An Analogy on Assessment of Urban Air Pollution in Turkey Over the Turn of the Millennium (1992–2001)

Rapid industrialization and urbanization in Turkey, especially over the last twenty five years, has provided better living standards to its residents, but it also caused a decrease in environmental quality. In late 1970's, air quality monitoring activities were started in some major cities by individual researchers in Turkey. It was just around the 1990's that a countrywide program on continuous air pollution monitoring in major province centers and selected large towns was launched. The impact of air pollution on people depend on various factors, such as existence and magnitude of coal powered energy generation plants, type of urban heating and their efficiency, and the numbers and specifications of vehicles. In this study, current Turkish urban air quality over the turn of the Millennium (1992–2001) is studied in the light of the country's worst cities in terms of outdoor air quality, the number of upper respiratory diseases, sinusitis, bronchitis, and pneumonia cases in these provinces reported by the state medical treatment facilities in 2001. The population that is under outdoor urban air pollution hazard was computed. A comparative analysis between the provinces that use natural gas and others that use fossil fuels was also completed in order to project monetary gains if the studied provinces will transform their indoor heating and industrial operations to be run by natural gas or other cleaner energy sources. If natural gas use in air polluted urban centers could be realized in the near future, approximately 212 to 350 million US dollars per annum could to be saved just by reducing health related problems caused by outdoor air pollution.     

合肥城市绿地土壤特点

以合肥市一环内绿地土壤和近郊蜀山森林公园土壤为对象,研究了土壤表层0~10 cm的理化特性,分析了全磷与速效磷,速效磷与潜在酸度之间的关系。结果表明,市区绿地土壤的容重平均值为1.41 kg/cm3,土壤电导率显著高于近郊森林土壤;城市绿地土壤pH值多在7.51~8.50之间,与森林土壤相比,碱性化趋势明显;城市土壤具有明显的富磷和贫氮特征,其全氮含量平均值为1.44 g/kg,全磷含量平均值为792.0 mg/kg、速效磷含量为50.6 mg/kg,分别是近郊森林土壤的0.64倍、2.9倍和5.1倍;城市土壤全磷与有效磷含量呈显著的正相关(r=0.79,p=0.000);潜在酸度与有效磷含量呈显著负相关(r=0.65,p=0.000)。     

乌鲁木齐市汽车尾气污染状况调查

对乌鲁木齐市主要街道受汽车尾气污染的调查和综合分析得到CO、NOx、HC的污染规律,主要街道路中心空气中CO、NOx日均值已超出国家大气环境质量二级标准,市区主要街道的人行道空气中NOx含量已超出二级标准,Ⅱ、Ⅲ类道路人行道空气中CO含量已超标;在三类街道中,Ⅰ类街道车流量最大,Ⅱ类次之,Ⅲ类最少,而汽车排放尾气对街道空气污染状况为Ⅲ类最重、Ⅱ类次之、Ⅰ类最轻。     

青岛市主干道沿线高层建筑的交通噪声研究

采用A计权网络对青岛市东西快速路沿线高层建筑进行监测。利用Grapher软件,以Leq为监测值的基准值绘制连续线状图,分析城市主干道周边高层建筑上交通噪声的峰值点。根据道路中心线到高层建筑的距离信息,得出高层建筑交通噪声峰值点与道路中心线的连线与水平地面间的角度约为30°。     

釜溪河自贡城区段季节性低氧成因研究

釜溪河为沱江一级支流,在自贡城区段设有国考碳研所断面。收集碳研所断面近10年来水质自动站数据,分析溶解氧(DO)变化特征,采样调查釜溪河自贡城区段水质及河道底泥污染状况,采用相关性分析、数值模拟等,研究分析釜溪河自贡城区段溶解氧分布特征及碳研所断面季节性低氧成因。研究结果表明,碳研所断面的溶解氧质量浓度变化特征呈现春末夏初最低,白天高晚上低的特征。釜溪河碳研所断面河水耗氧类污染物质量浓度较沱江流域内其他断面高,耗氧强度较大,溶解氧质量浓度较沱江流域其他断面偏低;其次,研究河段中釜溪河污水厂以下河段受污水厂低氧水排入和金子凼堰底层低氧水下泄影响,其溶解氧水平整体较污水厂以上河段低;最后,河段底泥有机质含量较高,春夏季气温升高将导致微生物分解活性增强大量消耗溶解氧,同时,闸坝和外来水体排入的水文扰动造成污水厂以下河段水温梯度弱,表层溶解氧易受底层低氧水影响,促使断面形成季节性低氧现象。溶解氧预测模型结果也进一步证实了温度变化和垂向温度梯度弱是碳研所断面溶解氧质量浓度季节性偏低的主要因素。     

新疆河流洪水水污染分析

洪水期间的水污染主要来源于面源。其特点是污染物的浓度高、负荷量大。给工业、渔业和人民生活都会带来不同程度的危害。悬浮物是洪水过程中的主要面污染产物,同时还作为载体吸附和携带大量的有机物、无机盐、重金属类和微生物进入水体,致使河流水质下降。在研究洪水灾害的同时。不应忽略洪水期间的水污染问题。     

