Analysis of the Trend and Seasonal Cycle of Carbon Monoxide Concentrations in an Urban Area (4 pp)

Background, Aim and Scope Air quality is an field of major concern in large cities. This problem has led administrations to introduce plans and regulations to reduce pollutant emissions. The analysis of variations in the concentration of pollutants is useful when evaluating the effectiveness of these plans. However, such an analysis cannot be undertaken using standard statistical techniques, due to the fact that concentrations of atmospheric pollutants often exhibit a lack of normality and are autocorrelated. On the other hand, if long-term trends of any pollutant’s emissions are to be detected, meteorological effects must be removed from the time series analysed, due to their strong masking effects. Materials and Methods The application of statistical methods to analyse temporal variations is illustrated using monthly carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations observed at an urban site. The sampling site is located at a street intersection in central Valencia (Spain) with a high traffic density. Valencia is the third largest city in Spain. It is a typical Mediterranean city in terms of its urban structure and climatology. The sampling site started operation in January 1994 and monitored CO ground level concentrations until February 2002. Its geographic coordinates are W0°22′52″ N39°28′05″ and its altitude is 11 m. Two nonparametric trend tests are applied. One of these is robust against serial correlation with regards to the false rejection rate, when observations have a strong persistence or when the sample size per month is small. A nonparametric analysis of the homogeneity of trends between seasons is also discussed. A multiple linear regression model is used with the transformed data, including the effect of meteorological variables. The method of generalized least squares is applied to estimate the model parameters to take into account the serial dependence of the residuals of this model. This study also assesses temporal changes using the Kolmogorov-Zurbenko (KZ) filter. The KZ filter has been shown to be an effective way to remove the influence of meteorological conditions on O₃ and PM to examine underlying trends. Results The nonparametric tests indicate a decreasing, significant trend in the sampled site. The application of the linear model yields a significant decrease every twelve months of 15.8% for the average monthly CO concentration. The 95% confidence interval for the trend ranges from 13.9% to 17.7%. The seasonal cycle also provides significant results. There are no differences in trends throughout the months. The percentage of CO variance explained by the linear model is 90.3%. The KZ filter separates out long, short-term and seasonal variations in the CO series. The estimated, significant, long-term trend every year results in 10.3% with this method. The 95% confidence interval ranges from 8.8% to 11.9%. This approach explains 89.9% of the CO temporal variations. Discussion The differences between the linear model and KZ filter trend estimations are due to the fact that the KZ filter performs the analysis on the smoothed data rather than the original data. In the KZ filter trend estimation, the effect of meteorological conditions has been removed. The CO short-term componentis attributable to weather and short-term fluctuations in emissions. There is a significant seasonal cycle. This component is a result of changes in the traffic, the yearly meteorological cycle and the interactions between these two factors. There are peaks during the autumn and winter months, which have more traffic density in the sampled site. There is a minimum during the month of August, reflecting the very low level of vehicle emissions which is a direct consequence of the holiday period. Conclusions The significant, decreasing trend implies to a certain extent that the urban environment in the area is improving. This trend results from changes in overall emissions, pollutant transport, climate, policy and economics. It is also due to the effect of introducing reformulated gasoline. The additives enable vehicles to burn fuel with a higher air/fuel ratio, thereby lowering the emission of CO. The KZ filter has been the most effective method to separate the CO series components and to obtain an estimate of the long-term trend due to changes in emissions, removing the effect of meteorological conditions. Recommendations and Perspectives Air quality managers and policy-makers must understand the link between climate and pollutants to select optimal pollutant reduction strategies and avoid exceeding emission directives. This paper analyses eight years of ambient CO data at a site with a high traffic density, and provides results that are useful for decision-making. The assessment of long-term changes in air pollutants to evaluate reduction strategies has to be done while taking into account meteorological variability     

滤膜法测定空气中氟化物的改进

测定环境空气中微量氟的方法一般采用滤膜法，但此法工作量大，针对这种情况，本文作两点改进：一是将采集的两张滤膜同时测定；二是将测定过程中的搅拌时间缩短，这样不影响测定结果的准确性，而且降低了工作量。     

Rapid amino acid cycling in arctic and antarctic soils

Amino acids constitute one of the largest inputs of organic nitrogen (N) to most polar soils and have been hypothesized to be important in regulating vegetational succession and productivity in Arctic ecosystems. Our understanding of amino acid cycling in these soils, however, is poor. The aim of this study was to investigate the size and rate of turnover of the amino acid pool in a range of Arctic and Antarctic soils. Our results indicate that in polar soils with either high or low ornithogenic inputs the amino acid pool is small in comparison to the inorganic N pool (NO^–₃ and NH⁺₄). The free amino acid pool constituted only a small proportion of the total dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) pool in these soils. Here we show that these low concentrations may be due to rapid use by the soil microbial community in both Arctic and Antarctic soils. The turnover of the amino acid pool in soil was extremely rapid, with a half-life ranging from 2 to 24 h, indicating that this N pool can be turned over many hundred times each summer when polar soils are frequently unfrozen. The implications of amino acids in N cycling and plant and microbial nutrition are discussed.     

