Beryllium-7 measurements in the Houston and Phoenix urban areas: an estimation of upper atmospheric ozone contributions

Natural radionuclides have been proposed as a means of assessing the transport of ozone (O3) and aerosols in the troposphere. Beryllium-7 (7Be) is produced in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere by the interaction of cosmogenic particles with atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen. 7Be has a 53.29-day half-life (478 keV gamma) and is known to attach to fine particles in the atmosphere once it is formed. It has been suggested that O3 from aloft can be transported into rural and urban regions during stratospheric-tropospheric folding events leading to increased background levels of O3 at the surface. 7Be can be used as a tracer of upper atmospheric air parcels and the O3 associated with them. Aerosol samples with a 2.5-microm cutoff were collected during 12-hr cycles (day/night) for a 30-day period at Deer Park, TX, near Houston, in August-September of 2000, and at Waddell, AZ, near Phoenix, in June-July of 2001. A comparison of 7Be levels with 12-hr O3 averages and maxima shows little correlation. Comparison of nighttime and daytime O3 levels indicate that during the day, when mixing is anticipated to be higher, the correlation of 7Be with O3 in Houston is approximately twice that observed at night. This is consistent with mixing and with the anticipated loss of O3 by reaction with nitric oxide (NO) and dry deposition. At best, 30% of the O3 variance can be explained by the correlation with 7Be for Houston, less than that for Phoenix where no significant correlation was seen. This result is consistent with the intercept values obtained for 7Be correlations with either O3 24-hr averages or O3 12-hr maxima and is also in the range of the low O3 levels (25 ppb) observed at Deer Park during a tropical storm event where the O3 is attributable primarily to background air masses. That is, maximum background O3 level contributions from stratospheric sources aloft are estimated to be in the range of 15-30 ppb in the Houston, TX, and Phoenix, AZ, area, and levels above these are because of local tropospheric photochemical production.     

A direct passive method for measuring water and contaminant fluxes in porous media

This paper introduces a new direct method for measuring water and contaminant fluxes in porous media. The method uses a passive flux meter (PFM), which is essentially a self-contained permeable unit properly sized to fit tightly in a screened well or boring. The meter is designed to accommodate a mixed medium of hydrophobic and/or hydrophilic permeable sorbents, which retain dissolved organic/inorganic contaminants present in the groundwater flowing passively through the meter. The contaminant mass intercepted and retained on the sorbent is used to quantify cumulative contaminant mass flux. The sorptive matrix is also impregnated with known amounts of one or more water soluble 'resident tracers'. These tracers are displaced from the sorbent at rates proportional to the groundwater flux; hence, in the current meter design, the resident tracers are used to quantify cumulative groundwater flux. Theory is presented and quantitative tools are developed to interpret the water flux from tracers possessing linear and nonlinear elution profiles. The same theory is extended to derive functional relationships useful for quantifying cumulative contaminant mass flux. To validate theory and demonstrate the passive flux meter, results of multiple box-aquifer experiments are presented and discussed. From these experiments, it is seen that accurate water flux measurements are obtained when the tracer used in calculations resides in the meter at levels representing 20 to 70 percent of the initial condition. 2,4-Dimethyl-3-pentanol (DMP) is used as a surrogate groundwater contaminant in the box aquifer experiments. Cumulative DMP fluxes are measured within 5% of known fluxes. The accuracy of these estimates generally increases with the total volume of water intercepted.     

