scholarly journals Black carbon air pollution

Dela ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 5-43
Author(s):  
Kristina Glojek ◽  
Asta Gregorič ◽  
Matej Ogrin
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Karst Depression ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
Measurement Results ◽  
Temperature Inversions

The paper presents a study of air pollution caused by black carbon (BC) and fine particulate matter (PM) carried out in the rural area of the municipality of Loški Potok in the winter season of 2017/2018. Measurements of pollutants were performed at two different locations, one at Retje, a village at the bottom of a karst depression, and the other on the top of the Tabor hill in settlement Hrib. The measurement results exposed the main sources of black carbon air pollution in this area: domestic heating with biomass (almost 80% of all black carbon emissions) and unfavorable meteorological conditions for dilution of pollutants during temperature inversions. Three times higher concentrations were measured at Retje during temperature inversions than in the days of mixed atmosphere. In the winter of 2017/18, the average concentrations in the Retje hollow were even higher than those of Ljubljana, which calls attention to the problem of polluted air in rural areas too.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Lockdown Caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) Air Pollution: The Greek Paradigm

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 6748
Author(s):  
Ourania S. Kotsiou ◽  
Georgios K. D. Saharidis ◽  
Georgios Kalantzis ◽  
Evangelos C. Fradelos ◽  
Konstantinos I. Gourgoulianis
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Wireless Sensors ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Significant Drop ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
Guideline Value ◽  
The Mean ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pm2.5 Concentration

Introduction: Responding to the coronavirus pandemic, Greece implemented the largest quarantine in its history. No data exist regarding its impact on PM2.5 pollution. We aimed to assess PM2.5 levels before, during, and after lockdown (7 March 2020–16 May 2020) in Volos, one of Greece’s most polluted industrialized cities, and compare PM2.5 levels with those obtained during the same period last year. Meteorological conditions were examined as confounders. Methods: The study period was discriminated into three phases (pre-lockdown: 7 March–9 March, lockdown: 10 March–4 May, and post-lockdown period: 5 May–16 May). A wireless sensors network was used to collect PM2.5, temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, and wind speed data every 2 s. Results: The lockdown resulted in a significant drop of PM2.5 by 37.4% in 2020, compared to 2019 levels. The mean daily concentrations of PM2.5 exceeded the WHO’s guideline value for 24-h mean levels of PM2.5 35% of the study period. During the strictest lockdown (23 March to 4 May), the mean daily PM2.5 levels exceeded the standard 41% of the time. The transition from the pre-lockdown period into lockdown or post-lockdown periods was associated with lower PM2.5 concentrations. Conclusions: A reduction in the mean daily PM2.5 concentration was found compared to 2019. Lockdown was not enough to avoid severe exceedances of air pollution in Volos.

Wintertime Arctic Air Pollution over Alaska

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleftherios Ioannidis ◽  
Kathy Law ◽  
Jean-Christophe Raut ◽  
Tatsuo Onishi ◽  
William R. Simpson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
The United States ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Formation Mechanisms ◽  
Local Pollution ◽  
Arctic Haze ◽  
Temperature Inversions

