Ambio’s legacy on monitoring,impact, and management of acid rain: This article belongs to Ambio’s 50th Anniversary Collection. Theme: Acidification

Early studies published in Ambio showed large-scale acidification of lakes in southern Sweden and Norway from acid rain. These studies were important for delimiting various scientific issues and thus for eventually contributing to legislation, which reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and helped to mitigate this major environmental problem. Long-term studies and monitoring in Sweden and Norway and at Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire helped guide this legislation in Europe and in the USA.     

1025t/h四角切圆煤粉炉内空气过量系数对NO生成的影响

文章采用计算流体力学软件Fluent数值模拟了1 025 t/h四角切圆煤粉炉内的湍流扩散燃烧,分析了空气过量系数对炉内烟气速度、烟气温度和氮氧化物组分的影响。结果表明:空气过量系数会对炉内流场的空气动力学特性和温度场分布均匀性产生显著影响。煤粉炉膛最佳空气过量系数为1.07,此时炉内温度场、速度场和浓度场的分布可使燃烧中间产物HCN和NH_3较好的将燃料型NO还原为N_2,来充分发挥空气分级燃烧降低NO排放的功效。     

Influence of agricultural activities, forest fires and agro-industries on air quality in Thailand

Annual and monthly-based emission inventories in northern, central and north-eastern provinces in Thailand, where agriculture and related agro-industries are very intensive, were estimated to evaluate the contribution of agricultural activity, including crop residue burning, forest fires and related agro-industries on air quality monitored in corresponding provinces. The monthly-based emission inventories of air pollutants, or, particulate matter (PM), NOx and SO₂, for various agricultural crops were estimated based on information on the level of production of typical crops: rice, corn, sugarcane, cassava, soybeans and potatoes using emission factors and other parameters related to country-specific values taking into account crop type and the local residue burning period. The estimated monthly emission inventory was compared with air monitoring data obtained at monitoring stations operated by the Pollution Control Department, Thailand (PCD) for validating the estimated emission inventory. The agro-industry that has the greatest impact on the regions being evaluated, is the sugar processing industry, which uses sugarcane as a raw material and its residue as fuel for the boiler. The backward trajectory analysis of the air mass arriving at the PCD station was calculated to confirm this influence. For the provinces being evaluated which are located in the upper northern, lower northern and northeast in Thailand, agricultural activities and forest fires were shown to be closely correlated to the ambient PM concentration while their contribution to the production of gaseous pollutants is much less.     

Determination of 15 phthalate esters in air by gas-phase and particle-phase simultaneous sampling

Based on previous research, the sampling and analysis methods for phthalate esters (PAEs) were improved by increasing the sampling flow of indoor air from 1 to 4 L/min, shortening the sampling duration from 8 to 2 hr. Meanwhile, through the optimization of chromatographic conditions, the concentrations of 9 additional PAE pollutants in indoor air were measured. The optimized chromatographic conditions required a similar amount of time for analysis as before, but gave high responsivity, the capability of simultaneously distinguishing 15 kinds of PAEs, and a high level of discrimination between individual sample peaks, as well as stable peak generation. The recovery rate of all gas-phase and particle-phase samples of the 15 kinds of PAEs ranged from 91.26% to 109.42%, meeting the quantitative analysis requirements for indoor and outdoor air sampling and analysis. For the first time, investigation of the concentration levels as well as characteristics of 15 kinds of PAEs in the indoor air from four different traffic micro-environments (private vehicles, busses, taxis and subways) was carried out, along with validation of the optimized sampling and analytical method. The results show that all the 9 additional PAEs could be detected at relatively high pollution levels in the indoor air from the four traffic micro-environments. As none of the pollution levels of the 15 kinds of PAEs in the indoor air from the 4 traffic micro-environments should be neglected, it is of great significance to increase the types of PAEs able to be detected in indoor air.     

Quantifying public health benefits of environmental strategy of PM2.5 air quality management in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, China

