On the horizontal homogeneity of mass-related aerosol properties

We studied the mass-related aerosol properties, simultaneously attwo sites at the urban roof top level in the same city. Nosystematic influence of the wind vector on the difference in theaerosol concentrations between the two locations could be found.These results are compared with results from a second, similarexperiment over a larger distance including one urban and onerural site. Surprisingly, we could not detect a tendency whichwould indicate that sampling air at distance in the order of 1 kmwould be less affected by the heterogeneity than samplingdistanced in the order of 10 km apart. On the contrary, theresults suggest that mass-related properties at two sites in thesame city are not necessarily more similar than at an urban and arural site outside the city. These results stress the limitedhorizontal homogeneity of urban atmospheric aerosol. As aconclusion it is suggested that single-site measurements of mass-related aerosol properties should be considered to berepresentative for an area smaller than 1 km² on size.     

A four-year size-segregated characterization study of particles PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 depending on air mass origin at Melpitz

PM₁₀ measurements were started in November 1992 at Melpitz site. The mean PM₁₀ concentration in 1993 was 38 μg m^?3 in the summer season (May until October) and about 44 μg m^?3 in the winter season (November until April). The mean PM₁₀ level decreased until 1999 and varies now in ranges from 20–34 μg m^?3 to 17–24 μg m^?3 (minimum and maximum mean values for 1999–2008) in winter and summer seasons, respectively. High volume filter samples of particles PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and PM₁ were characterized for mass, water-soluble ions, organic and elemental carbon from 2004 until 2008. The percentage of PM_2.5 in PM₁₀ varies between summer (71.6%) and winter seasons (81.9%). Mean concentrations of PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and PM₁ in Melpitz were 20, 15, and 13 μg m^?3 in 2004, 22, 18, and 13 μg m^?3 in 2005, 24, 19, and 12 μg m^?3 in 2006 and 22, 17, and 12 μg m^?3 in 2007, respectively. In the four winters the rural background concentration PM₁₀ at Melpitz exceeded the daily 50 μg m^?3 limit for Europe on 8, 8, 7 and 6 days, respectively.Findings for a simple two-sector-classification of the samples (May 2004 until April 2008) using 96-h backward trajectories for the identification of source regions are: Air masses were transported most of time (60%) from the western sector and secondly (17%) from the eastern sector. The lowest daily mean mass concentration PM₁₀ were found during western inflow in summer (17 μg m^?3) containing low amounts of sulphate (2.4 μg m^?3), nitrate (1.7 μg m^?3), ammonium (1.1 μg m^?3) and TC (3.7 μg m^?3). In opposite the highest mean mass concentration PM₁₀ was found during eastern inflow in winter (35 μg m^?3) with high amounts of sulphate (6.1 μg m^?3), nitrate (5.4 μg m^?3), ammonium (3.8 μg m^?3) and TC (9.4 μg m^?3). An estimation of secondary formed OC (SOA) shows 0.8–0.9 μg m^?3 for air masses from West and 2.1–2.2 μg m^?3 from East. The seasonal difference can be neglected.The half-hourly measurements of the particle mass concentration PM₁₀ evaluated as mean daily courses using a TEOM^® show low values (14–21 μg m^?3) in summer and winter for air masses transported from West and the highest concentrations (31–38 μg m^?3) in winter for air masses from East.The results demonstrate the influence of meteorological parameters on long-range transport, secondary particle mass formation and re-emission which modify mass concentration and composition of PM₁₀, PM_2.5 and PM₁. Melpitz site is located in the East of Germany faraway from strong local anthropogenic emissions (rural background). Therefore, this site is suitable for investigation of the influence of long-range transport of air pollution in continental air masses from the East with source regions inside and outside of the European Union.     

The dualistic approach of FCA: a further insight into Ontario Lake sediments

The investigation of object-by-attribute matrices is very common in statistics and data analysis with the aim of uncovering every possible relationship among objects and/or attributes. Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) is a method, which stems directly from partial order and lattice theory, which provides an efficient tool to symmetrically uncover linkages among objects and attributes whenever a relation stands among the two sets. It provides efficacious graphical representation and computes association rules between attributes, thus helping in the detection of possible synergism or antagonism of attributes. In this paper, FCA potentialities are discussed and described by means of a case study already investigated by other partial order techniques: the case of Lake Ontario sediment samples. Data derive from a ‘test battery’ for a simultaneous analysis of degradation of Lake Ontario samples, which are basically of two typologies: hygienic and toxicity tests. A multi-valued approach is adopted to cope with the ordinal feature of data. Results highlight interesting interaction among hygienic compounds and a synergism between the two toxicity tests.     

