scholarly journals Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 2441-2450
Author(s):  
Hengnan Guo ◽  
Zefeng Zhang ◽  
Lin Jiang ◽  
Junlin An ◽  
Bin Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Significant Error ◽  
Atmospheric Transparency ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Change Pattern ◽  
Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency, and it is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, leading to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics, namely (1) independence, which means that the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. The second characteristic is (2) uncertainty, which means the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error or its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current measurement methods.

scholarly journals Ångström exponent errors prevent accurate visibility measurement

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hengnan Guo ◽  
Zefeng Zhang ◽  
Lin Jiang ◽  
Junlin An ◽  
Bin Zhu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Measurement Methods ◽  
Significant Error ◽  
Atmospheric Transparency ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Change Pattern ◽  
Clear Change

Abstract. Visibility is an indicator of atmospheric transparency and is widely used in many research fields, including air pollution, climate change, ground transportation, and aviation. Although efforts have been made to improve the performance of visibility meters, a significant error exists in measured visibility data. This study conducts a well-designed simulation calibration of visibility meters, which proves that current methods of visibility measurement include a false assumption, which leads to the long-term neglect of an important source of visibility error caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents. This error has two characteristics. (1) Independence, in which the magnitude of the error is independent of the performance of the visibility meter. It is impossible to reduce this error by improving the performance of visibility meters. (2) Uncertainty, in which the magnitude of the error does not show a clear change pattern but can be substantially larger than the measurement error of visibility meters. It is impossible to accurately estimate the magnitude of this error nor its influence on visibility measurements. Our simulations indicate that, as errors in visibility caused by erroneous values of Ångström exponents are inevitable using current methods of visibility measurement, reliable visibility data cannot be obtained without major adjustments to current visibility measurement methods.

scholarly journals Public health air pollution impacts of pathway options to meet the 2050 UK Climate Change Act target: a modelling study

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-124
Author(s):  
Martin L Williams ◽  
Sean Beevers ◽  
Nutthida Kitwiroon ◽  
David Dajnak ◽  
Heather Walton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Road Transport ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Life Years ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact

BackgroundThe UK’sClimate Change Act 2008(CCA; Great Britain.Climate Change Act 2008. Chapter 27. London: The Stationery Office; 2008) requires a reduction of 80% in carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions by 2050 on a 1990 base. This project quantified the impact of air pollution on health from four scenarios involving particulate matter of ≤ 2.5 µm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3). Two scenarios met the CCA target: one with limited nuclear power build (nuclear replacement option; NRPO) and one with no policy constraint on nuclear (low greenhouse gas). Another scenario envisaged no further climate actions beyond those already agreed (‘baseline’) and the fourth kept 2011 concentrations constant to 2050 (‘2011’).MethodsThe UK Integrated MARKAL–EFOM System (UKTM) energy system model was used to develop the scenarios and produce projections of fuel use; these were used to produce air pollutant emission inventories for Great Britain (GB) for each scenario. The inventories were then used to run the Community Multiscale Air Quality model ‘air pollution model’ to generate air pollutant concentration maps across GB, which then, combined with relationships between concentrations and health outcomes, were used to calculate the impact on health from the air pollution emitted in each scenario. This is a significant improvement on previous health impact studies of climate policies, which have relied on emissions changes. Inequalities in exposure in different socioeconomic groups were also calculated, as was the economic impact of the pollution emissions.ResultsConcentrations of NO2declined significantly because of a high degree of electrification of the GB road transport fleet, although the NRPO scenario shows large increases in oxides of nitrogen emissions from combined heat and power (CHP) sources. Concentrations of PM2.5show a modest decrease by 2050, which would have been larger if it had not been for a significant increase in biomass (wood burning) use in the two CCA scenarios peaking in 2035. The metric quantifying long-term exposure to O3is projected to decrease, while the important short-term O3exposure metric increases. Large projected increases in future GB vehicle kilometres lead to increased non-exhaust PM2.5and particulate matter of ≤ 10 µm emissions. The two scenarios which achieve the CCA target resulted in more life-years lost from long-term exposures to PM2.5than in the baseline scenario. This is an opportunity lost and arises largely from the increase in biomass use, which is projected to peak in 2035. Reduced long-term exposures to NO2lead to many more life-years saved in the ‘CCA-compliant’ scenarios, but the association used may overestimate the effects of NO2itself. The more deprived populations are estimated currently to be exposed to higher concentrations than those less deprived, the contrast being largest for NO2. Despite reductions in concentrations in 2050, the most socioeconomically deprived are still exposed to higher concentrations than the less deprived.LimitationsModelling of the atmosphere is always uncertain; we have shown the model to be acceptable through comparison with observations. The necessary complexity of the modelling system has meant that only a small number of scenarios were run.ConclusionsWe have established a system which can be used to explore a wider range of climate policy scenarios, including more European and global scenarios as well as local measures. Future work could explore wood burning in more detail, in terms of the sectors in which it might be burned and the spatial distribution of this across the UK. Further analyses of options for CHP could also be explored. Non-exhaust emissions from road transport are an important source of particles and emission factors are uncertain. Further research on this area coupled with our modelling would be a valuable area of research.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research Public Health Research programme.

