The influence of south Foehn on the ozone distribution in the Alpine Rhine valley—results from the MAP field phase

During the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) special observation period (SOP) between 7 September and 15 November 1999, ground-based and airborne measurements have been conducted in the Rhine valley south of the Lake of Constance to investigate the unstationary aspects of Foehn and related phenomena, like the impact of Foehn on the ozone concentrations in the valley. Foehn events occurred with above-average frequency and high diversity. Foehn induced ozone peaks in October and November are found to be much lower than the September Foehn case of the period. An inversion layer in the lake area with ozone concentrations below 10 ppb often shields the monitoring stations from the Foehn air aloft. Trajectory calculations for the Foehn period between 19 and 24 October 1999 reveal that the Foehn air originated from below 1 to 1.5 km above the Po Basin and the Mediterranean Sea. Tethered balloon soundings in the source area south of the Alps, ozone measurements at the mountain station Jungfraujoch (3580 m a.s.l.) and airborne measurements across the Alpine crests reveal that the ozone levels found in the Foehn air correspond to the concentrations just above the mixing height in the Po Basin and are transported across the Alpine crest within the lowest flow layer.     

Knowledge-based Journalism in Science and Environmental Reporting: Opportunities and Obstacles

Recent calls for knowledge-based journalism advocate a new level of formal knowledge in news reporting to meet the professional challenges caused by rapid change in the news industry. Scientifically knowledgeable journalism has the potential to redefine the existing science–media relationship. However, the audience for such journalism is unclear, nor is it known how this new journalism would function within rapidly changing newsroom practices. Implementing knowledge-based journalism requires theory-based propositions to show the actual benefits of improved scientific understanding for news consumers and an understanding, from research into professional cultures, of why new practices in journalism are adopted or abandoned. This paper develops that theoretical basis by examining knowledge-based journalism’s potential and some of the intellectual and institutional barriers to it.     

Effects of prolonged microscopic work on neck and back strain amongst male ENT clinicians and the benefits of a prototype postural support chair

Musculoskeletal pain is a common occupational hazard experienced by surgeons. Ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons are predisposed to neck and back pain due to regular prolonged microscopic work. We conducted a prospective pilot study to investigate the effects of sustained microscopic work on the neck and back, its correlation to surgical experience and to assess the benefits of a prototype postural support chair (PSC) amongst 10 male, ENT clinicians. We used a subjective measure of time to fatigue and pain for the neck and back as well as objective readings from a surface electromyogram (sEMG). We found that an increase in surgical experience correlated with the time taken to experience fatigue and pain in the neck and back. This was corroborated by our sEMG findings. The PSC significantly delayed the sensations in the neck and also eliminated the difference seen amongst the varying seniority of clinicians.     

Radiocarbon behaviour in seawater and the brown algae Fucus serratus in the vicinity of the COGEMA La Hague spent fuel reprocessing plant (Goury)--France

Extensive studies of the radiocarbon (14C) distribution and transfer in the marine environment of the North-Cotentin peninsula and along the English Channel have been carried out. The main aims of these studies have been to estimate the spatial and temporal variation of the 14C concentration in seawater and to calculate 14C concentration factors for some biological species. Such information will be helpful in order to calculate precisely radiation doses to humans. First results obtained in the vicinity of the COGEMA La Hague nuclear plant (Goury) indicate a 14C labelling of the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in seawater (8.0-26.2 Bq.m(-3)) and a tight relationship between the 14C in the liquid releases from the plant and the 14C concentrations in DIC. The particulate organic carbon (POC) is also labelled. The concentration factor calculations for the brown algae (Fucus serratus) sampled from Goury, and also along the English Channel, give 14C values around 3000 Bq.kg(-1) fresh weight / Bq.L(-1).     

Data assimilation for short range atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides: a case study of second-order sensitivity

This article presents the application of variational data assimilation to a simple Gaussian plume model for radionuclides. Adjoint modeling is applied to the model in order to minimize discrepancies between contamination observations and model outputs. The interest of such an approach is to get a better estimation of some parameters such as emissions or dispersion parameters. A second-order analysis is also performed to assess the sensitivity of the optimized parameters to some poorly known parameters. Sensitivity with respect to network design is also done.     

Environmental Pollution Due to Natural Factors: A Case Study in A Volcanic Area (Vulcano Island, Italy)

A major influence on the environment of active volcanic areas is expected from continuous input of chemical species pertaining to fumarolic activities occurring during inter-eruptive intervals.

The systematic investigations carried out during thirteen years in the island of Vulcano (Italy) showed also substantial contributions to phreatic waters and soils of minor constituents and trace metals from volcanic rocks with no negligible influence on growing crops.

Greater extents of these phenomena have been observed for products of hydromagmatic volcanic activity or of long-lasting weathering processes.     

The use of a high-FeO olivine rock as a redox buffer in a nuclear waste repository

Due to the higher stability of the spent nuclear fuel (mainly composed of UO2) under reducing conditions, and in order to enhance the retention/retardation of some key radionuclides, the olivine rock from the Lovasj?rvi intrusion has been proposed as a potential redox-active backfill-additive in deep high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) repositories. In this work, two different approaches have been undertaken in order to establish the redox buffer capacity of olivine rock: (1) The capacity of the rock to respond to changes in pH or pe has been demonstrated and the final (pH, pe) coordinates agree with the control exerted by the system Fe(II)/Fe(III). (2) The rate of consumption of oxygen has been determined at different pH values. These rates are higher than the ones reported in the literature for other solids, what would point to the possibility of using this rock as an additive to the backfill material in a HLNW.     

Effect of food level on the acute and chronic responses of daphnids to lindane

The toxic effects of lindane on the zooplankton communities may be strongly related to the population fitness, which is highly dependent on food availability. In order to test this hypothesis, acute (immobilisation) and chronic (life-history) responses of Daphnia longispina and Daphnia magna, reared at different food levels (low, normal, and high), were assessed in laboratorial exposures to several concentrations of lindane. A bifactorial design was employed (food level versus lindane concentration) for both species. Results showed that lindane was toxic to both D. magna and D. longispina, within a similar range. However, lindane toxicity to daphnids was dependent on food level, suggesting that the latter is an important factor to take into account when assessing the toxic effects of lindane on zooplankton communities.