Current practice and shortcomings of EIA in Lithuania

The paper provides an overview of EIA system applications and assesses its effectiveness in Lithuania. A combination of archival research and quantitative/qualitative analysis was used to identify the main shortcomings of the EIA process in Lithuania: subjectivity in forecasting environmental effects, insufficient consideration of alternatives, politicisation of the process and incompetence of authorities involved. The research revealed that a thorough knowledge of EIA procedures and legal requirements may be a solution to these problems, especially when the stages related to forecasting the effects and evaluating the results are strictly reserved for recognized experts. The work concludes on the suggestions to involve in EIA process relevant authorities and to increase the competence of EIA practitioners.     

Calculating losses of crops in Denmark caused by high ozone levels

In order to help guide air pollution legislation at the European level, harmful air pollution effects on agriculture crops and the consequent economic implications for policy have been studied for more than a decade. Ozone has been labeled as the most serious of the damaging air pollutants to agriculture, where growth rates and consequently yields are dramatically reduced. Quantifying the effects has formed a key factor in policymaking. Based on the widely held view that AOT40 (Accumulated exposure Over Threshold of 40 ppb) is a good indicator of ozone-induced damage, the Danish Eulerian Model (DEM) was used to compute reduced agriculture yields on a 50 km×50 km grid over Europe. In one set of scenarios, a ten year meteorological time series was combined with realistic emission inventories. In another, various idealized emission reduction scenarios are applied to the same meteorological time series. The results show substantial inter-annual variability in economic losses, due in most part to meteorological conditions which varied much more substantially than the emissions during the same period. It is further shown that, taking all uncertainties into account, estimates of ozone-induced economic losses require that a long meteorological record is included in the analysis, for statistical significance to be improved to acceptable levels for use in policy analysis. In this study, calculations were made for Europe as a whole, though this paper presents results relevant for Denmark.     

1994—2010年东亚地区CO2浓度变化特征及成因分析

在东亚地区选取5个大气本底观测站1994年以来观测的 CO2监测资料,分析了各站大气 CO2的时空变化特征,以及 CO2主要人为源的变化及其影响。结果表明,5个本底站大气 CO2年均值均呈明显升高趋势,2010年较1994年增长幅度为8．4％～9．0％;在北半球国家,CO2月均值有明显的季节变化,高值多出现在冬春等寒冷季节,低值多出现在夏季。减少化石燃料消耗量、增加森林覆盖率及农业覆盖率将对大气中 CO2有削减作用。     

Comparison of the changes in temperatures among rural, urban and metropolitan areas around the Inland Sea in Japan

We investigated the changes in temperatures in Takamatsu, Tadotsu and Osaka areas in Japan. Data of temperatures in Takamatsu (urban area: 1942-2009), Tadotsu (rural area: 1893-2009) and Osaka (metropolitan area: 1883-2009) areas around the Inland Sea in Japan was obtained from Japan Meteorological Agency. The changes in temperatures in three areas in Japan were analyzed and compared. By using data from 1942 to 2009, various parameters of temperatures were significantly correlated with years. The changes in mean temperature in August and in a year in Takamatsu area for 50 years were highest (August: 1.6°C, Year: 1.8°C) among three areas. In addition, correlation coefficient rate between years and the number of days over the level of 34°C in August in Takamatsu area was highest (r = 0.567, p < 0.0001). Parameters of temperatures were gradually increased with years in all three areas. The heat island effect in Takamatsu area was similar to Osaka area in Japan.     

Atmospheric haze: Its sources and effects on visibility in rural areas of the continental United States

Spatial and temporal trends in visibility are examined at a national level. It is shown that visibility is impaired in all antional parks approximately 90% of the time, and that eastern visibilities are about 10 times lower than western visibilities. Measurement of atmospheric particulates that affect visibility shows that sulfates associated with man-made emissions of sulfur dioxide are the single largest contributor to visibility reduction, except in the northwestern United States, where organic aerosols contribute significantly. In the East, coal fired power plants along the Ohio River Vallery contribute the most SO₂, while oil refining activities and other industrial sources in southern California, copper smelters in southern Arizona, and industrial activity along the Gulf Coast of Mexico contribute most of the SO₂, and thus sulfates, in the West.Contribution from Fourth World Wilderness Congress-Acid Rain Symposium, Denver (Estes Park), Colorado, September 11–18, 1987.The assumptions, findings, conclusions, judgments and views presented herein are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing official National Park Service policies.     

