These values are lower than those under the atmospheric conditions of spring and autumn/winter. The highest forcing efficiencies in autumn/winter were -214.3 and -255.9 W?m(-2) at the surface in Gwangju and Anmyeon, respectively, when the air mass was transported from westerly directions.     

Attribution of aerosol light absorption to black carbon and volatile aerosols

We investigated the contribution of volatile aerosols in light-absorption measurement by three filter-based optical instruments [aethalometer, continuous light-absorption photometer (CLAP), and continuous soot monitoring system (COSMOS)] at Gosan Climate Observatory (GCO) from February to June 2012. The aerosol absorption coefficient (σ _abs) and the equivalent black carbon (BC) mass concentration (M _BC) measured by the aethalometer and CLAP showed good agreement with a difference of 9 %, which is likely due to the instrumental uncertainty. However, σ _abs and M _BC measured by the COSMOS with a heated inlet were found to be approximately 44 and 49 % lower than those measured by the aethalometer and CLAP under ambient conditions, respectively. This difference can be attributed to the light absorption by the volatile aerosols coexisting with the BC. Even considering inherent observational uncertainty, it suggests that approximately 35–40 % difference in the σ _abs and M _BC can be contributed by volatile aerosols. Increase in the difference of M _BC measured by the aethalometer and COSMOS with the increasing thermal organic carbon (OC) measured by Sunset OC/EC analyzer further suggests that the filter-based optical instruments without the use of a heater are likely to enhance the value of σ _abs and M _BC, because this sample air may contain both BC and volatile aerosols.     

Analysis of spatial and seasonal distributions of MODIS aerosol optical properties and ground-based measurements of mass concentrations in the Yellow Sea region in 2009

Satellite-retrieved data on aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Ångström exponent (AE) using a moderate resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS) were used to analyze large-scale distributions of atmospheric aerosols in East Asia. AOD was relatively high in March (0.44?±?0.25) and low in September (0.24?±?0.21) in the East Asian region in 2009. Sandstorms originating from the deserts and dry areas in northern China and Mongolia were transported on a massive scale during the springtime, thus contributing to the high AOD in East Asia. However, whereas PM10 with diameters ≤10 μm was the highest in February at Anmyon, Cheongwon, and Ulleung, located leeward about halfway through the Korean Peninsula, AOD rose to its highest in May. The growth of hygroscopic aerosols attendant on increases in relative humidity prior to the Asian monsoon season contributed to a high AOD level in May. AE typically appears at high levels (1.30?±?0.37) in August due to anthropogenic aerosols originating from the industrial areas in eastern China, while AOD stays low in summer due to the removal process caused by rainfall. The linear correlation coefficients of the MODIS AOD and ground-based mass concentrations of PM10 at Anmyon, Cheongwon, and Ulleung were measured at 0.4~0.6. Four cases (6 days) of mineral dustfall from sandstorms and six cases (12 days) of anthropogenically polluted particles were observed in the central area of the Korean Peninsula in 2009. PM10 mass concentrations increased at both Anmyon and Cheongwon in the cases of mineral dustfall and anthropogenically polluted particles. Cases of dustfall from sandstorms and anthropogenic polluted particles, with increasing PM10 mass concentrations, showed higher AOD values in the Yellow Sea region.     

Determining the ventilation and aerosol deposition rates from routine indoor-air measurements

Measurement of air exchange rate provides critical information in energy and indoor-air quality studies. Continuous measurement of ventilation rates is a rather costly exercise and requires specific instrumentation. In this work, an alternative methodology is proposed and tested, where the air exchange rate is calculated by utilizing indoor and outdoor routine measurements of a common pollutant such as SO₂, whereas the uncertainties induced in the calculations are analytically determined. The application of this methodology is demonstrated, for three residential microenvironments in Athens, Greece, and the results are also compared against ventilation rates calculated from differential pressure measurements. The calculated time resolved ventilation rates were applied to the mass balance equation to estimate the particle loss rate which was found to agree with literature values at an average of 0.50 h^?1. The proposed method was further evaluated by applying a mass balance numerical model for the calculation of the indoor aerosol number concentrations, using the previously calculated ventilation rate, the outdoor measured number concentrations and the particle loss rates as input values. The model results for the indoors’ concentrations were found to be compared well with the experimentally measured values.     

