| 1. |
- Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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A framework for assessing urban greenery's effects and valuing its ecosystem services
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Academic Press. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 205, s. 274-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ongoing urban exploitation is increasing pressure to transform urban green spaces, while there is increasing awareness that greenery provides a range of important benefits to city residents. In efforts to help resolve associated problems we have developed a framework for integrated assessments of ecosystem service (ES) benefits and values provided by urban greenery, based on the ecosystem service cascade model. The aim is to provide a method for assessing the contribution to, and valuing, multiple ES provided by urban greenery that can be readily applied in routine planning processes. The framework is unique as it recognizes that an urban greenery comprises several components and functions that can contribute to multiple ecosystem services in one or more ways via different functional traits (e.g. foliage characteristics) for which readily measured indicators have been identified. The framework consists of five steps including compilation of an inventory of indicator; application of effectivity factors to rate indicators' effectiveness; estimation of effects; estimation of benefits for each ES; estimation of the total ES value of the ecosystem. The framework was applied to assess ecosystem services provided by trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, and bees, in green areas spanning an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden. Estimates of perceived values of ecosystem services were obtained from interviews with the public and workshop activities with civil servants. The framework is systematic and transparent at all stages and appears to have potential utility in the existing spatial planning processes.
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| 2. |
- Andersson-Sköld, Yvonne, et al.
(författare)
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An integrated method for assessing climate-related risks and adaptation alternatives in urban areas
- 2015
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Ingår i: Climate Risk Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 2212-0963. ; 7, s. 31-50
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2015 The Authors. The urban environment is a complex structure with interlinked social, ecological and technical structures. Global warming is expected to have a broad variety of impacts, which will add to the complexity. Climate changes will force adaptation, to reduce climate-related risks. Adaptation measures can address one aspect at the time, or aim for a holistic approach to avoid maladaptation. This paper presents a systematic, integrated approach for assessing alternatives for reducing the risks of heat waves, flooding and air pollution in urban settings, with the aim of reducing the risk of maladaptation. The study includes strategies covering different spatial scales, and both the current climate situation and the climate predicted under climate change scenarios. The adaptation strategies investigated included increasing vegetation; selecting density, height and colour of buildings; and retreat or resist (defend) against sea-level rise. Their effectiveness was assessed with regard to not only flooding, heat stress and air quality but also with regard to resource use, emissions to air (incl. GHG), soil and water, and people's perceptions and vulnerability. The effectiveness of the strategies were ranked on a common scale (from -3 to 3) in an integrated assessment. Integrated assessments are recommended, as they help identify the most sustainable solutions, but to reduce the risk of maladaptation they require experts from a variety of disciplines. The most generally applicable recommendation, derived from the integrated assessment here, taking into account both expertise from different municipal departments, literature surveys, life cycle assessments and publics perceptions, is to increase the urban greenery, as it contributes to several positive aspects such as heat stress mitigation, air quality improvement, effective storm-water and flood-risk management, and it has several positive social impacts. The most favourable alternative was compact, mid-rise, light coloured building design with large parks/green areas and trees near buildings.
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| 3. |
- Ebitu, Larmbert, et al.
(författare)
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Citizen science for sustainable agriculture : A systematic literature review
- 2021
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Ingår i: Land use policy. - : Elsevier. - 0264-8377 .- 1873-5754. ; 103
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Farmers as volunteers in research could potentially provide a rich resource for exploring sustainable agricultural research questions. To discern emerging patterns in citizen science-based studies on topics with relevance for sustainable agriculture and reveal salient challenges and opportunities for conducting such studies, we conducted a literature review of 27 articles from the period 2004–2019 of 250 publications screened from Google Scholar. These articles were thematically grouped under the topics: Soil health, climate adaptation, pest/pathogen monitoring, invasive species, inputs and outputs and pollination. Participants’ characteristics, motivations, study design and project outcomes in the reviewed articles were summarized and discussed. Both observational and experimental studies were represented in the articles, while emerging trends point towards field experimentation and ‘Large-N′ trials by lay farmers. Crowdsourcing lends itself to projects where the main role of the public is local visual observations and reporting, such as in pest/pathogen monitoring. Challenges included methodological issues such as validation procedures, but above all motivation, recruitment, and retention of volunteers. Despite the importance of participatory approaches for deeper citizen involvement for sustainability transitions and for the quality of knowledge outcomes, the role of citizens was overall restricted to data collection. Several of the methodologies proposed would be difficult to implement in low-income countries, and relatively few studies pertained to agricultural concerns of the global South. To lend value to farmers' time, we recommend projects relevant to livelihoods, health issues or local farming problems, accompanied by well-structured data feedback protocols, routing study results back to farmers.
