The Use of Public Data from Low-Cost Sensors for the Geospatial Analysis of Air Pollution from Solid Fuel Heating during the COVID-19 Pandemic Spring Period in Krakow, Poland

In this paper, we present a detailed analysis of the public data provided by low-cost sensors (LCS), which were used for spatial and temporal studies of air quality in Krakow. A PM (particulate matter) dataset was obtained in spring in 2021, during which a fairly strict lockdown was in force as a result of COVID-19. Therefore, we were able to separate the effect of solid fuel heating from other sources of background pollution, mainly caused by urban transport. Moreover, we analyzed the historical data of PM2.5 from 2010 to 2019 to show the effect of grassroots efforts and pro-clean-air legislation changes in Krakow. We designed a unique workflow with a time–spatial analysis of PM1, PM2.5, and PM10, and temperature data from Airly(c) sensors located in Krakow and its surroundings. Using geostatistical methods, we showed that Krakow’s neighboring cities are the main sources of air pollution from solid fuel heating in the city. Additionally, we showed that the changes in the law in Krakow significantly reduced the PM concentration as compared to neighboring municipalities without a fossil fuel prohibition law. Moreover, our research demonstrates that informative campaigns and education are important initiating factors in order to bring about cleaner air in the future.

Catalog of NO_<i>x</i> emissions from point sources as derived from the divergence of the NO₂ flux for TROPOMI

We present version 1.0 of a global catalog of NOx emissions from point sources, derived from TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) measurements of tropospheric NO2 for 2018–2019. The identification of sources and quantification of emissions are based on the divergence (spatial derivative) of the mean horizontal flux, which is highly sensitive for point sources like power plant exhaust stacks. The catalog lists 451 locations which could be clearly identified as NOx point sources by a fully automated algorithm, while ambiguous cases as well as area sources such as megacities are skipped. A total of 242 of these point sources could be automatically matched to power plants. Other NOx point sources listed in the catalog are metal smelters, cement plants, or industrial areas. The four largest localized NOx emitters are all coal combustion plants in South Africa. About 1/4 of all detected point sources are located in the Indian subcontinent and are mostly associated with power plants. The catalog is incomplete, mainly due to persisting gaps in the TROPOMI NO2 product at some coastlines, inaccurate or complex wind fields in coastal and mountainous regions, and high noise in the divergence maps for high background pollution. The derived emissions are generally too low, lacking a factor of about 2 up to 8 for extreme cases. This strong low bias results from combination of different effects, most of all a strong underestimation of near-surface NO2 in TROPOMI NO2 columns. Still, the catalog has high potential for checking and improving emission inventories, as it provides accurate and independent up-to-date information on the location of sources of NOx and thus also CO2. The catalog of NOx emissions from point sources is freely available at https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/Quant_NOx_TROPOMI (Beirle et al., 2020).

Simulation of Aerosol Evolution within Background Pollution for Nucleated Vehicle Exhaust via TEMOM

This work is intended to study the effect of background particles on vehicle emissions in representative realistic atmospheric environments. The coupling of Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes equation (RANS) and Taylor-series Expansion Method Of Moments (TEMOM) is performed to track the emissions of the vehicle and simulating the evolution of the matters. The transport equation of mass, momentum, heat, and the first three orders of moments are taken into account with the effect of binary homogeneous nucleation, Brownian coagulation, condensation, and thermophoresis. The parameterization model is utilized for nucleation. The measured data for Beijing’s particle size distribution under both polluted and nonpolluted conditions are utilized as background particles. The relationship between the macroscopic measurement results and the microscopic dynamic process is analyzed by comparing the variation trend of several physical quantities in the process of aerosol evolution. It is found with an increase of background particle concentration, the nucleation is inhibited, which is consistent with the existing studies.