Characteristics of aerosol types during large-scale transport of air pollution over the Yellow Sea region and at Cheongwon,Korea, in 2008

Episodes of large-scale transport of airborne dust and anthropogenic pollutant particles from different sources in the East Asian continent in 2008 were identified by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite RGB (red, green, and blue)-composite images and the mass concentrations of ground level particulate matter. These particles were divided into dust, sea salt, smoke plume, and sulfate by an aerosol classification algorithm. To analyze the aerosol size distribution during large-scale transport of atmospheric aerosols, aerosol optical depth (AOD) and fine aerosol weighting (FW) of moderate imaging spectroradiometer aerosol products were used over the East Asian region. Six episodes of massive airborne dust particles, originating from sandstorms in northern China, Mongolia, and the Loess Plateau of China, were observed at Cheongwon. Classified dust aerosol types were distributed on a large-scale over the Yellow Sea region. The average PM10 and PM2.5 ratio to the total mass concentration TSP were 70% and 15%, respectively. However, the mass concentration of PM2.5 among TSP increased to as high as 23% in an episode where dust traveled in by way of an industrial area in eastern China. In the other five episodes of anthropogenic pollutant particles that flowed into the Korean Peninsula from eastern China, the anthropogenic pollutant particles were largely detected in the form of smoke over the Yellow Sea region. The average PM10 and PM2.5 ratios to TSP were 82% and 65%, respectively. The ratio of PM2.5 mass concentrations among TSP varied significantly depending on the origin and pathway of the airborne dust particles. The average AOD for the large-scale transport of anthropogenic pollutant particles in the East Asian region was measured to be 0.42 ± 0.17, which is higher in terms of the rate against atmospheric aerosols as compared with the AOD (0.36 ± 0.13) for airborne dust particles with sandstorms. In particular, the region ranging from eastern China, the Yellow Sea, and the Korean Peninsula to the Korea East Sea was characterized by high AOD distributions. In the episode of anthropogenic polluted aerosols, FW averaged 0.63 ± 0.16, a value higher than that in the episode of airborne dust particles (0.52 ± 0.13) with sandstorms, showing that fine anthropogenic pollutant particles contribute greatly to atmospheric aerosols in East Asia.     

Aerosol size distribution and mass concentration measurements in various cities of Pakistan

During March and April 2010 aerosol inventories from four large cities in Pakistan were assessed in terms of particle size distributions (N), mass (M) concentrations, and particulate matter (PM) concentrations. These M and PM concentrations were obtained for Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, and Peshawar from N concentrations using a native algorithm based on the Grimm model 1.109 dust monitor. The results have confirmed high N, M and PM concentrations in all four cities. They also revealed major contributions to the aerosol concentrations from the re-suspension of road dust, from sea salt aerosols, and from vehicular and industrial emissions. During the study period the 24 hour average PM(10) concentrations for three sites in Karachi were found to be 461 μg m(-3), 270 μg m(-3), and 88 μg m(-3), while the average values for Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar were 198 μg m(-3), 448 μg m(-3), and 540 μg m(-3), respectively. The corresponding 24 hour average PM(2.5) concentrations were 185 μg m(-3), 151 μg m(-3), and 60 μg m(-3) for the three sites in Karachi, and 91 μg m(-3), 140 μg m(-3), and 160 μg m(-3) for Lahore, Rawalpindi and Peshawar, respectively. The low PM(2.5)/PM(10) ratios revealed a high proportion of coarser particles, which are likely to have originated from (a) traffic, (b) other combustion sources, and (c) the re-suspension of road dust. Our calculated 24 hour averaged PM(10) and PM(2.5) concentrations at all sampling points were between 2 and 10 times higher than the maximum PM concentrations recommended by the WHO guidelines. The aerosol samples collected were analyzed for crustal elements (Al, Fe, Si, Mg, Ca) and trace elements (B, Ba, Cr, Cu, K, Na, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sr, Cd, Ti, Zn and Zr). The averaged concentrations for crustal elements ranged from 1.02 ± 0.76 μg m(-3) for Si at the Sea View location in Karachi to 74.96 ± 7.39 μg m(-3) for Ca in Rawalpindi, and averaged concentrations for trace elements varied from 7.0 ± 0.75 ng m(-3) for B from the SUPARCO location in Karachi to 17.84 ± 0.30 μg m(-3) for Na at the M. A. Jinnah Road location, also in Karachi.     