Washing of marine coastal sand in a batch reactor: sorption and desorption of BTEX

This study addresses the issues related to decontamination of marine beach sand accidentally contaminated by petroleum products. Sorption and desorption of BTEX (i.e., benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) onto the sand from Uran Beach, located near the city of Mumbai, India, were studied, and isotherms were determined using the bottle point method to estimate sorption coefficients. Alternatively, QSARs (i.e., quantitative structure activity relationships) were developed and used to estimate the sorption coefficients. Experiments for kinetics of volatilization as well as for kinetics of sorption and desorption in the presence of volatilization were conducted in a fabricated laboratory batch reactor. A mathematical model describing the fate of volatile hydrophobic organic pollutants like BTEX (via sorption and desorption in presence of volatilization) in a batch sediment-washing reactor was proposed. The experimental kinetic data were compared with the values predicted using the proposed models for sorption and desorption, and the optimum values of overall mass transfer coefficients for sorption (K(s)a(s)) and desorption (K(d)a(d)) were estimated. This was achieved by minimization of errors while using the sorption coefficients (Kp) obtained from either laboratory isotherm studies or the QSARs developed in the present study. Independent experimental data were also collected and used for calibration of the model for volatilization, and the values of the overall mass transfer coefficient for volatilization (K(g)a(g)) were estimated for BTEX. In these exercises of minimization of errors, comparable cumulative errors were obtained from the use of Kp values derived from experimental isotherms and QSARs.     

Effect of pentachlorophenol (PCP) on meiobenthic communities established in an experimental system

Aquaria containing clean sand received a continuous supply of seawater from Santa Rosa Sound, Florida, USA, mixed with known concentrations (7, 76 and 622 g l^-1) of pentachlorophenol (PCP). After 9 weeks, nematodes accounted for 87% of the total meiofauna. Nematode biomass and densities were greatest in aquaria exposed to 76 g PCP l^-1 and were least in aquaria exposed to 622 g PCP l^-1. Epistrate feeders were abundant in control aquaria and aquaria exposed to 7 and 76 g PCP l^-1, but not in aquaria exposed to 622 g PCP l^-1. Selective deposit feeders were not abundant in the control aquaria and aquaria exposed to 7 g PCP l^-1, but comprised 19% of the nematodes in aquaria exposed to 76 g PCP l^-1 and 61% in aquaria exposed to 622 g PCP l^-1.     

Ecological studies on a tropical limpet,Cellana radiata. Structural variations in the shell in relation to distribution

Structural variations in the shell of the tropical limpet Cellana radiata (Born) inhabiting the high and low water zones and the exposed and protected surfaces at Palm Beach, Waltair Coast, India, were investigated. Attempts have also been made to study which environmental factors have a marked influence upon the characters of the shell. The results are discussed and are compared with those on temperate climate limpets.     

Boundary Layer Evolution and its Influence on Ground-Level Ozone Concentrations

Accurate determination of the planetary boundary layer (PBL) height (i.e., mixing height (MH)) is critical to properly simulating pollutant levels with the grid-based photochemical models. In this study, the daytime mixing heights based on the parcel and bulk Richardson number methods are compared with those obtained directly from a numerical mesoscale meteorological model in an effort to evaluate the uncertainties in the estimation of the PBL evolution. Mixing heights are estimated from hourly outputs of meteorological variables of the Penn State/NCAR Mesoscale Model Version 3.3 (MM5V3) with two PBL schemes (Blackadar and Gayno-Seaman) during July 1999 over Philadelphia, PA. An analysis of the diurnal variation in the urban PBL and its influence on ground-level ozone (O₃) levels is presented in this paper. The results indicate that on average, the MHs determined from the bulk Richardson number were larger than those estimated from the parcel method. The MHs from the MM5V3 output were much smaller than those derived from the parcel and bulk Richardson number methods, especially for the Gayno-Seaman scheme that is based on turbulent kinetic energy. The MH and ground-level O₃ concentration have been found to be twice as much on episode days than on non-episode days. The average hourly MH growth rate and O₃ tendency (i.e. rate of change in O₃) were largest during the morning hours (0700 to 1000 eastern standard time (EST)), suggesting that vertical mixing contributes significantly to the accumulation of ground-level O₃ in urban areas in the morning hours.     