Catalog of NO_x emissions from point sources as derived from the divergence of the NO₂ flux for TROPOMI

We present version 1.0 of a global catalog of NOx emissions from point sources, derived from TROPOMI measurements of tropospheric NO2 for 2018–2019. The identification of sources and quantification of emissions are based on the divergence (spatial derivative) of the mean horizontal flux, which is highly sensitive for point sources like power plant exhaust stacks. The catalog lists 451 locations which could be clearly identified as NOx point source by a fully automated algorithm, while ambiguous cases as well as area sources such as Megacities are skipped. 242 of these point sources could be automatically matched to power plants. Other NOx point sources listed in the catalog are metal smelters, cement plants, or industrial areas. The four largest localized NOx emitters are all coal combustion plants in South Africa. About 1/4 of all detected point sources are located in the Indian subcontinent and are mostly associated with power plants. The catalog is incomplete, mainly due to persisting gaps in the TROPOMI NO2 product at some coastlines, inaccurate or complex wind fields in coastal and mountainous regions, and high noise in the divergence maps for high background pollution. The derived emissions are generally too low, lacking a factor of up to 2, mainly due to a low bias of TROPOMI NO2 columns. Still, the catalog has high potential for checking and improving emission inventories, as it provides accurate and independent up-to-date information on the location of sources of NOx, and thus also CO2. The catalog of NOx emissions from point sources is freely available at https://doi.org/10.26050/WDCC/Quant_NOx_TROPOMI (Beirle et al., 2020).

Exposure to particulate matter and life loss from traveling by four different common commuting modes

Objective Traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) has an adverse effect on commuters. The primary aim of this article was to make a comparison of PM exposure among four common transportation modes, analyze various influencing factors for specific modes, and evaluate public health effects caused by commuting exposure. Method: The experimental database was integrated for the four modes’ 336 trips and 13 volunteers’ heart-rate data. Basic descriptive statistics were used to compare PM exposure levels, and multivariable linear regression model and Spearman correlation analysis were adopted to explore major influences on pollution concentration among the different modes. In human health evaluations, the inhalation dose model and life table method were employed to obtain inhaled dose and years of life expectancy loss (YLE). Results The results indicated that higher PM exposure was found in cycling (average PM10, PM2.5 and PM1.0 of 114.35, 72.37 and 56.51 µg/m3, respectively), followed by bus (116.29, 67.60 and 51.12 µg/m3 for the same pollutants, respectively), and then taxi (97.61, 58.87 and 45.11 µg/m3), and the lowest concentrations appeared in subways (55.86, 46.20 and 40.20 µg/m3). Background pollution concentration and relative humidity were the staple determining factors on PM exposure according to the analysis outcomes. The greatest YLE loss was found for cycling, and could result in per capita 5.51–6.43 months of life expectancy loss for the 15–64 age group. Conclusions Given the higher average PM concentration for cycling, substituting other modes (like subway) for cycling could reduce adverse health effects during severely polluted periods, before the completion of local dedicated infrastructure projects that might reduce bicyclists’ exposure. PM2.5 levels in taxi cabins were decreased greatly when the vehicles were powered by CNG or methanol as compared to traditional fuels, indicating that implementing energy structure strategies such as vigorously promoting clean energy could effectively reduce pollution emissions and residents’ exposure.

Advances in Diesel-LNG Internal Combustion Engines

Diesel-LNG internal combustion engines (ICEs) are the most promising light and heavy-duty truck (HDT) powering solution for a transition towards a mixed electric-hydrogen renewable energy economy. The diesel-liquid CH4 ICEs have indeed many commonalities with diesel-liquid H2 ICEs, in the infrastructure, on-board fuel storage, and injection technology, despite the fact H2 needs a much lower temperature. The paper outlines the advantages of dual fuel (2F) diesel-LNG ICEs developed adopting two high-pressure (HP) injectors per cylinder, one for the diesel and one for the LNG, plus super-turbocharging. The diesel-LNG ICEs provide high fuel energy conversion efficiencies, and reduced CO2, PM, and NOx emissions. Super-turbocharging permits the shaping of the torque curve while improving acceleration transients. Diesel-LNG ICEs may also clean up the air of background pollution in many polluted areas in the world. Computational results prove the steady-state advantages of the proposed novel design. While the baseline diesel model is a validated model, the 2F LNG model is not. The perfect alignment of the diesel and diesel-LNG ICE performances proven by Westport makes however the proposed results trustworthy.

