Air Quality Measurements in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada Using Multisensor Mini Monitoring Stations

The Region of Waterloo is the third fastest growing region in Southern Ontario in Canada with a population of 619,000 as of 2019. However, only one air quality monitoring station, located in a city park in Kitchener, Ontario, is currently being used to assess the air quality of the region. In September 2020, a network of AQMesh Multisensor Mini Monitoring Stations (pods) were installed near elementary schools in Kitchener located near different types of emission source. Data analysis using a custom-made long-distance scaling software showed that the levels of nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2), ground level ozone (O3), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were traffic related. These pollutants were used to calculate the Air Quality Health Index-Plus (AQHI+) at each location, highlighting the inability of the provincial air quality monitoring station to detect hotspot areas in the city. The case study presented here quantified the impact of the 2021 summer wildfires on the local air quality at a high time resolution (15-min). The findings in this article show that these multisensor pods are a viable alternative to expensive research-grade equipment. The results highlight the need for networks of local scale air quality measurements, particularly in fast-growing cities in Canada.

Displacement Velocity and Strain Analysis of Opak Fault Monitoring Stations

The Opak Fault is an active fault that can potentially cause earthquakes in Yogyakarta. Periodic monitoring of the Opak Fault activity was previously used more GNSS observation data from the measurement campaign by the Geodesi Geometri dan Geodesi Fisis (GGGF) Laboratory Team, Geodetic Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Gadjah Mada. However, there are several CORS BIG stations located in Yogyakarta. The CORS BIG data is used to increase the precision of the Opak Fault monitoring station. Therefore, the addition of the CORS is evaluated to obtain a displacement in the monitoring station. The computation of the displacement velocity value of the Opak Fault monitoring station has been done before using the Linear Least Square Collocation and grid search methods. The other method, namely the kriging method, needs to be evaluated for producing a more precise displacement velocity value. The research data includes GNSS campaign and CORS BIG data for six years, 2013 to 2020. The CORS stations around DIY are JOGS and CBTL. The GNNS data were processed to determine the solution for the daily coordinate, displacement, and standard deviation values for each Opak Fault monitoring station. The displacement velocity value is generated by the Linear Least Square method then reduced from the influence of the Sunda Block. The velocity value is used in the strain value estimation around the Opak Fault area at each station using the kriging method combined with the gaussian sequential simulation technique. The estimated displacement velocities are examined for statistical significance compared to the research of Adam (2019) and Pinasti (2019). This research generates the value of the displacement velocity in the east and north components of 12.39 to 30.99 mm/year and 1.96 to -14.11 mm/year, respectively. The displacement direction of all monitoring stations is dominant to the southeast. The Sunda Block reduced the displacement velocity. The east and north components are -2.32 to 2.28 mm/year and -0.52 to 4.2 mm/year, respectively. The displacement direction is towards the northwest. The strain estimation using the kriging method combined with the gaussian sequential simulation technique obtained an average strain value of 0.05 microstrain/year. The result of the data processing at each station has different arrow lengths, meaning that each location has a different strain value.

The air quality index based on measurements of mobile air quality monitoring station at the waste-to-energy incineration plant PLTSa Bantargebang

Ambient air quality monitoring at waste-to-energy incineration pilot plant PLTSa Bantargebang is performed using a mobile monitoring station. The mobile monitoring station is equipped with meteorological and emission (CO, O3, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, and SO2) measurement. The monitoring was performed for 24 hour with 1 minute intervals. The emission measurement data was analyzed using Indonesian Air pollution standard index regulation (PermenLHK P.14/2020). The CO, O3, NO2, PM10, and SO2 index were in good category (1-50), while the PM2.5 index was classified as moderate (65.992). The results show that the air quality at PLTSa Bantargebang is still acceptable for human health.

Occurrence of anomalies in soil radon volume activity before tectonic earthquakes

Research subject. Earthquakes are a global problem for the entire world population. Therefore, a search for ways to predict and prevent tectonic events is a highly relevant task. Despite the existence of controversial opinions on the possibility of predicting tectonic earthquakes, research in this direction continues. Among numerous possible precursors of earthquakes, anomalies in the volume radon activity (VRA) are the most physically justifed ones. The aim of this research was to compare the observed anomalies of soil radon with the recorded seismic events in order to fnd common patterns. The research area was the Kuril Islands. VRA monitoring was conducted at the South Kuril Geophysical Station of the Institute of Marine Geology and Geophysics of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.Methods and materials. Measurements were carried out in the advective mode: soil air from a depth of 70 cm was forcibly delivered to the detector using a pump. For a retrospective analysis, we took registered seismic events with a magnitude greater than 4 that occurred within a radius of 500 km from the monitoring station in Yuzhno-Kurilsk during 2011–2018. Statistical data were processed using Microsoft Excel, Statistica software. Results. A method for comparing radon anomalies and earthquakes was developed. Using the developed methodology, it was found that the geodynamic criterion of ≥2 (the ratio of earthquake magnitude to logarithm of distance from event epicenter to the monitoring station in km) can be used when comparing VRA anomalies with tectonic earthquakes. Out of the 166 considered tectonic earthquakes meeting the geodynamic criterion of ≥2.148, the events were preceded by VRA anomalies. The position of the earthquakes was determined relative to the extremum of previous anomalous radon values in the time interval. Eac of the considered earthquakes meeting the geodynamic criterion ≥2, which had been preceded by a radon anomaly, occurred either after its extremum or coincided with it in time. Conclusions. The manifestation of tectonic earthquakes in VRA anomalies after passing the extremum can be considered as a short-term prognostic criterion and be used for distinguishing between “near” and “far” events.