Photoacoustic measurements of black carbon light absorption coefficients in Irbid city, Jordan

The goal of this work is the analysis of air quality levels in the area of Volos, a city of average size on the eastern seaboard of Central Greece. For this purpose, concentration measurements of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and nitrogen dioxide, for a 4-year period (2001–2004) are analyzed. Air pollution data were obtained by a monitoring station, fully automated, which was established by the Hellenic Ministry of the Environment, Physical Planning, and Public Works, in order to measure air pollution levels in Volos, a medium-sized city, which faces the effects of industrialization. The main conclusions from the statistical analysis of the 4-year measurements of hourly SO₂, NO₂, and NO concentrations in the city of Volos, showed that the mean seasonal variation of the examined air pollutant concentration presents a minimum during the warm period of the year and a maximum during the cold period. Although the local geomorphology and meteorology encourage particularly the accumulation of air pollutants, the analysis shows that the SO₂ and NO₂ concentration levels remain lower than corresponding thresholds for human health protection set by the European Union, in this urban measuring site, during the examined period. The application of harmonic analysis revealed the difference between the annual variation of the SO₂ and NO _x concentrations. Regarding NO _x , the variation is mainly due to the first harmonic term (anthropogenic factor), while the SO₂ variation is interpreted by the two harmonic terms, which represent the anthropogenic and meteorological factors, respectively.     

长沙市PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)质量浓度的变化特征

为检验PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)新监测标准实施近3年长沙大气颗粒物污染状况,利用近3年每日监测数据,对长沙10个国控自动监测点PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)达标情况、首要污染物及变化特征进行研究分析。结果表明,近3年长沙市PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)年均质量浓度均超过了新标准规定的年均值二级标准限值;2013年污染最严重。PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)月均值峰值出现在1月和11月,谷值在8月,各月PM_(2.5)超标天数和首要污染物为PM_(2.5)天数都大于PM_(10);PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)冬季日均值浓度明显高于其他季节,呈双峰型,峰值在上午10:00和20:00~21:00,夜晚浓度高于白天;PM_(2.5)春、夏、秋三季日变化呈单峰型,峰值在20:00~21:00;PM_(10)四季日变化呈双峰型。PM_(2.5)和PM_(10)浓度的比值(P)1月和2月最高,PM_(10)和PM_(2.5)日均值有着显著的线性相关性。     

Sorption of phthalate acid esters on black carbon from different sources

Black carbon (BC) is known as a strong sorbent for the sorption of planar hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs), but there is very little information about the sorption of nonplanar HOCs on BC. In this study, the sorption of di-(2-ethyl-hexyl) phthalate (DEHP), one kind of nonplanar phthalate acid ester (PAE), by environmental BC collected from river sediments and pure BC (char-wood, char-stalk and soot-ash) was investigated. Strong and nonlinear sorption was observed for the sorption of DEHP on both pure BC and environmental BC with the Freundlich exponent ranging from 0.55 to 0.75 except for soot-ash, and the measured K(BC) (BC-water partition coefficient) of DEHP was about one order of magnitude higher than its organic carbon-water partition coefficient. There was a significant difference in sorption capacity among the environmental and pure BC. The presence of di-methyl phthalate (DMP) could significantly decrease the sorption of DEHP on BC, especially for environmental BC. In addition, the contribution of BC to the total sorption of DEHP on original river sediments was more than 50% when the equilibrium concentration of DEHP was less than 10 μg L(-1). This study indicated that ortho-substituted nonplanar PAEs could also be strongly sorbed by BC, and the difference in sorption among the BC samples revealed that it is important to take the source of BC into account when assessing its effects on the fate of HOCs in aquatic environment.     