Characterization of PM10-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the ambient air of Spanish urban and rural areas

Urban areas constitute major pollution sources due to anthropogenic activities located in these areas. Among the legislated air pollutants, the particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 microns (PM10) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are controlled under Directive 2008/50/EC and Directive 2004/107/EC, respectively due to their adverse health effects. A study was carried out at four urban and rural Spanish areas during the warm and cold seasons in 2008-2009 to quantify 19 PAH associated with the atmospheric PM10 by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry-mass spectrometry detection (GC-MS-MS) with the internal standard method. The particle-bound composition of the analysed PAH was 5 and 10 times greater in industrial and urban areas, respectively when compared to those measured in rural areas. The highest PAH concentrations during the cold period were possibly due to the additional contribution of domestic heating sources and meteorological conditions such as low temperature and solar irradiation. The use of molecular diagnostic ratios indicated that the possible, major PAH pollution sources in the most polluted areas were pyrogenic sources, mainly attributed to petroleum combustion sources (motor vehicle emissions and crude oil combustion). Petrogenic sources related to evaporative emissions also seemed to contribute in the most polluted area during the warm period. Those dates with high carcinogenic character according to the benzo(a)pyrene equivalent (BaP-eq) were also possibly attributed to petroleum combustion sources.     

厦门市放射性污染源现状调查分析

参照国家环保局颁发的《环境天然放射性水平调查规定》,在厦门市区开展了放射性污染源调查,对厦门市放射性污染源现状进行了分析和研究,对各类放射性污染源的环境影响作出评估,对放射性污染的发展趋势进行了预测,为厦门市放射性环境管理提供了重要的资料。     

Update of long-term trends analysis of ambient 8-hour ozone and precursor monitoring data in the South Central U.S.; encouraging news

In the South Central U.S., lower tropospheric ozone pollution continues to be a challenging problem. This paper provides an update on long-term trends analyses of the ambient ozone and precursor monitoring data collected over the past 25 years (1986-2010) in four South Central U.S. cities, following up on a previous published review of 20 year trends (M.E. Sather and K. Cavender, J. Environ. Monit., 2007, 9, 143-150). The results of these analyses should be useful to air quality scientists, managers, planners, and modelers in assessing the effectiveness of nitrogen oxides (NO(x)) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) pollution controls for ambient ozone concentration reduction programs. Large amounts of quantitative information for each South Central U.S. city are concisely synthesized into one graphic per city. Results reported in this paper show significant long-term decreases in ambient ozone and precursor concentrations in all four South Central U.S. cities, especially over the recent five-year period 2006-2010.     

Spatial and temporal variation of surface ozone,NO and NO2 at urban,suburban, rural and industrial sites in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula

Surface ozone is one of the most important photochemical pollutants in the low atmosphere, causing damage to human health, vegetation, materials and climate. The weather (high temperatures and high solar radiation), orography (presence of the Guadalquivir valley) and anthropogenic (the cities of Cádiz, Córdoba, Huelva and Seville and two important industrial complexes) characteristics of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula make this region ideal for the formation and accumulation of ozone. To increase the knowledge of ozone behaviour in this area, the monthly, daily and weekly variations of ozone and its precursors, nitrogen oxides (NO_x?=?NO?+?NO₂), were analysed over a 4-year period (2003 to 2006). Using the k-means cluster technique, 12 representative stations of five different areas with different ozone behaviour were selected from a total of 29 monitoring sites. This is the first time that the analysis of these atmospheric pollutants has been carried out for the whole area, allowing therefore a complete understanding of the dynamics and the relationships of these compounds in this region. The results showed an opposite behaviour among ozone and NO and NO₂ concentrations in urban and suburban zones, marked by maximums of ozone (minimums NO_x) in spring and summer and minimums (maximums) in autumn and winter. A seasonal behaviour, with lower amplitude, was also observed in rural and industrial areas for ozone concentrations, with the NO and NO₂ concentrations remaining at low and similar values during the year in rural zones due to the absence of emission sources in their surroundings. The daily cycles of ozone in urban, suburban and industrial sites registered a maximum value in the early afternoon (14:00–17:00 UTC) while for NO_x two peaks were observed, at 7:00–10:00 UTC and 20:00–22:00. In the case of rural stations, no hourly peak of ozone or NO_x was registered. The weekend effect was studied by using a statistical contrast tests (Student’s t). The results indicated that only areas influenced by important traffic emissions presented a weekend effect for NO and NO₂, whereas an ozone weekend effect was not detected in any case.     