Climatology of transport and deposition of atmospheric substances of different intensity on the southern Primorye territory by using the meteorological reanalysis data and observations at EANET monitoring station

The article presents an analysis of air masses and precipitation transport to the area of EANET monitoring station in Russian Primorsky Krai (Primorskaya) during the warm seasons (June–October) for the period 2013–2018. The relative contributions of chemical compounds transfer from marine or continental regions were defined. The probability of sulfate and nitrate concentration values in precipitation was calculated separately in line with backward trajectory sectors. Obtained information is used for estimating contributions of marine and continental sources into wet deposition fluxes onto the Russian Far East areas.

Representativeness of monitoring station readings in the context of urban environment

In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of the interaction of the urban environment elements with the natural environment components is carried out. The assessment of the complex impact of meteorological parameters on the human body is analyzed based on data obtained from monitoring stations. The readings of monitoring stations concerning both wind speed and directions are found to significantly deviate in different parts of the city due to urban development. A numerical study of the neighborhood with the monitoring station also shows a very complex mechanism for determining the pollution intensity of the area and the relevance of the data obtained, especially concerning pollutants.

Air Quality Monitoring in Jiu Valley

The paper presents air quality monitoring in Jiu Valley, which is carried out at HD-5 Vulcan monitoring station, starting with March 2010, allowing the obtaining of useful data for the rapid identification of polluted areas and for taking strategic decisions by competent factors and tactics to combat and prevent pollution. After highlighting the pollution sources in Jiu Valley, we present both the evolution of hourly and / or daily values of pollutants recorded at the automatic HD-Vulcan air quality monitoring station during 2020: SO2, NO2, CO, gravimetric PM10, Pb, Cd and Ni, but also the evolution of air quality for quality indicators, monitored in Hunedoara County (including Jiu Valley, at HD-5 station), during 2010-2020. Taking into account the average annual values of pollutants recorded in 2020 at HD-5 Vulcan station, the paper calculates air quality indices for each pollutant and then indicates air quality throughout Jiu Valley in 2020, establishing that air quality is good in this area, with a very low level of pollution and no effect on humans, ecosystems and materials.

Árboles de la estación de monitoreo de biodiversidad en el centro de investigaciones macagual (Florencia-Caquetá) / Trees from the biodiversity monitoring station at the macagual research center (Florencia-Caquetá)

Se determinó la diversidad y estructura de la vegetación arbórea con DAP ≥ 10 cm, en la Estación de Monitoreo de Biodiversidad, ubicada en el Centro de Investigaciones Amazónicas Cesar Augusto Estrada González - MACAGUAL, Florencia-Caquetá. Su vegetación corresponde a un bosque secundario, sobre el paisaje de lomerío. El área de la parcela es de una (1) hectárea de 20x500 m. Se censaron los individuos en las subparcelas de 20x20 m, siguiendo los parámetros para el establecimiento de parcelas permanentes. Se evaluó la diversidad verdadera de orden 0, 1 y 2 (q=0, q=1 y q=2), así como la estructura vertical y horizontal. Se censaron 569 árboles, 29 palmas y 4 arbustos, para un total de 602 individuos representados por 145 especies. La parcela cuenta con dos coberturas en diferentes estados sucesionales y una zona de transición (TN): 1) Bosque Intervenido (BI) con 16 años de recuperación, presenta mayor diversidad y estructura heterogénea, predominada por especies esciófitas; y 2) Rastrojo alto (RT), con más de 25 años de recuperación, predominado por especies pioneras y heliófilas de poblaciones abundantes.

Effect of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Pollution in the Ostrava Region

A proper estimation of anti-epidemic measures related to the influence of the COVID-19 outbreak on air quality has to deal with filtering out the weather influence on pollution concentrations. The goal of this study was to estimate the effect of anti-epidemic measures at three pollution monitoring stations in the Ostrava region. Meteorological data were clustered into groups with a similar weather pattern, and pollution data were divided into subsets according to weather patterns. Then each subset was evaluated separately. Our estimates showed a 4.1–5.7% decrease in NOx concentrations attributed to lower traffic intensity during the lockdown. The decrease of PM2.5 varied more significantly between monitoring stations. The highest decrease (4.7%) was detected at the traffic monitoring station, while there was no decrease detected at the rural monitoring station, which focuses mainly on domestic heating pollution. The key result of the study was the development of an analytical method that is able to take into account the effect of meteorological conditions. The method is much simpler and easy to replicate as an alternative to other published methods.