In 2013,China issued "Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan(Action Plan)" to improve air quality.To assess the benefits of this program in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(BTH)region,where the density of population and emissions vary greatly,we simulated the air quality benefit based on Ben MAP to satisfy the Action Plan.In this study,we estimate PM_(2.5) concentration using Voronoi spatial interpolation method on a grid with a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km~2.Combined with the exposure-response function between PM_(2.5) concentration and health endpoints,health effects of PM_(2.5) exposure are analyzed.The economic loss is assessed by using the willingness to pay(WTP) method and human capital(HC) method.When the PM_(2.5) concentration falls by 25% in BTH and reached 60 μg/m~3 in Beijing,the avoiding deaths will be in the range of 3175 to 14051 based on different functions each year.Of the estimated mortality attributable to all causes,3117 annual deaths were due to lung cancer,1924 – 6318 annual deaths were due to cardiovascular,and343 – 1697 annual deaths were due to respiratory.Based on WTP,the estimated monetary values for the avoided cases of all cause mortality,cardiovascular mortality,respiratory mortality and lung cancer ranged from 1110 to 29632,673 to 13325,120 to 3579,1091 to 6574 million yuan,respectively.Based on HC,the corresponding values for the avoided cases of these four mortalities were 267 to 1178,161 to 529,29 to 143 and 261 million yuan,respectively.     

Ash deposition impact on the energy performance of photovoltaic generators

A little known side effect of the atmospheric air pollution is the degradation of photovoltaic (PV) cells’ performance due to the deposition of solid particles varying in composition, size and origin. In this context, an experimental-based investigation is conducted in order to compare the energy performance of two identical pairs of PV-panels; the first being clean and the second being artificially polluted with ash, i.e. a by-product of incomplete hydrocarbons’ combustion mainly originating from thermal power stations and vehicular exhausts. A series of systematic measurements of current intensity, voltage output and solar radiation are executed simultaneously for the clean and the polluted PV-panel, so that the effect of several mass depositions on the PVs’ power output, energy yield and conversion efficiency may be determined. According to the results, a considerable deterioration of the PV-panels’ performance is obtained, i.e. almost 30% energy reduction per hour or 1.5% efficiency decrease (in absolute terms) for ash accumulation on the panels’ surface reaching up to 0.4 mg/cm².     

空气自动监测网络数据有效性的自动化判别

以山东省空气自动监测网监测数据有效性的自动化判别为例,阐述了自动化判别的主要思路、判别程序和判别规则,探讨了省级或区域级空气自动监测网络的数据自动化判别方法.     

我国空气自动监测系统的现状与发展趋势

结合四川省环境空气自动监测系统的运行,从运行管理模式方面探讨了我国空气自动监测系统的发展现状,以及通过国内外环境空气评价指标的比较,探讨了现阶段中国环境空气质量评价体系的不足以及增加空气污染指数分指标的必要性.     

东亚大气可吸入颗粒物时空分布的数值模拟研究

利用嵌套网格空气质量模式(Nested Air Quality Prediction Model System,NAQPMS)模拟研究了2010年东亚地区可吸入颗粒物(PM10)的时空演变,并初步评估了其对人群健康的危险度.结果表明,NAQPMS模式能够合理地反映东亚地区PM10的时空分布,不同季节观测值和模拟值的总体相关系数达到0.65~0.85.2010年东亚PM10的地面浓度高值区(100μg·m-3)出现在我国华北、华中和内蒙古中西部等地区.其中,无机盐(硫酸盐、硝酸盐和铵盐)对我国东部PM10的贡献最大(10~70μg·m-3,20%~50%);一次PM10次之(5~50μg·m-3,10%~30%),有机物(5~30μg·m-3,10%~20%)和黑炭(3~20μg·m-3,3%~5%)紧随其后.PM10可以引起我国东部人群急性总死亡率增加2%~5%,对我国居民的健康水平构成了一定威胁.     

降雨和土地利用对地表径流的影响-以北京北护城河周边区域为例

以北京北护城河周边区域为例,探讨了降雨和土地利用对地表径流的影响。选取了2011-2012 年4-11 月的15 场降雨,分别代表小雨、中雨、大雨、暴雨、大暴雨和特大暴雨这6 个雨量级。利用校准的雨洪管理模型（Storm Water Management Model, SWMM）分别模拟每次降雨事件下研究区7 个控制断面的地表径流深度。结果表明,地表径流深度随降雨量的增加显著线性增加。当降雨量在不同量级之间变化时,地表径流深度的变化幅度不尽相同。在不同的降雨事件中,降雨量和地表径流深度随时间的动态变化趋势可能有很大的差异,但地表径流深度在某一时刻的值的高低均决定于之前1~2 h 的降雨量,而地表径流深度的总体上升或下降趋势均决定于前期累积的降雨量。地表径流深度随渗透面积比例的增加显著下降,且变化曲线存在临界阈值（为15%~20%）。在暴雨、大暴雨和特大暴雨时,渗透面积比例对地表径流的影响更大。研究结果可为控制汛期城市地表径流量和洪峰流量、减少城市内涝提供土地利用和管理方面的理论依据和决策建议。