Chlorobenzenes and hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs) in the atmosphere of Bitterfeld and Leipzig (Germany)

Concentrations of tetrachlorobenzenes, pentachlorobenzene, hexachlorobenzene and alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-HCH in air and deposition were measured at three different contaminated sites in Greppin, Roitzsch (both near Bitterfeld) and Leipzig during five time intervals of 14 days in the summer months of 1998. The mean values of the chlorobenzene concentrations (gas phase and particle bound portions) over the whole sampling time were 0.11 ng/Nm3 (Leipzig), 0.17 ng/Nm3 (Roitzsch) and 0.37 ng/Nm3 (Greppin), the mean values of the HCH concentrations were 0.22 ng/Nm3 (Leipzig), 0.31 ng/Nm3 (Roitzsch) and 0.69 ng/Nm3 (Greppin). This increase of the concentration values from Leipzig over Roitzsch to Greppin indicates the influences of industrial waste sites in the Bitterfeld region on the atmospheric environment. The significantly higher values of hexachlorobenzene, alpha- and beta-HCH in Greppin are probably caused by emissions from the former chemical plant Bitterfeld-Wolfen and the landfill 'Antonie' near Greppin. Compared with literature data from other industrial impacted areas the measured air concentration and deposition values are relatively low.     

Pharmazeutisch aktive Substanzen in kleinen Fließgewässern

Background

Current hydrological research is increasingly focusing on pharmaceutically active compounds (PhACs). Concerning the issue of quality of drinking water, this problem has also become the focus of public interest. However, in spire of the fact that the fate of chemicals in surface waters has been assessed in great detail, the influence of groundwater-exchange is yet only little known.

Goal

This study gives emphasis to the question of how transport and degradation of PhACs interact with the exchange of surface water with groundwater. Special interest is given to alternating groundwater regimes.

Methods

Based on a small stream system in the north of Berlin, Germany, a one-dimensional compartment-model was established using differential mass-balance. The stream which, at its mouth, discharges 0.3 m³ s^?1 is already well investigated and thus provides a good empirical data basis. The processes taken into account by the model were ‘exchange of surface-water with groundwater’, ‘decomposition’ as well as ‘transport’ of PhACs. Calculations were performed using the commonly used analgesic Diclofenac as an example and defining 81 scenarios by different groundwater regimes. Hasse Diagramm Technique was used to compare the scenarios.

Results

All scenarios show a big influence of groundwater-exchange to the fate and concentration of PhACs in surface waters. In the case of the modelled stream system, dilution by groundwater was more responsible for a decrease in concentration than degradation was. Furthermore, on the background of a standard scenario, the loss due to groundwater by 5.4 percent was in the same magnitude as the loss due to decomposition (9.7 percent). A crucial difference between punctual versus linear afflux of groundwater has not been observed.

Discussion

The alteration of discharge resulted in a big influence of the case differentiation between ‘constant velocity’ and ‘constant cross-section’. Furthermore, the model was based on the assumption that groundwater was unloaded with PhACs or diluted very well in comparison to the stream. In contrast, regarding measurements in the catchment, groundwater could even be a diffuse source of the contamination of the stream.

Conclusions

The fate of PhACs in our model is crucially driven by interactions with groundwater. Therefore, assessing the risk emanating from substances like Diclofenac, it is very important to regard their accessibility to decomposition as well as the morphology of the stream-system and its interactions with the groundwater.

Perspectives

In this model, the process of transport from the surface to groundwater back to the surface was dealt with insufficiently; in order to be able to observe fully developed interaction in a further step of modelling, a groundwater-transportmodel should be coupled completely with a surface-water-model.     

Models predicting the fate of pollutants in rivers

The spill of 2,4,‐D in the Rhine river was used to show the evolution from simple to sophisticated models. The first simulation was done with an analytical solution of the dispersion‐advection equation without elimination. Elimination was introduced in a second simulation. The third simulation was carried out with a numerical model. This included elimination and variable dispersion. The lack of data limited the use of very detailed models.     

Partielle Ordnung

The complexity of ecosystems urges that the evaluation process should avoid an aggregation of information. The reason is that although mathematical modelling has made enormous progress (object oriented programming) there is still no ecologically reasonable function of quality. The technique to compare chemicals for example, even if they are characterized by many properties, is based on the generalization of the concept of order and the method of visualization by the using Hasse diagrams. By the example of six chemicals the procedure will be explained and it will be shown that a high hazard potential of chemicals is related to different properties, which cause different ecotoxicological consequences.