Comparison of elemental and black carbon measurements during normal and heavy haze periods: implications for research

Studies specifically addressing the elemental carbon (EC)/black carbon (BC) relationship during the transition from clean-normal (CN) air quality to heavy haze (HH) are rare but have important health and climate implications. The present study, in which EC levels are measured using a thermal-optical method and BC levels are measured using an optical method (aethalometer), provides a preliminary insight into this issue. The average daily EC concentration was 3.08?±?1.10 μg/m³ during the CN stage but climbed to 11.77?±?2.01 μg/m³ during the HH stage. More importantly, the BC/EC ratio averaged 0.92?±?0.14 during the CN state and increased to 1.88?±?0.30 during the HH state. This significant increase in BC/EC ratio has been confirmed to result partially from an increase in the in situ light absorption efficiency (σ _ap) due to an enhanced internal mixing of the EC with other species. However, the exact enhancement of σ _ap was unavailable because our monitoring scheme could not acquire the in situ absorption (b _ap) essential for σ _ap calculation. This reveals a need to perform simultaneous measurement of EC and b _ap over a time period that includes both the CN and HH stages. In addition, the sensitivity of EC to both anthropogenic emissions and HH conditions implies a need to systematically study how to include EC complex (EC concentration, OC/EC ratio, and σ _ap) as an indicator in air quality observations, in alert systems that assess air quality, and in the governance of emissions and human behaviors.     

Estimation of the contributions of long range transported aerosol in East Asia to carbonaceous aerosol and PM concentrations in Seoul, Korea using highly time resolved measurements: a PSCF model approach

The contributions of long range transported aerosol in East Asia to carbonaceous aerosol and particulate matter (PM) concentrations in Seoul, Korea were estimated with potential source contribution function (PSCF) calculations. Carbonaceous aerosol (organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC)), PM(2.5), and PM(10) concentrations were measured from April 2007 to March 2008 in Seoul, Korea. The PSCF and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) receptor models were used to identify the spatial source distributions of OC, EC, PM(2.5), and coarse particles. Heavily industrialized areas in Northeast China such as Harbin and Changchun and East China including the Pearl River Delta region, the Yangtze River Delta region, and the Beijing-Tianjin region were identified as high OC, EC and PM(2.5) source areas. The conditional PSCF analysis was introduced so as to distinguish the influence of aerosol transported from heavily polluted source areas on a receptor site from that transported from relatively clean areas. The source contributions estimated using the conditional PSCF analysis account for not only the aerosol concentrations of long range transported aerosols but also the number of transport days effective on the measurement site. Based on the proposed algorithm, the condition of airmass pathways was classified into two types: one condition where airmass passed over the source region (PS) and another condition where airmass did not pass over the source region (NPS). For most of the seasons during the measurement period, 249.5-366.2% higher OC, EC, PM(2.5), and coarse particle concentrations were observed at the measurement site under PS conditions than under NPS conditions. Seasonal variations in the concentrations of OC, EC, PM(2.5), and coarse particles under PS, NPS, and background aerosol conditions were quantified. The contributions of long range transported aerosols on the OC, EC, PM(2.5), and coarse particle concentrations during several Asian dust events were also estimated. We also investigated the performance of the PSCF results obtained from combining highly time resolved measurement data and backward trajectory calculations via comparison with those from data in low resolutions. Reduced tailing effects and the larger coverage over the area of interest were observed in the PSCF results obtained from using the highly time resolved data and trajectories.     

Characterizing the long-range transport of black carbon aerosols during Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) experiment

A major aircraft experiment Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) mission over the NW Pacific in March-April 2001 was conducted to better understand how outflow from the Asian continent affects the composition of the global atmosphere. In this paper, a global climate model, GEOS-Chem is used to investigate possible black carbon aerosol contributions from TRACE-P region. Our result depicts that absorbing black carbon ("soot") significantly outflow during lifting to the free troposphere through warm conveyor belt and convection associated with this lifting. The GEOS-Chem simulation results show significant transport of black carbon aerosols from Asian regions to the Western Pacific region during the spring season. As estimated by GEOS-Chem simulations, approximately 25% of the black carbon concentrations over the western pacific originate from SE Asia in the spring.     

