Suchergebnisse

There is ever increasing concern about both the ozone depletion in the stratosphere and the increase in the ozone concentration in the troposphere. As a consequence, there is growing interest in total ozone surface and satellite observations, surface UV measurements and the interpretation of results to assess potential impacts of UV radiation enhancement on man and the biosphere. The volume analyses problems of total ozone and UV-B variability. Further, it treats tropospheric ozone changes as well as the responsible factors, such as air pollution, chemical and photochemical reactions coupled with air transport. Some key problems of numerical modelling are also discussed. Another subject is the development of remote sensing techniques to retrieve minor optically active components of the atmosphere

In dieser Arbeit wird die wissenschaftliche Unterstützung beschrieben, die während der vergangenen 15 Jahre auf dem Gebiet der Entwicklung und Anwendung von numerischen Simulationsmodellen zum grossräumigen atmosphärischen Transport von Schwermetallen für die Wirtschaftskommission der Vereinten Nationen für Europa (United Nations-Economic Commission Europe UN-ECE) über weiträumige, grenzüberschreitende Luftverschmutzung (LRTAP) sowie anderer europäischer Umweltschutzkonventionen wie die Kommission zum Schutz der marinen Umwelt des Nordost-Atlantiks (OSPAR) und der Ostsee (HELCOM) durchgeführt wurde. Die Arbeit basiert hauptsächlich auf den Ergebnissen und Schlussfolgerungen der 9 Publikationen im Anhang. Darüber hinaus werden neuere Forschungsergebnisse diskutiert, die noch nicht in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur veröffentlicht sind. Einleitend wird der Stand des Wissens über atmosphärische Prozesse von Schwermetallen unter der Annahme dargestellt, dass diese Prozesse in einer für Zwecke der zuvor genannten Umweltschutzkonventionen geeigneten Weise in Modellen parameterisiert werden können. Mit diesen Modellen können grenzüberschreitende Flüsse der drei prioritären Schwermetalle Blei, Cadmium und Quecksilber quantifiziert werden sowie Aussagen über die Herkunft der gemessenen Schwermetallkonzentrationen gemacht werden und die Auswirkung von Emissionsminderungen auf terrestrische und aquatische Ökosysteme in Europa prognostisch abgeschätzt werden. Relativ einfache Lagrange Modelle werden im Kontext mit aktuellen umweltwissenschaftlichen und umweltpolitischen Fragen diskutiert. Schwerpunkt dieser Arbeit ist ein komplexes dreidimensionales Eulersches Modellsysten zum atmosphärischen Transport und chemischen Transformationen von Quecksilberspezies. Dieses Modellsystem representiert weltweit den aktuellen Stand der Wissenschaft und ist in seinen Kernstücken von anderen Umweltforschungsinstituten übernommen worden. Es ist als eines der drei Referenzmodelle für die derzeit erstellte 'EU Air Quality Directive' für Quecksilber ausgewählt worden und nimmt an einem internationalen Modellvergleich im Rahmen der UN-ECE Konvention teil. Der derzeitige Entwicklungsstand der in dieser Arbeit vorgestellten Modellsysteme erlaubt deren weiteren Einsatz für umweltpolitische Zwecke im Rahmen der obengenannten Konventionen. Dabei werden sowohl die Quantifizierung der grenzüberschreitenden atmosphärischen Schwermetalltransporte und deren Bewertung hinsichtlich ihrer Auswirkungen auf terrestrische und aquatische Ökosysteme als auch die Erweiterung der Modelle bezüglich umweltrelevanter Stoffe der Zukunft (Feinstaub, persistente organische Verbindungen) von besonderer Bedeutung sein. ; This study summarizes more than 15 years of scientific support for the United Nations-Economic Commission Europe (UN-ECE) Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) and other European environmental protection conventions such as the Commission for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR) and the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM) by means of development and application of numerical simulation models for the atmospheric long-range transport of heavy metals. The work is mainly based on results and conclusions described in the nine papers of the appendix but some more recent investigations which have not yet been published in the scientific literature are also presented. An introductory overview and synthesis of current knowledge and understanding pertaining to all major aspects of heavy metals in the atmosphere is presented from a viewpoint that numerical modelling of their atmospheric processes is necessary and feasible to support the conventions mentioned above. The models discussed in this study have capabilities to quantify transboundary fluxes of lead, cadmium and mercury as the priority metals of concern and have a potential to identify sources as well as to predict the impact of emission reductions on the load of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Europe. Advantages and limitations of relatively simple Lagrangian models are outlined within the context of issues currently facing the environmental scientific and policy making communities. However, a focus of this study is a comprehensive model system for atmospheric mercury species using a fully three-dimensional Eulerian reference frame and incorporating a state-of-science mercury chemistry scheme, which has been adopted by various scientific institutions for their modelling purposes.

This article examines the prospects for further international control of atmospheric pollution. Air pollution has become a global policy problem, control of which requires the collaboration of many states. Despite the need for co-operation, however, the protection of the global environment is problematical in the anarchic state system. Co-operation is constrained by the fact that states are not equally affected by pollution and have dissimilar interests in environmental protection. Nevertheless, even though the prospects for environmental co-operation did not seem promising in the 1970s, five multilateral agreements were signed to reduce emissions of air pollutants. Three changes in particular contributed to the emergence of atmospheric pollution controls: the imperatives of ecological interdependence, technological developments, and growing public pressure on policy-makers.