ПОСЛЕДСТВИЯ ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИХ ПРЕСТУПЛЕНИЙ И ИХ ОТРАЖЕНИЕ В РОССИЙСКОМ УГОЛОВНОМ ЗАКОНЕ

Статья посвящена теоретическим и законодательным проблемам последствий экологических преступлений, которые в уголовном праве РФ выступают в одной из трёх ролей: во-первых, криминообразующего признака; во-вторых, квалифицирующего (особо квалифицирующего) признака и, в-третьих, обстоятельства, отягчающего наказание. Кроме того, они являются основанием межотраслевой дифференциации ответственности. В связи с этим рассмотрены общие проблемы понятия последствий, их терминологического обозначения, соотношения имеющихся по этому поводу понятий между собой, места последствий в структуре состава преступления; проанализированы технико-юридические приёмы, положенные в основу отражения в уголовно-правовых нормах рассматриваемого признака: 1) внешнее его проявление: 2) тип изменений общественных отношений (объекта преступления); 3) содержание общественных отношений, претерпевших изменения в результате экологического преступления. Высказано мнение относительно правомерности создания составов реальной опасности. Особое внимание уделено такому преступному последствию, как ухудшение качества окружающей среды, которое терминологически в законе обозначено по-разному: существенное изменение радиационного фона; загрязнение, отравление, заражение, деградация компонентов окружающей среды либо природы в целом; кроме того, один и тот же термин «загрязнение» используется как для характеристики деяния (ст. 250, 252, 254, ч. 2 ст. 261), так и последствий (ч. 2 ст. 247, ч. 1 ст. 251). Рассмотрены проблемы отражения в уголовно-правовых нормах гл. 26 УК РФ физического вреда, в том числе эпидемии, преступного последствия в виде утраты компонента природной среды или природного объекта (гибели животных, рыбы или других водных биологических ресурсов, популяций организмов; причинения существенного вреда животному или растительному миру, рыбным запасам, лесному или сельскому хозяйству, водным биологическим ресурсам, окружающей среде; распространения эпизоотий; уничтожения или повреждения в значительных размерах кормовых запасов, лесных насаждений). The article is devoted to theoretical and legislative problems of the consequences of environmental crimes which in criminal law act in one of the three roles: first, the criminological characteristic; second, the qualifying (especially qualifying) char-acteristic and, third, the circumstance that aggravates the punishment. In addition, they are the basis for intersectoral differentiation of responsibility. In this regard, the general problems of the concept of consequences, their terminological designation, the ratio of existing concepts in this regard to each other, the place of consequences in the structure of the crime have been considered; the technical and legal techniques that form the basis for the reflection of the considered feature in criminal law norms have been analyzed: 1) its external manifestation: 2) the type of changes in social relations (the object of the crime): 3) the content of public relations that have undergone changes as a result of environmental crime. An opinion was expressed regarding the legality of creating real hazard compounds. Special attention has been paid to such a criminal consequence as environmental degradation which is defined in different terms in the law: significant change in the radiation background; pollution, poisoning, infection, degradation of components of the environment or nature as a whole; in addition, the same term "contamination" is used both to characterize the act (articles 250, 252, 254, part 2 of article 261) and the consequences (part 2 of article 247, part 1 of article 251). The problems of reflection of physical harm, including epidemic, criminal consequences in the form of loss of a component of the natural environment or a natural object (death of animals, fish or other aquatic biological resources, populations of organisms; causing significant harm to animals or plants, fish stocks, forestry or agriculture, aquatic biological resources, the environment; the spread of epizootics; destruction or damage in significant amounts of bark stocks, forest stands) have been considered.

Composition of the isotopes on atmospheric aerosol of Tajikistan

The results of the investigation of the isotopes distributions Tl-208, Pb-212, Ac-228, Pb-214, Bi-214, Th-234, Ra-226, Pb-210, Cs-137, Be-7 and K-40 in the samples of atmospheric aerosol of the southern, central and northern parts of Tajikistan are presented. Significant correlations were found between the concentrations of Cs-137 and Th-234 isotopes (0.95), Cs-137 and Ra-226 (0.95), Ra-226 and Bi-214 (0.84), Ac-228 and Ra-226 (0.75), Pb-210 and Pb-214 (0.69), Ac-228 and Pb-214 (0.64), K-40 and Pb-212 (0.71), Cs-137 and Bi-214 (0.78), Th-234 and Pb-212 (0.67). Correlations between the concentrations of the remaining isotopes are insignificant or negative. The statistical data for dust intrusion shows that the concentration of isotopes K-40, Cs-137 and Bi-214 exceeds the background pollution level by hundreds of times, and the remaining isotopes - dozens of times.