Estimation of suspended sediment concentration from turbidity measurements using artificial neural networks

Suspended sediment concentration (SSC) is generally determined from the direct measurement of sediment concentration of river or from sediment transport equations. Direct measurement is very costly and cannot be conducted for all river gauge stations. Therefore, correct estimation of suspended sediment amount carried by a river is very important in terms of water pollution, channel navigability, reservoir filling, fish habitat, river aesthetics and scientific interests. This study investigates the feasibility of using turbidity as a surrogate for SSC as in situ turbidity meters are being increasingly used to generate continuous records of SSC in rivers. For this reason, regression analysis (RA) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were employed to estimate SSC based on in situ turbidity measurements. The SSC was firstly experimentally determined for the surface water samples collected from the six monitoring stations along the main branch of the stream Harsit, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. There were 144 data for each variable obtained on a fortnightly basis during March 2009 and February 2010. In the ANN method, the used data for training, testing and validation sets are 108, 24 and 12 of total 144 data, respectively. As the results of analyses, the smallest mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) values for validation set were obtained from the ANN method with 11.40 and 17.87, respectively. However these were 19.12 and 25.09 for RA. It was concluded that turbidity could be a surrogate for SSC in the streams, and the ANNs method used for the estimation of SSC provided acceptable results.     

Atmospheric BTEX concentrations in the vicinity of the crude oil refinery of the Baltic region

Among chemical industries, petroleum refineries have been identified as large emitters of a wide variety of pollutants. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) form an important group of aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) because of their role in the troposphere chemistry and the risk posed to human health. A very large crude oil refinery of the Baltic States (200,000 bbl/day) is situated in the northern, rural part of Lithuania, 10 km from the town of Ma?eikiai (Lithuania). The objectives of this study were: (1) to determine of atmospheric levels of BTEX in the region rural and urban parts at the vicinity of the crude oil refinery; and (2) to investigate the effect of meteorological parameters (wind speed, wind direction, temperature, pressure, humidity) on the concentrations measured. The averaged concentration of benzene varied from 2.12 ppbv in the rural areas to 2.75 ppbv in the urban areas where the traffic was determined to be a dominant source of BTEX emissions. Our study showed that concentration of benzene, as strictly regulated air pollutant by EU Directive 2008/50/EC, did not exceed the limit of 5 ppbv in the region in the vicinity of the crude oil refinery during the investigated period. No significant change in air quality in the vicinity of the oil refinery was discovered, however, an impact of the industry on the background air quality was detected. The T/B ratio (0.50-0.81) that was much lower than 2.0, identified other sources of pollution than traffic.     

Evaluation of filter-based aerosol measurements during the 1987 Southern California Air Quality Study

The Southern California Air Quality Study (SCAQS) was conducted during the summer and fall of 1987 to assess the causes of elevated ozone and suspended particulate matter concentrations in California's South Coast Air Basin (SoCAB). Extensive gaseous (i.e. nitric acid, ammonia, sulfur dioxide) and particle (i.e. PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ mass, elements, ions, carbon) measurements were acquired for 11 days during the summer at nine locations, and six days during the fall at six locations. Outliers were identified so that they could be excluded from further statistical analyses. Carbon and elemental measurements were found to be negatively biased by 20% owing to inhomogenous aerosol deposits on the SCAQS filters and analysis methods which were applied to a portion of the filters. These biases seem relatively consistent, however, and should not affect conclusions drawn from data analysis efforts if they are appropriately considered. Significant fractions (30–60%) of ammonium nitrate volatilized during the summer when temperatures were higher. Less than 10% typically volatilized during the fall when temperatures were lower. Anion/cation balances support the accuracy and precision estimates of the nitrate, sulfate, and ammonium measurements. Coarse particle sulfate was generally low, while coarse particle nitrate was most pronounced at the coastal sites.This paper documents SCAQS filter-based aerosol measurement methods, and evaluates the accuracy, precision, and validity of the data set. Various comparisons were made for: (1) PM_2.5/PM₁₀ ratios for mass and major chemical species; (2) sum of chemical species versus measured mass; (3) sulfate versus sulfur ratios; (4) PM_2.5 particulate nitrate versus nitric acid-denuded nitrate; and (5) anion/cation balances. The measurement and evaluation techniques presented in this paper serve as a guideline for other data analysis and modeling studies.     