滑坡灾害快速反应系统

滑坡灾害快速反应系统由滑坡知识、受灾体和救灾指挥3部分组成.其中每一部分都包括一个完整的体系,并有评价指标描述.该系统的实现主要依靠滑坡数据库、动态仿真模拟和抢险救灾预案技术的支撑.     

浅析分布式防火墙技术

随着计算机网络的不断发展,现有的防火墙体系已不能满足要求,发展新的网络防火墙技术已非常重要.分布式防火墙具有明显的防护优势,了解分布式防火墙技术,并在实际应Ζ用中用好它,已成为保障我们网络安全的必要.     

粉状活性焦在双层滤料颗粒床中的脱硫试验研究

在双层滤料颗粒床模型试验台上对粒径为300～400目的粉状活性焦进行了脱硫试验,研究了温度、O2和水蒸气体积分数、气体流速、再生次数对脱硫效果的影响.试验结果表明.温度为120℃、O2体积分数为8%、水蒸气体积分数为10%条件下,脱硫效果最好;粉状活性焦在双层滤料颗粒床中经过7次重复吸附.达到硫饱和吸附量为66.2 mg/g.粉状活性焦再生试验表明,随着再生次数的增加.粉状活性焦的脱硫性能呈下降趋势.     

Rapid humanitarian assessments and rationality: a value-of-information study from Iraq, 2003-04

Rapid assessments are one of the standard informational tools in humanitarian response and are supposed to contribute to rational decision-making.(1) The extent to which the assessment organisation itself behaves rationally, however, is an open question. This can be evaluated against multiple criteria, such as the cost and value of the information it collects and its ability to adapt flexibly design or samples when the survey environment changes unforeseeably. An unusual data constellation from two concurrent recent (2003-04) rapid assessments in northern Iraq permits us to model part of the actual assessment behaviour in terms of geographical, community and prior substantive information attributes. The model correctly predicts the decisions, in 79 per cent of the 2,425 local communities in focus, that data collector teams in the Emergency Mine Action Survey made to visit or not to visit. The analysis demonstrates variably rational behaviour under conditions of insecurity, repeated regrouping and incomplete sampling frames. A pronounced bias towards very small rural settlements is irrational for the overall results, but may be a rational strategy of individual survey workers seeking to prolong their employment. Implications for future assessments are sketched in the areas of tools for urban surveys, greater adaptability, including early feedback from users, and sensibility to value-of-information concepts.     

湿地植物在城镇污水处理系统中的作用特性研究

将不同类型湿地植物如凤眼莲、荇菜、稗草、黑藻、皇竹草、美人蕉等,引入城镇污水处理系统,考察其对污染物的去除效果和在湿地组合系统中的作用特性。盆栽实验发现,虽然植物对污水N、P营养元素的直接去除率分别只有14.0%～59.4%和8.6%～55.2%,但植物通过过滤、截留及加强有机物降解转化的作用,对水体中污染物的去除具有协同效应,使水体N、P的总去除率分别达65.4%～83.8%和43.5%～69.5%。将植物引入组合处理系统,中试实验结果表明,水体TN、TP和COD月平均去除率分别高达80.4%、74.3%和81.3%。与常规生化处理系统相比,处理效果大为增强,生化反应的能耗相对减少,出水水质较稳定,使湿地组合系统成为一种去N除P,防止水体富营养化的有效处理方法。     

生态工程组合工艺应用于城市污水处理厂尾水深度处理

针对城市污水处理厂尾水的特点,采用生态氧化池／垂直流人工湿地／自然湿地生态工程组合工艺对其进行深度处理,重点分析了运行效果和去除机理。数据结果表明,该工艺运行稳定,系统出水COD,BOD5,NH3-N和TP平均分别为14．4,3．4,0．84,0．19mg／L,平均去除率均在65％以上,出水水质达到《地表水环境质量标准》（GB3838-2002）中Ⅳ类标准。