scholarly journals Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events: challenges and directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1723) ◽  
pp. 20160134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn van de Pol ◽  
Stéphanie Jenouvrier ◽  
Johannes H. C. Cornelissen ◽  
Marcel E. Visser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Environmental Factors ◽  
Scientific Progress ◽  
Biological Response ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Extreme Climatic Events ◽  
Research Fields ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
Theoretical Evidence

More extreme climatic events (ECEs) are among the most prominent consequences of climate change. Despite a long-standing recognition of the importance of ECEs by paleo-ecologists and macro-evolutionary biologists, ECEs have only recently received a strong interest in the wider ecological and evolutionary community. However, as with many rapidly expanding fields, it lacks structure and cohesiveness, which strongly limits scientific progress. Furthermore, due to the descriptive and anecdotal nature of many ECE studies it is still unclear what the most relevant questions and long-term consequences are of ECEs. To improve synthesis, we first discuss ways to define ECEs that facilitate comparison among studies. We then argue that biologists should adhere to more rigorous attribution and mechanistic methods to assess ECE impacts. Subsequently, we discuss conceptual and methodological links with climatology and disturbance-, tipping point- and paleo-ecology. These research fields have close linkages with ECE research, but differ in the identity and/or the relative severity of environmental factors. By summarizing the contributions to this theme issue we draw parallels between behavioural, ecological and evolutionary ECE studies, and suggest that an overarching challenge is that most empirical and theoretical evidence points towards responses being highly idiosyncratic, and thus predictability being low. Finally, we suggest a roadmap based on the proposition that an increased focus on the mechanisms behind the biological response function will be crucial for increased understanding and predictability of the impacts of ECE. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Behavioural, ecological and evolutionary responses to extreme climatic events’.

Environmental medicine, occupational medicine, and poisoning—Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1637-1637
Author(s):  
Jon G. Ayres
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Environmental Medicine ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
Occupational Medicine ◽  
Volcanic Eruptions ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Improve Health ◽  
Indoor And Outdoor

The environment, both occupational and beyond, can affect health in many ways, adversely as well as beneficially. While to date many of these effects have been well understood, most specifically for the work environment, the importance of the wider environment as a cause of ill health has been less well studied on the basis that there is not much one can do about general exposures, such as the weather, or specific events, such as volcanic eruptions, apart from deal with the direct effects. However, increasing awareness of the importance of the environment on health, such as exposure to air pollution (both indoor and outdoor) and the short-, medium-, and long-term effects of climate change, has resulted in better understanding of interventions that can improve health or at least abrogate deleterious effects. This section discusses these aspects in detail.

scholarly journals The Impact of Individual Mobility on Long-Term Exposure to Ambient PM2.5: Assessing Effect Modification by Travel Patterns and Spatial Variability of PM2.5

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 2194
Author(s):  
Eun-hye Yoo ◽  
Qiang Pu ◽  
Youngseob Eum ◽  
Xiangyu Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Measurement Error ◽  
Effect Modification ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
Exposure Model ◽  
Travel Patterns ◽  
Exposure Measurement ◽  
Exposure Measurement Error ◽  
The Impact

The impact of individuals’ mobility on the degree of error in estimates of exposure to ambient PM2.5 concentrations is increasingly reported in the literature. However, the degree to which accounting for mobility reduces error likely varies as a function of two related factors—individuals’ routine travel patterns and the local variations of air pollution fields. We investigated whether individuals’ routine travel patterns moderate the impact of mobility on individual long-term exposure assessment. Here, we have used real-world time–activity data collected from 2013 participants in Erie/Niagara counties, New York, USA, matched with daily PM2.5 predictions obtained from two spatial exposure models. We further examined the role of the spatiotemporal representation of ambient PM2.5 as a second moderator in the relationship between an individual’s mobility and the exposure measurement error using a random effect model. We found that the effect of mobility on the long-term exposure estimates was significant, but that this effect was modified by individuals’ routine travel patterns. Further, this effect modification was pronounced when the local variations of ambient PM2.5 concentrations were captured from multiple sources of air pollution data (‘a multi-sourced exposure model’). In contrast, the mobility effect and its modification were not detected when ambient PM2.5 concentration was estimated solely from sparse monitoring data (‘a single-sourced exposure model’). This study showed that there was a significant association between individuals’ mobility and the long-term exposure measurement error. However, the effect could be modified by individuals’ routine travel patterns and the error-prone representation of spatiotemporal variability of PM2.5.