Investigation of the aerosol structure over an urban area using a polarization lidar

The paper presents a lidar study of the aerosol structure in the planetary boundary layer in the case of radiation fog and haze. A conceptual model of the dynamics of the depolarization coefficient profile during the mixing layer development, taking into account the presence of a multilayered inversions and radiation fogs, is proposed. Various techniques are employed in the processing of the lidar signal in order to determine the mixing layer height as well as more details of the aerosol structure in the low atmosphere, namely, finding the maximum of the signal returned from the lowest temperature inversion, the crossing point of the S function's first derivative with the x axis, and profiles of the depolarization ratio. After the complete destruction of the stable stratification, a low constant value of the depolarization ratio within the newly formed mixing layer is being observed. The study of stable boundary layer disintegration and convective boundary layer formation in the presence of fogs and/or clouds is of both scientific and practical significance in what concerns the protection of the environment and the aviation meteorology.     

Composition and concentration of hydrocarbons in sediment samples from the oil producing area of the East Shetland Basin, Scotland

The East Shetland Basin is one of the areas that the Fisheries Research Services (FRS) has concentrated on to assess the possible impacts of oil exploration and production on the marine environment. A stratified random survey of the sediment was carried out in 2002. TOCs were low across the basin and were positively correlated with grain size. The total PAH concentrations (2- to 6-ring parent and alkylated PAHs, including the 16 US EPA PAHs) were less than 150 microg kg(-1) dry weight and their composition indicated a predominantly pyrolytic input to the basin in 2002. Minor unresolved complex mixtures in the n-alkane profiles indicated a slight petrogenic input but further examination of the biomarkers (hopanes and steranes) showed a mixed North Sea and Middle Eastern source. The Middle Eastern source is likely due to inputs from shipping activity, as it is widely used as bunker fuel. Grid surveys were carried out in 1986, 1988-89 and 1994 and areas were selected for which there was data for all the historic grid surveys and the 2002 stratified random survey. Although referring to only a small part of the East Shetland Basin, comparison with these historic surveys shows clearly that the concentrations of Forties crude oil equivalents and total PAH concentrations were highest in 1988-89 and by 2002 had returned to concentrations the same as or less than observed in the original survey in 1986.     

Spatiotemporal analysis of the PM10 concentration over the Taranto area

In this paper, an analysis of air quality data is provided for the municipal area of Taranto (southern Italy) characterized by high environmental risks as formally decreed by the Italian government in the 1990s with two administrative measures. This is due to the massive presence of industrial sites with elevated environmental impact activities along the NW boundary of the city conurbation. The aforementioned activities have effects on the environment and on public health, as a number of epidemiological researches concerning this area reconfirm. The present study is focused on particulate matter as measured by PM10 concentrations at 13 monitoring stations, equipped with analogous instruments based on the Beta absorption technology, either reporting hourly, two-hourly, or daily measurements. Daily estimates of the PM10 concentration surfaces are obtained in order to identify areas of higher concentration (hot spots), possibly related to specific anthropic activities. Preliminary analysis involved addressing several data problems: (1) due to the use of two different validation techniques, a calibration procedure was devised to allow for data comparability; (2) imputation techniques were considered to cope with the large number of missing data, due to both different working periods and occasional malfunctions of PM10 sensors; and (3) reliable weather covariates (wind speed and direction, pressure, temperature, etc.) were obtained and considered within the analysis. Spatiotemporal modelling was addressed by a Bayesian kriging-based model proposed by Le and Zidek (2006) characterized by the use of time varying covariates and a semiparametric covariance structure. Advantages and disadvantages of the model are highlighted and assessed in terms of fit and performance. Estimated daily PM10 concentration surfaces are suitable for the interpretation of time trends and for identifying concentration peaks within the urban area.     

Heavy metals concentration in edible fishes from coastal region of Kalpakkam, southeastern part of India

Concentrations of Cu, Mn, Zn, Fe, Cr, and Pb were estimated using ICP-MS in nine commercially important and locally consumed fish species (Sarda orientalis, Scomberomorus commerson, Rastrelliger kanagurta, Sardinella longiceps, Paraplagusia bilineata, Cynoglossus lida, Cynoglossus macrostomus, Lepturacanthus savala, and Siganus javus) collected from coastal waters of Kalpakkam, eastern part of India. Their concentration (μg g(-1)) in the examined fish species ranged as follows: Cu (0.8-6.5), Zn (14.3-27.9), Mn (0.5-8.8), Fe (17.6-117.0), Cr (0.24-1.78), and Pb (0.18-2.29). Concentrations of most of the metals in the fish species studied were found to be safe for human consumption barring Mn.