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     

An Evaluation of Selenium Concentrations in Water, Sediment, Invertebrates, and Fish from the Republican River Basin: 1997–1999

The Republican River Basin of Colorado,Nebraska, and Kansas lies in a valley which contains PierreShale as part of its geological substrata. Selenium is anindigenous constituent in the shale and is readily leached intosurrounding groundwater. The Basin is heavily irrigated throughthe pumping of groundwater, some of which is selenium-contaminated, onto fields in agricultural production. Water,sediment, benthic invertebrates, and/or fish were collected from46 sites in the Basin and were analyzed for selenium to determinethe potential for food-chain bioaccumulation, dietary toxicity,and reproductive effects of selenium in biota. Resultingselenium concentrations were compared to published guidelines orbiological effects thresholds. Water from 38% of the sites (n = 18) contained selenium concentrations exceeding 5 g L^-1, which is reported to be a high hazard for selenium accumulation into the planktonic food chain. An additional 12 sites (26% of the sites) contained selenium in water between 3–5 g L^-1, constituting a moderate hazard. Selenium concentrations in sedimentindicated little to no hazard for selenium accumulation fromsediments into the benthic food chain. Ninety-five percent ofbenthic invertebrates collected exhibited selenium concentrationsexceeding 3 g g^-1, a level reported as potentially lethal to fish and birds that consume them. Seventy-five percent of fish collected in 1997, 90% in 1998, and 64% in 1999 exceeded 4 g g^-1selenium, indicating a high potential for toxicity andreproductive effects. However, examination of weight profilesof various species of collected individual fish suggestedsuccessful recruitment in spite of selenium concentrations thatexceeded published biological effects thresholds for health andreproductive success. This finding suggested that universalapplication of published guidelines for selenium may beinappropriate or at least may need refinement for systems similarto the Republican River Basin. Additional research is needed todetermine the true impact of selenium on fish and wildliferesources in the Basin.     

中国生物入侵现状及对策

生物入侵是当今世界三大难题之一,中国也是世界上遭受生物入侵危害最大的国家之一.入侵中国的生物主要是以陆生植物为主,源地以美洲为主.在地域分布上南方和东部地区比较严重.主要侵入途径是以人类活动影响为主,自然扩散比重比较小.生物入侵对我国造成的危害十分巨大,解决生物入侵的主要对策是加强立法,全民重视.     

印染废水处理工艺的改造实践

由于原有的废水处理系统的处理效果不能达到应有的处理目标。废水的色度、COD_(cr)、BOD_5、硫化物仍然经常出现超标现象。所以必须对原有的废水处理系统进行改进。通过实验室小试,确定新的絮凝剂和最佳操作条件,同时对接触氧化池的填料更换,提高废水中污染物的去除效率,使出水水质达到行业排放一级标准。该工艺具有运行费用低、处理效果稳定等特点,尤其适合中小型印染厂废水治理。     

可发性聚苯乙烯废水处理工程的设计与运行

介绍了采用中和混凝 水解酸化 生物接触氧化 化学除磷工艺对可发性聚苯乙烯 (EPS)废水的处理工艺。在废水中的CODCr、TP、SS、NH3 N分别为 194 0mg L、112mg L、5 92mg L、2 3 6mg L的条件下 ,废水经过处理后 ,出水CODCr、TP、SS、NH3 N分别为 70mg L、0 38mg L、2 6mg L、0 32mg L ,均可达到《污水综合排放标准》中的一级标准 ,废水中CODCr、TP、SS、NH3 N的平均去除率分别为 96 4 %、99 3%、95 6 %、98 6 %。     

多级环流曝气技术处理工业污水的实验研究

在结构简单、占地面积小、氧利用率高的多级环流曝气小型实验装置上，对某种石油化工排放污水进行了生化处理性能实验。分别利用间歇和连续两种装置进行污水的处理，均得到了良好的试验结果。间歇实验探索了污水降解与系统中溶解氧的变化情况的对比，摸索出了两者之间的初步关系。连续实验表明，污水的停留时间在3-5h时，出水COD可以降到80mg／L以下。     

活性炭性质对其吸附水中硝基苯性能的影响

通过对活性炭进行HNO3氧化及热处理改性,研究了活性炭性质对其吸附硝基苯性能的影响.以低温液氮(N2/77 K)吸附测定活性炭的比表面积和孔容、孔径分布;以Boehm滴定、零电荷点pHPZC的测定及元素分析定量表征活性发表面含氧官能团变化.结果表明:经改性后,活性炭比表面积及总孔容略有减小,表面性质发生较大变化.改性活性炭对硝基苯的吸附容量明显改变,吸附容量大小依次为:AC1′＞AC0′＞AC0＞AC1.经硝酸氧化后,比表面积下降、存在过多表面含氧官能团是导致AC1吸附硝基苯能力降低的主要原因;而AC1'表面适量酚羟基所提供的氢键吸附是其对硝基苯吸附量增加的主要原因.     

影响土壤重金属生物毒性的若干因子

本文应用发光细菌法探讨了土壤类型、粘土矿物、无定形金属氧化物、吸附剂对重金属纯溶液以及重金属污染土壤的降毒效应.红壤、砖红壤对Cu、Cd、Pb呈现负的降毒效应,而对As具有明显的降毒作用.黑土、黄棕壤对供试阳离子金属具有明显的降毒效应,对As降毒却不明显.试验证明粘土矿物及其组成是影响土壤重金属毒性的最基本因素.无定形氧化锰对供试阳离子金属的降毒能力大于无定形氧化铁,对As的效应二者则相反.不同吸附剂对Cu、Cd、Pb呈现基本相同的降毒顺序,即炉烟灰>活性炭>泥炭>干活性污泥,不同配比吸附剂对红壤添加性阳离子和东乡铜矿污染土壤均具有明显的降毒作用.添加吸附剂的东乡铜矿污染土壤随着土壤溶液毒性的消除,随之也消除或减轻了其对水稻种芽的急性毒害.     

几种海洋微藻对水中三丁基锡化合物的迁移和转化作用

实验表明，在半抑制效应浓度下纤弱角毛藻，扁藻，三角褐指藻对三丁基锡均有瞬时强吸附作用，其后，微藻对三丁基锡的吸收可单室生物积累模型描述，根据模型曲线拟合求出其总吸收饱和浓度和生物排出速常数，微藻对三丁基锡的生物富集因子高达１０＾４－１０＾５，主要取决于高比表面，高分配比和高摄取速率，７２ｈ纤弱角毛藻对三丁基锡的生物降解率在５％左右。     

Removal of high concentrated ammonia nitrogen from landfill leachate by landfilled waste layer

IntroductionBiologicalremovalofammonia ,i.e.nitrification denitrificationprocesses,isthemosteffectiveandeconomicmethodfortreatingwastewaterwithhighammonianitrogenconcentration ,suchaslandfillleachate .Buttheleachatefrommaturedlandfillischaracterizedwithlowbiodegradablecarbonconcentration .Sothesupplementaryexternalcarbonsourcehastobeaddedtofacilitatedenitrification .Consequently ,theoperationalcostincreases(Carley ,1991) .Thereisnotonlyabundantorganiccarbon ,butalsoagreatdealofanaerobicandfac…