2018 Nobel Economics Prize: Integrating Climate Change Measures into Sustainable Economic Growth

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Thi Thuc An ◽  
Dau Kieu Ngoc Anh
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Endogenous Growth ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Growth Theory ◽  
Endogenous Growth Theory ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Academy Of Sciences ◽  
Sustainable Economic Growth

The 2018 Nobel Economics Prize was awarded to two American economists - William D. Nordhaus and Paul M. Romer - who designed methods for better assessing environmental issues and technological advances on growth. This year’s Laureates, Nordhaus was the first person to create an intergrated model to assess interactions between society and nature and Romer laid the foundation for what is now called endogenous growth theory. According to the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences, these two macroeconomists’ research have helped “significantly broaden the scope of economic analysis by constructing models that explain how the market economy interacts with nature and knowledge” which integrates climate change measures into long-term sustainable economic growth. Keywords Nobel in economics, William D. Nordhaus, Paul M. Romer, climate change, endogenous growth theory, economic growth References [1] Y Vân (2018), “Lý lịch 'khủng' của hai nhà khoa học vừa giành giải Nobel Kinh tế 2018”, Vietnambiz, đăng tải ngày 08/10/2018, https://vietnambiz.vn/ly-lich-khung-cua-hai-nha-khoa-hoc-vua-gianh-giai-nobel-kinh-te-2018-95776.html[2] Jonas O. Bergman, Rich Miller (2018), “Nordhaus, Romer Win Nobel for Thinking on Climate, Innovation”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-08/nordhaus-romer-win-2018-nobel-prize-in-economic-sciences [3] Antonin Pottier (2018), “Giải Nobel” William Nordhaus có thật sự nghiêm túc?”, Nguyễn Đôn Phước dịch, đăng tải ngày 11/10/2018, http://www.phantichkinhte123.com/2018/10/giai-nobel-william-nordhaus-co-that-su.html[4] Thăng Điệp (2018), “Giải Nobel kinh tế 2018 về tay hai người Mỹ”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, http://vneconomy.vn/giai-nobel-kinh-te-2018-ve-tay-hai-nguoi-my-20181008185809239.htm[5] Lars P. Syll (2018), “Cuối cùng - Paul Romer cũng có được giải thưởng Nobel”, Huỳnh Thiện Quốc Việt dịch, đăng tải ngày 14/10/2018, http://www.phantichkinhte123.com/2018/10/cuoi-cung-paul-romer-cung-co-uoc-giai.html[6] Phương Võ (2018), “Nobel Kinh tế 2018: Chạm tới bài toán khó của thời đại”, đăng tải ngày 9/10/2018, https://nld.com.vn/thoi-su-quoc-te/nobel-kinh-te-2018-cham-toi-bai-toan-kho-cua-thoi-dai-20181008221734228.htm[7] Đông Phong (2018), “Nobel Kinh tế cho giải pháp phát triển bền vững và phúc lợi người dân”, đăng tải ngày 8/10/2018, https://news.zing.vn/nobel-kinh-te-cho-giai-phap-phat-trien-ben-vung-va-phuc-loi-nguoi-dan-post882860.html[8] Thanh Trúc (2018), “Giải Nobel kinh tế 2018: Thay đổi tư duy về biến đổi khí hậu”, https://tusach.thuvienkhoahoc.com/wiki/Gi%E1%BA%A3i_Nobel_kinh_t%E1%BA%BF_2018:_Thay_%C4%91%E1%BB%95i_t%C6%B0_duy_v%E1%BB%81_bi%E1%BA%BFn_%C4%91%E1%BB%95i_kh%C3%AD_h%E1%BA%ADu[9] Cẩm Anh (2018), “Nobel kinh tế 2018: Lời giải cho tăng trưởng kinh tế bền vững”, đăng tải ngày 11/10/2018, http://enternews.vn/nobel-kinh-te-2018-loi-giai-cho-tang-truong-kinh-te-ben-vung-137600.html.

On Climate Change Risks of Long-Term Socio-Economic Development in Russia

2019 ◽  
pp. 79-95
Author(s):  
N.E. Terentiev
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Technological Innovation ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Climate Risk ◽  
Climate Change Risks ◽  
Socio Economic Development ◽  
Management Policies

Based on the latest data, paper investigates the dynamics of global climate change and its impact on economic growth in the long-term. The notion of climate risk is considered. The main directions of climate risk management policies are analyzed aimed, first, at reducing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions through technological innovation and structural economic shifts; secondly, at adaptation of population, territories and economic complexes to the irreparable effects of climate change. The problem of taking into account the phenomenon of climate change in the state economic policy is put in the context of the most urgent tasks of intensification of long-term socio-economic development and parrying strategic challenges to the development of Russia.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document