Atmospheric pollution in Beijing, China, as recorded in sediments of the Kunming Lake

The fluxes of heavy metals and magnetite, a fly-ash component, from coal burning, to sediments of the Kunming Lake in Beijing have increased measurably over the last fifty years. Ages were introduced to the sediment strata through Pb-210 geochronologies. Even with a doubling of coal usage by the year 2000, the anthropogenic metal fluxes will still be less than those recorded in metropolitan Tokyo and U.S. lakes.     

兰州市气象要素对大气质量影响力的模拟分析

为了弄清气象要素对大气质量的影响以及大气污染反弹的原因,通过对兰州市冬春之际气象要素对大气质量影响力的模拟分析,建立了气象要素与大气质量间的模拟模型,并应用该模型对兰州市大气污染指数进行预测分析。结果表明,该模型计算精度高,预测结果真实可信,方法可行性好,可用来模拟分析兰州市冬春之际空气污染的成因和动态变化。     

空气颗粒物中铅、镉超声浸取-原子吸收测定方法研究

用超声波震荡方法对大气滤膜样品进行前处理,提取待测元素。研究了浸取液种类、酸度、浸取时间和干扰因素等,确定了颗粒物样品溶液制备的最佳条件,与流动注射在线富集——原子吸收技术结合,建立了大气颗粒物样品测定Pb、Cd方法。结果表明,方法快速、准确,标准样品测定回收率在97％以上,6次测定方目对标准偏差小于2.6％。     

城市大气环境治理成本核算及其总量、结构分析——以西安市为例

基于单位成本分析模型对2000—2009年西安市大气环境治理的价值量进行了系统核算,并从总量与结构两方面对核算结果进行了深入和全面的分析。结果表明,从西安市历年大气环境的实际治理成本(除2002、2006、2009年)来看,该市在大气环境治理方面的投资基本上逐年增加,但是增加幅度较小,而大气环境虚拟治理成本在一般年份(除2002、2006、2009年)总体上呈现先增加后减小的变化趋势。可见,西安市为改变环境污染状况,不断增加大气环境治理方面的投资,但在初期治理资金缺口仍在增加,而随着投资的持续增加,许多大气环境治理设施的建立与作用的发挥,大气环境污染状况逐渐减轻,治理资金缺口开始变小;在核算年份中,西安市工业大气环境污染治理的重点主要放在了烟尘方面,城镇生活SO2虚拟治理成本在生活废气总虚拟治理成本中所占比例最高。最后,针对发现问题,对该市今后大气环境治理工作的方向和措施给出了建议。     

Impacts of Upstream Building Width and Upwind Building Arrangements on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion in a Street Canyon

A two-dimensional numerical model for evaluating the wind flow and pollutant dispersion within a street canyon was first developed using the FLUENT code, which was then validated against a wind tunnel experiment. Then, the effects of the upstream building width and upwind building arrangement on the airflow and pollutant dispersion inside an isolated street canyon were investigated numerically. The numerical results revealed that: (1) the in-canyon vortex center shifts downwards as the upstream building width increases; (2) the recirculation zone covers the entire upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 (W is the upstream building width and H is the building height), whereas the flow reattaches the upstream building roof for the cases when W/H = 2.5 and 3.0; (3) when the upstream building width is shorter than the critical width W_C (= 2H), an increase in the upstream building width leads to an increase in the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon and a decrease in the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building; (4) when the upstream building width is longer than the critical width, the roof-level concentrations at the upstream building are negligibly small and the pollution level on the leeward wall of the canyon is almost unaffected by a further increase in the upstream building width; (5) when the buildings are placed upwind of the canyon, the flow attaches the upstream building roof and, therefore, almost none of the pollutants are distributed on the upstream building roof; and (6) the pollution levels inside the canyon and on the downstream building roof increase significantly with the number of upwind buildings.     

Gold Mining: Is It Worth Its Weight?

Gold (Au) accounts for only 0.004 g/ton of the earth's crust and is the most desired element. With an average annual world production of approximately 2,500 tons, the current methods of Au mining in developing countries cause major environmental issues. These issues vary from deforestation to cyanide and mercury (Hg) contamination. This article presents several cases of environmental catastrophes caused by Au mining in different regions of the world (Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and South America). It discusses the currently available processes for the large-scale extraction of metallic Au grains and supports the need for an alternative sustainable process.     

CCl4体外引发自由基反应的简易实验方法

通过对不同剂量CCl4与小鼠肝匀浆温育反应液中丙二醛(MDA)含量的测定,确立了CCl4体外引发自由基反应的简易实验方法,并对实验方法进行了考核评定.同时以Hg2 对CCl4体外引发小鼠肝匀浆自由基反应的影响为应用实例进行了研究,结果表明,Hg2 与CCl4的毒性有协同作用.     

Factors influencing Aerosol Characteristics over Urban Environment

Atmospheric aerosols are an important contributing factor to turbidity in urban areas besides having impact on health. Aerosol characteristics show a high degree of variability in space and time as anthropogenic share of total aerosol loading is quite substantial and is essential to monitor the aerosol features over long time scales. In the present study extensive observations of columnar aerosol optical depth (AOD), total columnar ozone (TCO) and precipitable water content (PWC) have been carried over a tropical urban city of Hyderabad, India. Significant variations of AOD have been observed during course of the day with low values of AOD during morning and evening hours and high values during afternoon hours. Spectral variation of AOD exhibits high AOD at smaller wavelengths and vice versa except a slight enhancement in AOD at 500 nm. Anomalies in AOD, particulate matter and black carbon concentrations have been observed during May, 2003. Back trajectory analysis of air mass during these episodes suggested variation in air mass trajectories. Analysis of the results suggests that air trajectories from land region north of study area cause high loading of atmospheric aerosols. The results are discussed in the paper.     

Higher Plants As Bioindicators Of Sulphur Dioxide Emissions In Urban Environments

The evaluation of certain vascular plants that grow in the city of Madrid as biomonitors of SO₂ air pollution in urban environments has been carried out. Total concentration of sulphur in leaves of the chosen higher plants as well as other parameters in close relation to this contaminant (visible injury symptoms, chlorophyll a- and b-content and peroxidase activity) have been determined in order to study the spatial distribution and temporal changes in SO₂ deposition. Results obtained show that coniferous species such as Pinus pinea, were more sensitive to SO₂ atmospheric concentration than leafy species as Quercux ilex subspecies ballota and, in the same way, bush species, such asPyracantha coccinea and Nerium oleander, were more sensitive than wooded species, such as Cedrus deodaraandPinus pinea, respectively. There is a higher accumulation of sulphur in vegetable species located near highways and dense traffic incidence roads and near areas with high density of population. The minimum values for accumulation of SO₂ were registered in winter and spring seasons (from January to April) due to the vegetative stop; while maximum values are obtained during the summer season (from June to September), due to the stoma opening. The highest increments in sulphur concentration, calculated as the difference between two consecutive months, are obtained in May and June for all considered species except forCedrus deodara and Pyracantha coccinea, both species have few seasonal changes during the whole year. Some species are more sensitive to natural washing than others, showing a decrease in sulphur concentration after rainfall periods.     

成都市大气颗粒物源解析的PPR法

应用投影寻踪回归新技术(PPR),对成都市区大气采集样本中的元素含量数据和成都市大气颗粒物源成分谱进行分析,得到成都市大气颗粒物排放源的权重贡献率。结果表明:影响成都市大气颗粒物的主要贡献源为燃煤尘和土壤道路尘,它们的贡献率均达40%以上,与成都市区内大气污染来源的实际情况相符合。