Adsorption studies and the removal of dissolved metals using pyrolusite as adsorbent

The adsorption of metals from aqueous solutions of Pb²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Mg²⁺ on naturally occurring pyrolusite have been studied. The chemical stability of the pyrolusite has been determined in NaOH, H₂SO₄, HNO₃, HCl, NaCl and NK₄Cl solutions of various concentrations. Adsorption of the metal ions followed the order Pb²⁺>Zn²⁺>Cd²⁺.The maximum adsorption of Pb²⁺ (100%) occurred at pH 7. the relation between the amount of Pb²⁺ adsorbed per unit weight of pyrolusite and the concentration of Pb²⁺ at equilibrium follows the Freundlich adsorption isotherm.The efficiency of pyrolusite has been demonstrated by removing lead from synthetic waste water. 100% and 96% removal of lead have been achieved from synthetic waste water containing 5 mg l^–1 and 120 mg l^–1 of Pb²⁺ respectively at pH 7. The results of these studies suggest that pyrolusite might provide an economical method for the removal of lead from industrial waste water.     

Relationships between chemical elements of PM2.5 and O3 in Shanghai atmosphere based on the 1-year monitoring observation

Mass level of fine particles (PM_2.5) in main cities in China has decreased significantly in recent years due to implementation of Chinese Clean Air Action Plan since 2013, however, O₃ pollution is getting worse than before, especially in megacities such as in Shanghai. In this work, O₃ and PM_2.5 were continuously monitored from May 27, 2018 to March 31, 2019. Our data showed that the annual average concentration of PM_2.5 and O₃ (O₃-8 hr, maximum 8-hour moving average of ozone days) was 39.35 ± 35.74 and 86.49 ± 41.65 µg/m³, respectively. The concentrations of PM_2.5 showed clear seasonal trends, with higher concentrations in winter (83.36 ± 18.66 µg/m³) and lower concentrations in summer (19.85 ± 7.23 µg/m³), however, the seasonal trends of O₃ were different with 103.75 ± 41.77 µg/m³ in summer and 58.59 ± 21.40 µg/m³ in winter. Air mass backward trajectory, analyzing results of potential source contribution function model and concentration weighted trajectory model implied that pollutants from northwestern China contributed significantly to the mass concentration of Shanghai PM_2.5, while pollutants from areas of eastern coastal provinces and South China Sea contributed significantly to the mass level of ozone in Shanghai atmosphere. Mass concentration of twenty-one elements in the PM_2.5 were investigated, and their relationships with O₃ were analyzed. Mass level of ozone had good correlation with that of Ba (r = 0.64, p < 0.05) and V (r = 0.30, p > 0.05), suggesting vehicle emission pollutants contribute to the increasing concentration of ozone in Shanghai atmosphere.     

Photocatalytic properties of P25-doped TiO2 composite film synthesized via sol–gel method on cement substrate

TiO_2 films have received increasing attention for the removal of organic pollutants via photocatalysis. To develop a simple and effective method for improving the photodegradation efficiency of pollutants in surface water, we herein examined the preparation of a P25-TiO_2 composite film on a cement substrate via a sol–gel method. In this case, Rhodamine B(Rh B)was employed as the target organic pollutant. The self-generated TiO_2 film and the P25-TiO_2 composite film were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD), N_2 adsorption/desorption measurements, scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy(TEM), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy(DRS). The photodegradation efficiencies of the two films were studied by Rh B removal in water under UV(ultraviolet) irradiation. Over 4 day exposure, the P25-TiO_2 composite film exhibited higher photocatalytic performance than the self-generated TiO_2 film. The photodegradation rate indicated that the efficiency of the P25-TiO_2 composite film was enhanced by the addition of the rutile phase Degussa P25 powder. As such, cooperation between the anatase TiO_2 and rutile P25 nanoparticles was beneficial for separation of the photo-induced electrons and holes. In addition, the influence of P25 doping on the P25-TiO_2 composite films was evaluated. We found that up to a certain saturation point, increased doping enhanced the photodegradation ability of the composite film. Thus, we herein demonstrated that the doping of P25 powders is a simple but effective strategy to prepare a P25-TiO_2 composite film on a cement substrate, and the resulting film exhibits excellent removal efficiency in the degradation of organic pollutants.