Radionuclides produced by past nuclear weapon test explosions comprise the largest source of anthropogenic radioactivity released into the earth's atmosphere to date. This volume presents data and models about the fate of the released radionuclides and their possible effects on human health. It is divided into the following three parts: - Source Term Studies; - Dose Reconstruction; - Ecological and Health Effects, and comprises both Western and formerly secret Soviet research studies, illuminates past and current research

Methane plays many important roles in the earth's environment. It is a potent "greenhouse gas" that warms the earth; controls the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere (OH) indirectly affecting the cycles and abundances of many atmospheric trace gases; provides water vapor to the stratosphere; scavenges chlorine atoms from the stratosphere, terminating the catalytic ozone destruction by chlorine atoms, including the chlorine released from the man-made chlorofluorocarbons; produces ozone, CO, and CO2 in the troposphere; and it is an index of life on earth and so is present in greater quantities during warm interglacial epochs and dwindles to low levels during the cold of ice ages. By all measures, methane is the second only to CO2 in causing future global warming. The book presents a comprehensive account of the current understanding of atmospheric methane, and it is an end point for summarizing more than a decade of intensive research on the global sources, sinks, concentrations, and environmental role of methane

This presentation is the estimates provided by the EPA to the House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Waxman and Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Markey's requests on economic impacts of the comprehensive climate legislation being developed by the committee.

environmental management; air quality control; air pollution; climate change; agriculture; atmospheric protection; soil science; conservation

Airborne pollution of the marine environment has not received great attention in the literature. This is certainly a reflection of the fact that, for the longest time, this type of pollution was neglected in international efforts to cooperate for the protection of the marine environment. However, the last few years have witnessed considerable activity in this area and some stock-taking is in order.

Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) 2020 Spring Conference (CIEEM 2020), Sheffield, United Kingdom, 4 March 2020 ; Since 2016 Ireland has exceeded it's National Emissions Ceilings Directive limit for ammonia. With government led agricultural expansions (Food Wise 2025) it will be difficult for Ireland not only to meet targets required by the NECD Directive, but also to comply with the EU Habitats Directive to protect against environmental impacts on sensitive sites. ; Environmental Protection Agency

Due to multiple factors, including an increase in military operations tempo and the improved resolution of meteorological models, demand for access to customized aviation weather products has increased exponentially. This has given rise to a need for a multi-purpose interactive aviation weather product generation software solution. This software solution must be platform-independent, multiple data source access configurable, robust, extensible or upgradeable, user-friendly, and an improvement over current visualization applications used in the operational military aviation weather community. This thesis determines whether Unidata MetApps meets these criteria. A software reuse and component-based engineering approach was taken in this thesis. Two experimental applications were constructed using a software design approach resembling the Facade software design pattern. The first application used existing MetApps stand-alone prototype applications, while the second exploited capabilities of the MetApps component library. Both experimental applications were measured against the above set of criteria to determine their suitability for incorporation in platform-independent user-customized aviation weather products generation software. The results prove that a Facade software design approach can be effectively used to build applications. It was determined however that, even though MetApps shows promise, it may not be suitable for incorporation into an operational application.

Anthropogenic emissions of ammonia cause a host of environmental impacts, including loss of biodiversity, and formation of particulate matter in the atmosphere. Under the auspices of the UNECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution, around 80 experts met to review the state of scientific knowledge. This book reports their analysis

The burning of biomass - forests, grasslands, and agricultural fields after the harvest - is much more widespread and extensive than previously believed; most biomass burning is thought to be initiated by humans and is on the increase. This comprehensive volume is the first to consider biomass burning as a global phenomenon and to assess its impact on the atmosphere, on climate, and on the biosphere itself. The 63 chapters by 158 scientists - including leading biomass burn researchers from third-world countries, such as Brazil, Nigeria, Zaire, India, and China, where biomass burning is so prevalent - point to biomass burning as a significant driver of global change on our planet.Global Biomass Burning provides a convenient and current reference on such topics as the remote sensing of biomass burning from space, the geographical distribution of burning; the combustion products of burning in tropical, temperate, and boreal ecosystems; burning as a global source of atmospheric gases and particulates; the impact of biomass burning gases and particulates on global climate; and the role of biomass burning on biodiversity and past global extinctions.Also included are contributions on the importance of biomass burning from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program: A Study of Global Change and from the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, as well as policy options prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for managing biomass burning to mitigate global climate change.Joel S. Levine is Senior Research Scientist in the Atmospheric Sciences Division, NASA Langley Research Center and is the Principal Investigator of NASA's research program on global biomass burning, Biospheric Research Program, Office of Space Sciences and Applications.

The burning of biomass - forests, grasslands, and agricultural fields after the harvest - is much more widespread and extensive than previously believed; most biomass burning is thought to be initiated by humans and is on the increase. This comprehensive volume is the first to consider biomass burning as a global phenomenon and to assess its impact on the atmosphere, on climate, and on the biosphere itself. The 63 chapters by 158 scientists - including leading biomass burn researchers from third-world countries, such as Brazil, Nigeria, Zaire, India, and China, where biomass burning is so prevalent - point to biomass burning as a significant driver of global change on our planet.Global Biomass Burning provides a convenient and current reference on such topics as the remote sensing of biomass burning from space, the geographical distribution of burning; the combustion products of burning in tropical, temperate, and boreal ecosystems; burning as a global source of atmospheric gases and particulates; the impact of biomass burning gases and particulates on global climate; and the role of biomass burning on biodiversity and past global extinctions.Also included are contributions on the importance of biomass burning from the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program: A Study of Global Change and from the International Global Atmospheric Chemistry Project, as well as policy options prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for managing biomass burning to mitigate global climate change.Joel S. Levine is Senior Research Scientist in the Atmospheric Sciences Division, NASA Langley Research Center and is the Principal Investigator of NASA's research program on global biomass burning, Biospheric Research Program, Office of Space Sciences and Applications.