Temporal and Spatial Variation of Nutrient Levels in the Nemunas River (Lithuania and Belarus)

There are discordant results on trends in nutrient river water quality from the economical transition countries in Europe. The present study assessed the impact of these economical changes on the load and concentration at 17 monitoring stations along the Nemunas River and its major tributaries (Lithuania and Belarus). Three time periods were evaluated: the Soviet rule command system period 1986–1991, the transfer to market economy period 1992–1996 and the post reform period 1997–2002. The most surprising result in this study, was the increased area-specific load of NO₃-N from the first to the third period at almost all the sampling sites. The increase was particularly large (43–78%) at the sites in the Lithuanian part of the river. The corresponding load increase in the Belarussian part of the river was only 1–15%. The statistical analyses of concentration data confirm the strong upward NO₃-N trend at the Nemunas mouth and at 5 of the 6 tributaries in the lower part of Nemunas. Temporal and spatial analysis of nitrates transport in the Nemunas River and its main tributaries revealed that nitrates mainly originate from agricultural areas. The upward trends were most likely an effect of ploughing of pastures and unbalanced crop fertilisation in combination with large storage and accumulation of soil-nitrogen during the Soviet period.On contrary to nitrate-N, the area-specific load of PO₄-P decreased significantly from the first to the third period at all sites along the Nemunas River (31–86%). Seasonal (SMK) and Partial (PMK) Mann-Kendall tests on PO₄-P concentrations also showed significant downward trend at 14 of 16 investigated sites. The decrease of PO₄-P levels was attributed to the reduction of municipal and industrial point source emissions and to the decreased livestock numbers.The NH₄-N load showed the same pattern as PO₄-P. At the river mouth the load was 90 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ during the first period compared to only 20–30 kg km⁻² yr⁻¹ in the third period. The trend test on NH₄-N concentrations detected significant downward trends at 5 out of 16 sites. The declines were explained by decreased emissions from cities and large animal breeding farms.This study showed that trend analysis at multiple sites in a river basin is crucial for the understanding of the variability in time and space. Such analysis is also important for our interpretation of underlying sources and fluxes in a drainage basin over time. This is particularly important for compounds that have different source origin.     

移动通信网基站电磁辐射调研及居民环境超标原因分析

对北京市区近 2 0 0个移动电话基地站电磁辐射进行了测试 ,结合基地站电磁辐射特征对电磁辐射超标原因进行分析。从规划布局、天线架设规范方面提出了减小移动电话基地站电磁辐射污染的对策     

226Ra, 232Th and 40K analysis in soil samples from some areas of Malwa region, Punjab, India using gamma ray spectrometry

The activity concentrations of soil samples collected from thirty different locations of Malwa region of Punjab were determined by using HPGe detector based on high-resolution gamma spectrometry system. The range of activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in the soil from the studied areas varies from 18.37 Bq kg⁻¹ (Sangrur) to 53.11 Bq kg⁻¹ (Sitoguno), 57.28 Bq kg⁻¹ (Dhanola) to 148.28 Bq kg⁻¹ (Sitoguno) and 211.13 Bq kg⁻¹ (Sunam) to 413.27 Bq kg⁻¹ (Virk Khera) with overall mean values of 35 Bq kg⁻¹, 80 Bq kg⁻¹and 317 Bq kg⁻¹ respectively. The absorbed dose rate calculated from activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K ranges between 8.47 and 24.48, 35.68 and 92.38, and 8.74 and 17.11 nGy h⁻¹, respectively. The total absorbed dose in the study area ranges from 58.08 nGy h⁻¹ to 130.85 nGy h⁻¹ with an average value of 79.11 nGy h⁻¹. The calculated values of external hazard index (H_ex) for the soil samples of the study area range from 0.35 to 0.79. Since these values are lower than unity, therefore, according to the Radiation Protection 112 (European Commission. Radiation Protection 112 1999) report, soil from these regions is safe and can be used as a construction material without posing any significant radiological threat to population.     

江苏省水质自动监测预警规则的设计与应用

基于分级、分类、精简的设计原则,设计了江苏省水质自动监测预警规则,包括运维人员进行核实,环保部门加强监控(一级预警);运维人员核实后,环保部门短信预警(二级预警);水质明显异常,核实确认后报送纸质版快报(三级预警)。该预警规则在江苏省水质自动监测系统中得到应用,通过与上下游环保局、督查部门的配合联动,在捕获水质异常信息、预警污染事故等方面发挥了重要作用。     

基于因子分析的乌鲁木齐市冬季大气降尘来源与时空变化特征

利用2000—2009乌鲁木齐市不同功能区域大气降尘通量数据,建立因子分析模型,研究了乌鲁木齐市冬季大气降尘的来源与时空变化特征。结果表明,乌鲁木齐市冬季大气降尘的主要来源为燃煤烟尘、工业粉尘、交通道路尘。工业区、交通干线和居住区为全市冬季大气降尘量较大的区域。主城区冬季大气降尘通量呈下降趋势,主要与工业排放和采暖燃煤对大气降尘的贡献减少及相关大气污染控制取得实效有关。交通道路区域的降尘通量呈波动状态,变化较小。清洁点降尘通量前5年保持稳定,而后5年受到人为活动的影响,呈显著增加趋势。     