<p><span><span>The Arctic is influenced by long-range transport of aerosols, for example, sulphate, black carbon, and dust from mid-latitude emissions, especially in winter and spring, leading to the formation of Arctic Haze with enhanced aerosol concentrations. However, more recently, local sources of aerosols, such as wood-burning or resource extraction, are highlighted as already being important, but many uncertainties about sources and aerosol processes still remain. For example, the formation of secondary aerosols, such as sulphate, in winter despite very low temperatures and the absence of sunlight. </span></span></p><p><span><span>In this study, which contributes to the international PACES-ALPACA initiative, the Weather Research Forecasting (WRF) and WRF-Chem models are used to investigate wintertime pollution over Alaska with a focus on regions influenced by local pollution, such as Fairbanks and by Arctic Haze, such as </span></span><span><span>Utqiagvik (formerly known as Barrow)</span></span><span><span>. Fairbanks is the most polluted city in the United States during wintertime due to high emissions and the occurrence of strong surface temperature inversion</span></span><span><span>s</span></span><span><span>. </span></span></p><p><span><span>As a first step, background aerosols originating from remote sources were evaluated in large- scale quasi-hemispheric WRF-Chem runs using ECLIPSE anthropogenic emissions. The model performs quite well over Alaska at background sites (e.g. Denali Park) compared to observations from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Discrepancies in modelled aerosols due to formation mechanisms and aerosol acidity are being investigated. </span></span></p><p><span><span>Secondly, in order to better simulate Arctic aerosols and local pollution episodes, different schemes in WRF were tested over Alaska with a particular focus on improving simulations of the Arctic boundary layer </span></span><span><span>structure and, in particular, wintertime temperature inversions which trap pollution at the ground. In order to simulate these extreme/cold meteorological conditions, different schemes linked to boundary layer physics, surface layer dynamics and the land surface have been tested and evaluated against Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive (IGRA2) and Integrated Surface Database (ISD). The model captures the cold meteorological conditions over Alaska, for example, capturing strong temperature inversions over Utqiagvik and Fairbanks in winter 2012.</span></span></p><p><span><span>Thirdly, WRF-Chem is used to simulate background and local Arctic air pollution</span></span><span><span>, using the improved WRF setup for meteorology over Alaska for winter 2013-2014. The model is being run with Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution version 2 (HTAP v2) and other high-resolution emission inventories and evaluated against available aerosol data (</span></span><span><span>PM2.5, black carbon, sulphate) over Alaska including data on aerosol chemical </span></span><span><span>properties. The</span></span><span><span> model is used to examine aerosol composition in locally produced and remote aerosols and to identify the origins contributing to aerosol distributions. The sensitivity of modelled aerosols to, for example, meteorological factors, such as humidity, is examined.</span></span></p>

scholarly journals Hidden black carbon air pollution in hilly rural areas—a case study of Dinaric depression

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Kristina GLOJEK ◽  
◽  
Asta GREGORIČ ◽  
Griša MOČNIK ◽  
Andrea CUESTA-MOSQUERA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Karst Area ◽  
Rural Background ◽  
Mountainous Regions ◽  
Karst Depression ◽  
The Hill ◽  
Mass Concentrations

Air pollution is not an exclusively urban problem as wood burning is a widespread practice in rural areas. As we lack information on the air quality situation in rural mountainous regions, our aim is to examine equivalent black carbon (eBC) pollution in a typical rural karst area in the settlement of Loški Potok (Slovenia). eBC mass concentrations were measured by Aethalometer (AE-33) at two sites in Retje karst depression. The rural village station was located at the bottom of the karst depression whereas the rural background station was positioned at the top of the hill. We show the diurnal variation of equivalent black carbon mass concentrations for different seasons. In the populated karst depression, the major source of eBC pollution are households using wood as a heating fuel reaching the highest mass concentrations in winter. Diurnal pattern of eBC from biomass burning and traffic differ due to different source activity and it is influenced by typical formation of a cold air pool from late afternoon until late morning, restricting the dispersion of local emissions. The large difference in mass concentrations between the lowest part of the village (rural station) and the top of the hill (rural background station) indicates that in a vertically stratified and stable atmosphere local sources of black carbon have a major impact on air quality conditions in the area studied. Since in Alpine and Dinaric regions there are many similar inhabited areas, we can expect similar air quality conditions also in other rural hilly areas with limited self-cleaning air capacity.

scholarly journals Short-Term Association between Black Carbon Exposure and Cardiovascular Diseases in Pakistan’s Largest Megacity

Atmosphere ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Malashock ◽  
Haider Khwaja ◽  
Zafar Fatmi ◽  
Azhar Siddique ◽  
Yi Lu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Diseases ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Hospital Admissions ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Residential Site ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
Tertiary Care Hospitals

This study investigated the association between black carbon (BC) exposure and hospital admissions (HAs) and outpatient department/emergency room (OPD/ER) visits for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among residents of Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan. We measured daily concentrations of BC in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and collected records of HAs and OPD/ER visits for CVD from 2 major tertiary care hospitals serving Karachi for 6 weeks continuously during each quarter over 1 year (August 2008–August 2009). We subsequently analyzed daily counts of hospital and BC data over 0–3 lag days. Daily mean BC concentrations varied from 1 to 32 µg/m3. Results suggest that BC concentrations are associated with CVD HAs and OPD/ER visits. However, associations were generally only observed when modeled with BC from Tibet Center, the commercial-residential site, as compared to Korangi, the industrial-residential site. Overall, low statistical significance suggests that while BC may be a valuable indicator for CVD health risks from combustion-derived particles, further evaluation of the constituents of PM2.5 and their relative contributions to CVD health impacts is necessary.

