Exchange of sulfur pollution between Bulgaria and Greece

The EMAP model (Eulerian Model for Air Pollution) is applied for calculating the sulfur concentration and deposition fields for 1995 as based upon Bulgarian and Greek sources. The country-to-country budgets show that about 4% of the sulfur oxides emitted by Bulgaria are deposited over Greek territory, estimated at 28 kt S. Only 2% of sulfur compounds emitted by Greece are deposited over Bulgaria, estimated at 6.2 kt S for 1995. This data is in agreement with EMEP/MSC-W estimates and provides more details concerning time and space. The results can be used in decision-making, negotiating and the development of contamination strategies.     

Life cycle assessment of food waste home composting in Greece

Home composting is a waste prevention measure related to the management of the household's food waste, garden trimmings, and other smaller organic household waste streams. Thus, home composting is an alternative way of exploitation of the “biomass” generated from the households. It is an alternative to centralized composting. Biomass utilization is explicitly stated as a principle of green chemistry. The aim of this paper is presentation of the results of a case study dealing with the life cycle environmental assessment of home composting of food waste in households in Greece. The results of the study indicate that home composting is environmentally preferable over the current organic waste management situation in Greece.     

Unregulated urban sprawl and spatial distribution of fire events: evidence from Greece

Fire events are an annual phenomenon in Greece with damages and even casualties, making their understanding and management important. In this paper, we present fire events provided by NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System and place them along a number of spatial types defined by relief and land cover classes. Results demonstrate that the occurrence of fire events is related more to some land cover classes than others. The most important in terms of overall frequency in all types of terrain is ‘Agricultural Areas’, as a result of farming practices that involve fire. The second more important type of areas is ‘Artificial Surfaces’, especially in low lying areas. These events are related to urban growth and sprawl and are very often a direct outcome of speculation practices with land properties, encouraged by the absence or poor implementation of spatial planning.     

Gold and gold working in Late Bronze Age Northern Greece

Numerous objects of gold displaying an impressive variety of types and manufacturing techniques are known from the Late Bronze Age (LBA) contexts of Mycenaean Greece, but very little is known about the origin and processing of gold during the second millennium B.C: . Ancient literature and recent research indicate that northern Greece is probably the richest gold-bearing region in Greece, and yet, very little evidence exists regarding the exploitation of its deposits and the production as well as use of gold in the area during prehistory. The unusual find of a group of small stone crucibles at the prehistoric settlement of Thessaloniki Toumba, one with visible traces of gold melting, proves local production and offers a rare opportunity to examine the process of on-site gold working. Furthermore, the comparison of the chemical composition of prehistoric artefacts from two settlements with those of gold deposits in their immediate areas supports the local extraction of gold and opens up the prospect for some of the Mycenaean gold to have originated in northern Greece. The scarcity of gold items in northern Greek LBA contexts may not represent the actual amount of gold produced and consumed, but could be a result of the local social attitudes towards the circulation and deposition of artefacts from precious metals.     

Towards emergency management of natural disasters and critical accidents: the Greek experience

This paper presents the findings of a prototype study which sought to identify factors that contribute to effective emergency management in Greece and other European states regarding both natural disasters and critical accidents. The parameters for proper action and successful intervention in operational and logistical are identified based on the document analysis and interviews with emergency responders. The interviews are conducted between state-owned and voluntary organizations. They were asked to rate in terms of their importance for effective emergency response efforts. This paper offers useful information of the organization and management of emergency response in Greece, as well as provides interesting responders' opinions data concerning important priorities in the emergency management area. Despite the fact that the data come from the Greek experience, the conclusions may be applied for a broader use in the emergency planning of disasters. The whole study has been undertaken within the European Pre-Emergencies (PreEm) project.     

Elemental Analysis of Water and Sediments by External Beam Pixe Part 3: Axios (Vardar) River, Greece

The Axios (Vardar) River originates from the south west part of Yugoslavia, transverses Greece, and discharges into the Thermaikos bay in the north Aegean Sea.

The proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) method with external beam was used for the elemental analysis of water and sediment samples, while measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen content, conductivity, pH, and the water flow were made in situ. Water samples were also analysed for total phosphates, nitrates, chlorophyll, and BOD. The data collected for a 16-month period indicate that the Axios River is polluted as far as the metal content is concerned; its primary productivity is low and it is slightly enriched during its course into the Greek territory.     

Distributional effects of environmental policies in Greece

Environmental protection policies generate an equity question concerning the fair allocation of environmental benefits and costs. This paper presents evidence from Greece during the 1980s. The findings reveal that Greek environmental policies, in the form of government self-regulatory programs, are mostly regressive in nature. At the regional level these programs combine all forms of vertical equity. Since the public sector finances the majority of related expenditures out of taxes, the regressive elements of environmental policies have been reinforced by discretionary fiscal measures and tax evasion, accompanied by inflation, which have distorted the country's progressive tax system.     

Distribution of Airborne polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in the area of Thessaloniki,Greece

The aim of this research work is to investigate the temporal and regional behaviour of the PAH in the Thessaloniki's area. During a period of six months, airborne particulate matter was collected twice a week and PAH were determined by HPLC. Profiles as well as concentrations of selected cancerogenic PAH differ in some cases from area to area and have characteristic, temporal changes of concentration.     

Organic contaminants in sediments and mussels from Thermaikos gulf,Greece

Thirteen surficial sediment samples, two sediment cores and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) from six locations were collected from Thermaikos gulf, Greece and analyzed for herbicides, organochlorine compounds and aliphatic hydrocarbons. Herbicide concentrations were low in surface sediments (not detected‐0.8 ng/g dry wt) and undetectable in subsurface samples. Organochlorine concentrations ranged between 0.8 and 88.2 ng/g dry wt for the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and between 1.7 and 22.8 ng/g dry wt for the SDDTs, while aliphatic hydrocarbon values varied from 28.8 to 965.4 ng/g dry wt. The highest concentrations for all the pollutants were measured in the vicinity of the city of Thessaloniki. Petroleum‐related hydrocarbons were dominant in surface sediments, while were still detected till about 1 m depth in the sediment core. Mussels presented low organochlorine concentrations (3.6–10.5 ng/g dry wt for the PCBs, 12.2–34.0 ng/g dry wt for the DDTs), but petroleum hydrocarbon concentrations were rather increased, mainly in the samples collected along the east coastline of the gulf (aliphatic hydrocarbons 52.3–224.3 μg/g dry wt).     

Determination and Evaluation of Cadmium, Copper, Nickel, and Zinc in Agricultural Soils of Western Macedonia, Greece

The objective of this study was to determine the levels of major phytotoxic metals―including cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn)―in agricultural soils of Western Macedonia, Greece. We also wanted to determine the possible relationships among elements and between soil properties and elemental concentrations. Surface soil samples, n = 570, were collected and analyzed. The results of the elemental analysis showed that the mean metal concentrations were consistent with reported typical concentrations found in Greek agricultural soils in the cases of Zn and Cu. Cd exhibited lower and Ni higher mean concentrations than the typical levels reported in the literature. Metal concentrations in the majority of the examined samples (>69%) were found to be higher than the respective critical plant-deficiency levels. However, only 0.4% and 0.2% of the analyzed soil samples, respectively, exhibited Cd and Ni concentrations higher than the levels that cause plant toxicity, as referenced by other investigators. These results suggest that the soils studied can be considered as unpolluted with respect to the examined food-chain metal contaminants. However, the levels of the metal concentrations in some of the soil samples, and the low correlation of the metals with soil properties, suggest an anthropogenic rather that lithogenic origin.