Estimation of the Thermal Sensitivity of a Dwelling to Variations in Architectural and Behavioural Parameters

The provision of energy for households is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions in the domestic sector. There is significant scope for energy savings and thus emission reduction in this sector. This paper constructs a bridge between thermal analysis and environmental assessment in the occupancy stage of the dwelling life cycle, approaching both methods as being on a common system Environment–Dwelling–Inhabitant. The importance of the local level in the thermal analysis and assessment of either a dwelling or an inhabitant's behaviour is demonstrated. It is shown that the researcher can choose between natural experiment, computer experiment and mathematical modelling to analyze the system. Such a choice is discussed for two particular methods of thermal analysis. Thermal Nomograms are the result of mathematical modelling, and the Energy Score Sheet is the result of a computer experiment in energy rating. Despite being developed for the purpose of thermal analysis, these methods can also be utilized for environmental assessment at the local level. The discussion centres on Australian conditions where the majority of the population resides in a relatively benign climate wherein behavioural alterations have significant potential for energy savings and environmental impact. The purpose of the paper is to emphasise benefits apart from energy minimisation to promote the use of energy efficient housing strategies.     

京津冀与长三角地区氢氯氟碳化物本底特征

基于北京上甸子与浙江临安区域大气本底站2011—2019年氢氯氟碳化物(HCFCs)采样观测数据,开展了京津冀与长三角地区6种HCFCs(HCFC-22、HCFC-141b、HCFC-142b、HCFC-124、HCFC-132b和HCFC-133a)本底特征研究。研究结果表明:临安站HCFCs浓度水平和浓度变率比上甸子站明显更高,尤其是HCFC-133a,其浓度及浓度变率均比上甸子站高1个量级,表明长三角地区HCFCs排放量可能较京津冀地区更大。2个站点HCFCs本底浓度基本一致,差异范围为-6.1%~7.1%。上甸子站本底数据占比为26.4%~69.0%,而临安站本底数据占比不足23%。在《关于消耗臭氧层物质的蒙特利尔议定书》的约束下,2个站点多数HCFCs年均浓度呈下降趋势或变化较小。2个站点HCFC-132b浓度相对较低,但2019年相比2018年有明显升高。结合风向进行分析,发现上甸子站HCFC-22、HCFC-141b、HCFC-142b和HCFC-132b高浓度水平主要由西南扇区(北京城区方向)的WSW、SSW及SW方向贡献,而HCFC-124和HCFC-133a在各风向上的浓度和载荷差异较小。临安站HCFC-124高浓度水平主要由SSE和NNE方向贡献,分别对应金华和湖州方向;其他5种HCFCs的高浓度水平主要由东北扇区的ENE方向贡献,对应杭州城区方向。     

新形势下江苏省地表水自动监测站运行管理模式对策建议

简述了江苏省地表水自动监测站运行管理模式发展历程和现状,以及运行管理需求和存在的问题。分析了国内其他地区地表水自动监测站运行管理模式的优缺点。提出,下放部分站点管理权限,实现权责相对统一;试点社会化质控管理,强化省级监督管理能力;进一步完善制度建设,提高水站管理水平;探索新型管理模式,提高自动监测管理效能。     

The Seasonal Variation of the Concentrations of Ozone, Sulfur Dioxide, and Nitrogen Oxides in Two Nigerian Cities

A combination of multivariate statistical methods including factor analysis, principal component analysis, principal component regression, and multiple linear regression (MLR) were employed to evaluate the influence of seasons on the concentrations of ozone, sulfur (IV) oxide, and oxides of nitrogen in ambient air of Nigerian cities of Lagos and Ilorin. The former city is located in the coastal area, and it is highly congested with a high intensity of marine, vehicular, and industrial activities, and the latter city is a medium size town, located in the central guinea savannah zone of Nigeria. Samples were collected using a high-volume sampler from near the ground at various sites of diverse human and industrial activities, during wet and dry seasons from 2003 to 2006. The PCA reveals three distinct groupings during the day for all data, which is a reflection of different factors contributing to the atmospheric chemistry of these cities. The predicted ozone concentration values by MLR agree fairly well with the measured data. The dependence of ozone on meteorological parameters including relative humidity, air temperature, and sun exposure and the precursor pollutants depends on weather and the anthropogenic activities. The results for the two cities indicate that reduction in the level of NO₂ is accompanied by an increase in the level of ozone, suggesting the interconversion between the two via photochemical activity.