scholarly journals Dome effect of black carbon and its key influencing factors: A one-dimensional modelling study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zilin Wang ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Aijun Ding
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Layer ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Black Carbon ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Aerosol Layer ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Haze Pollution ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) has been identified to play a critical role in aerosol-planet boundary layer (PBL) interaction and further deterioration of near-surface air pollution in megacities, which has been named as its dome effect. However, the impacts of key factors that influence this effect, such as the vertical distribution and aging processes of BC, and also the underlying land surface, have not been quantitatively explored yet. Here, based on available in-situ measurements of meteorology and atmospheric aerosols together with the meteorology-chemistry online coupled model, WRF-Chem, we conduct a set of parallel simulations to quantify the roles of these factors in influencing the BC's dome effect and surface haze pollution, and discuss the main implications of the results to air pollution mitigation in China. We found that the impact of BC on PBL is very sensitive to the altitude of aerosol layer. The upper level BC, especially those near the capping inversion, is more essential in suppressing the PBL height and weakening the turbulence mixing. The dome effect of BC tends to be significantly intensified as BC aerosol mixed with scattering aerosols during winter haze events, resulting in a decrease of PBL height by more than 25 %. In addition, the dome effect is more substantial (up to 15 %) in rural areas than that in the urban areas with the same BC loading, indicating an unexpected regional impact of such kind of effect to air quality in countryside. This study suggests that China's regional air pollution would greatly benefit from BC emission reductions, especially those from the elevated sources from the chimneys and also the domestic combustions in rural areas, through weakening the aerosol-boundary layer interactions that triggered by BC.

scholarly journals Toward an Improved Air Pollution Warning System in Quebec

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 2095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Masselot ◽  
Fateh Chebana ◽  
Éric Lavigne ◽  
Céline Campagna ◽  
Pierre Gosselin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Excess Mortality ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Quebec City ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Warning Systems ◽  
Health Warnings ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fine Particulate

The nature of pollutants involved in smog episodes can vary significantly in various cities and contexts and will impact local populations differently due to actual exposure and pre-existing sensitivities for cardiovascular or respiratory diseases. While regulated standards and guidance remain important, it is relevant for cities to have local warning systems related to air pollution. The present paper proposes indicators and thresholds for an air pollution warning system in the metropolitan areas of Montreal and Quebec City (Canada). It takes into account past and current local health impacts to launch its public health warnings for short-term episodes. This warning system considers fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as the combined oxidant capacity of ozone and nitrogen dioxide (Ox) as environmental exposures. The methodology used to determine indicators and thresholds consists in identifying extreme excess mortality episodes in the data and then choosing the indicators and thresholds to optimize the detection of these episodes. The thresholds found for the summer were 31 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 43 ppb for Ox in Montreal, and 32 μg/m3 and 23 ppb in Quebec City. In winter, thresholds found were 25 μg/m3 and 26 ppb in Montreal, and 33 μg/m3 and 21 ppb in Quebec City. These results are in line with different guidelines existing concerning air quality, but more adapted to the cities examined. In addition, a sensitivity analysis is conducted which suggests that Ox is more determinant than PM2.5 in detecting excess mortality episodes.

scholarly journals Meteorological controls on atmospheric particulate pollution during hazard reduction burns

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Di Virgilio ◽  
Melissa Anne Hart ◽  
Ningbo Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Fine Particulate Matter ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Hazard Reduction ◽  
Particulate Pollution ◽  
Fine Particulate ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
Sydney Australia

Abstract. Internationally, severe wildfires are an escalating problem likely to worsen given projected changes to climate. Hazard reduction burns (HRB) are used to suppress wildfire occurrences, but they generate considerable emissions of atmospheric fine particulate matter, which depending upon prevailing atmospheric conditions, can degrade air quality. Our objectives are to improve understanding of the relationships between meteorological conditions and air quality during HRBs in Sydney, Australia. We identify the primary meteorological covariates linked to high PM2.5 pollution (particulates

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