Study of Meteorological Aspects and Urban Concentration of SO2 in Atmospheric Environment of La Plata, Argentina

This article presents and discusses SO₂ (ppbv) concentration measurements combined with meteorological data (mainly wind speed and direction) for a five-year campaign (1996 to 2000), in a site near an oil refinery plant close to the city of La Plata and surroundings (aprox. 740.000 inh.), considered one of the six most affected cities by air pollution in the country. Since there is no monitoring network in the area, the obtained results should be considered as medium term accumulated data that enables to determine trends by analyzing together gas concentrations and meteorological parameters. Preliminary characterization of the behaviour of the predominant winds of the region in relation with potential atmospheric gas pollutants from seasonal wind roses is possible to carry out from the data. These results are complemented with monthly averaged SO₂ measurements. In particular, for year 2000, pollutant roses were determined which enable predictions about contamination emission sources. As a general result we can state that there is a clear increase in annual SO₂ concentration and that the selected site should be considered as a key site for future survey monitoring network deployment. Annual SO₂ average concentration and prevailing seasonal winds determined in this work, together with the potential health impact of SO₂ reveals the need for a comprehensive and systematic study involving particulate matter an other basic pollutant gases.     

Development and Use of Integrated Air Quality Management Tools in Urban Areas with the Aid of Environmental Telematics

Contemporary urban air quality management requires the use of appropriate systems which include air quality models, a Geographical Information System (GIS) and a combination of expert systems and decision support tools, while at the same time possessing the capability to receive information from in situ measurements. Until recently, the relation between Information Technology capabilities and the system's design and architecture were poorly addressed, mainly due to technological limitations posed. Moreover, air quality management scenario design issues were partially considered, because of the difficulty in aggregating complex, air quality related issues, in a comprehensive and effective manner, from the end users point of view. In the present paper the use of Environmental Telematics is discussed as a framework for the development of urban air quality management systems, while a comprehensive approach for the application and evaluation of relevant scenarios is presented.     

Climate dynamics and extreme precipitation and flood events in Central Europe

Past changes and possible future variations in the nature of extreme precipitation and flood events in Central Europe and the Alpine region are examined from a physical standpoint. An overview is given of the following key contributory physical processes: (1) the variability of the large-scale atmospheric flow and the associated changes of the North-Atlantic storm track; (2) the feedback process between climate warming and the water cycle, and in particular the potential for more frequent heavy precipitation events; and (3) the catchment-scale hydrological processes associated with variations in major river flooding events and that are related to land-use changes, river training measures, and shifts in the proportion of rain to snowfall. In this context an account is provided of the possible future forecasting and warning methodologies based upon high-resolution weather prediction and runoff models. Also consideration is given to the detectability of past (future) changes in observed (modeled) extreme events. It is shown that their rarity and natural fluctuation largely impedes a detection of systematic variations. These effects restrict trend analysis of such events to return periods of below a few months. An illustration using daily precipitation from the Swiss Alps does yield evidence for pronounced trends of intense precipitation events (return period 30 days), while trends of stronger event classes are not detectable (but nevertheless can not be excluded). The small detection probability for extreme events limits possible mitigation of future damage costs through an abatement of climate change alone, and points to the desirability of developing improved early forecasting/warning systems as an additional no-regret strategy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Formulaic Expert Method to Integrate Evaluation and Valuation of Heritage Trees in Compact City

Urban trees serve important environmental, social and economic functions, but similar to other natural endowments they are not customarily depicted in monetary terms. The needs to augment protection, funding and community support for urban greening call for proper valuation. Heritage trees (HTs), the cream of urban-tree stock, deserve special attention. Existing assessment methods do not give justice to outstanding trees in compact cities deficient in high-caliber greenery, and to their social-cultural-historical importance. They artificially separate evaluation from valuation, which should be a natural progression from the former. Review of tree valuation methods suggested the formula approach to be more suitable than contingent valuation and hedonic pricing, and provided hints on their strengths and weaknesses. This study develops an alternative formulaic expert method (FEM) that integrates evaluation and valuation, maximizes objectivity, broadly encompasses the key tree, tree-environment and tree-human traits, and accords realistic monetary value to HTs. Six primary criteria (dimension, species, tree, condition, location, and outstanding consideration) branched into 45 secondary criteria, each allocated numerical marks. Each primary criterion was standardized to carry equal weight, and a tree's maximum aggregate score is capped at 100. A Monetary Assignment Factor (MAF) to consign dollar value to each score unit was derived from three-year average per m² sale price of medium-sized residential flats. The applicability of FEM was tested on selected HTs in compact Hong Kong. The aggregate score of a tree multiplied by MAF yielded monetary value, which was on average 66 times higher than the result from the commonly-adopted Council of Tree and Landscape Appraisers method. The computed tree values could be publicized together with multiple tree benefits to raise understanding and awareness and rally support to protect HTs. The property-linked FEM could be flexibly applied to other cities, especially to assess HTs in compact developing cities.