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| 4. |
- Järlskog, Ida, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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Concentrations of tire wear microplastics and other traffic-derived non-exhaust particles in the road environment
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environment International. - : Elsevier BV. - 0160-4120 .- 1873-6750. ; 170
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tire wear particles (TWP) are assumed to be one of the major sources of microplastic pollution to the environment. However, many of the previously published studies are based on theoretical estimations rather than field measurements. To increase the knowledge regarding actual environmental concentrations, samples were collected and analyzed from different matrices in a rural highway environment to characterize and quantify TWP and other traffic-derived non-exhaust particles. The sampled matrices included road dust (from kerb and in-between wheeltracks), runoff (water and sediment), and air. In addition, airborne deposition was determined in a transect with increasing distance from the road. Two sieved size fractions (2–20 µm and 20–125 µm) were analyzed by automated Scanning Electron Microscopy/Energy Dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) single particle analysis and classified with a machine learning algorithm into the following subclasses: TWP, bitumen wear particles (BiWP), road markings, reflecting glass beads, metals, minerals, and biogenic/organic particles. The relative particle number concentrations (%) showed that the runoff contained the highest proportion of TWP (up to 38 %). The share of TWP in kerb samples tended to be higher than BiWP. However, a seasonal increase of BiWP was observed in coarse (20–125 µm) kerb samples during winter, most likely reflecting studded tire use. The concentration of the particle subclasses within airborne PM80-1 decreases with increasing distance from the road, evidencing road traffic as the main emission source. The results confirm that road dust and the surrounding environment contain traffic-derived microplastics in both size fractions. The finer fraction (2–20 µm) dominated (by mass, volume, and number) in all sample matrices. These particles have a high potential to be transported in water and air far away from the source and can contribute to the inhalable particle fraction (PM10) in air. This highlights the importance of including also finer particle fractions in future investigations.
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| 5. |
- Denby, B. R., et al.
(författare)
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Road salt emissions : A comparison of measurements and modelling using the NORTRIP road dust emission model
- 2016
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1352-2310 .- 1873-2844. ; 141, s. 508-522
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- De-icing of road surfaces is necessary in many countries during winter to improve vehicle traction. Large amounts of salt, most often sodium chloride, are applied every year. Most of this salt is removed through drainage or traffic spray processes but a certain amount may be suspended, after drying of the road surface, into the air and will contribute to the concentration of particulate matter. Though some measurements of salt concentrations are available near roads, the link between road maintenance salting activities and observed concentrations of salt in ambient air is yet to be quantified. In this study the NORTRIP road dust emission model, which estimates the emissions of both dust and salt from the road surface, is applied at five sites in four Nordic countries for ten separate winter periods where daily mean ambient air measurements of salt concentrations are available. The model is capable of reproducing many of the salt emission episodes, both in time and intensity, but also fails on other occasions. The observed mean concentration of salt in PM10, over all ten datasets, is 4.2 μg/m3 and the modelled mean is 2.8 μg/m3, giving a fractional bias of −0.38. The RMSE of the mean concentrations, over all 10 datasets, is 2.9 μg/m3 with an average R2 of 0.28. The mean concentration of salt is similar to the mean exhaust contribution during the winter periods of 2.6 μg/m3. The contribution of salt to the kerbside winter mean PM10 concentration is estimated to increase by 4.1 ± 3.4 μg/m3 for every kg/m2 of salt applied on the road surface during the winter season. Additional sensitivity studies showed that the accurate logging of salt applications is a prerequisite for predicting salt emissions, as well as good quality data on precipitation. It also highlights the need for more simultaneous measurements of salt loading together with ambient air concentrations to help improve model parameterisations of salt and moisture removal processes. © 2016 The Authors
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| 6. |
- Romano, Luigi, 1994, et al.
(författare)
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An enhanced stochastic operating cycle description including weather and traffic models
- 2021
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Ingår i: Transportation Research Part D. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1361-9209 .- 1879-2340. ; 97
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present paper extends the concept of a stochastic operating cycle (sOC) by introducing additional models for weather and traffic. In regard to the weather parameters, dynamic models for air temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, precipitation, wind speed and direction are included. The traffic models is instead based on a macroscopic approach which describes the density dynamically by means of a simple autoregressive process. The enhanced format is structured in a hierarchical fashion, allowing for ease of implementation and modularity. The novel models are parametrised starting from data available from external databases. The possibility of generating synthetic data using the statistical descriptors introduced in the paper is also discussed. To investigate the impact of the novel parameters over energy efficiency, a sensitivity analysis is conducted with a combinatorial test design. Simulation results show that both seasonality and traffic conditions are responsible for introducing major variations in the CO2 emissions. © 2021 The Author(s)
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| 7. |
- Jarsjö, Jerker, et al.
(författare)
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Projecting impacts of climate change on metal mobilization at contaminated sites: Controls by the groundwater level
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 712
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Heavy metal and metalloid contamination of topsoils from atmospheric deposition and release from landfills, agriculture, and industries is a widespread problem that is estimated to affect >50% of the EU's land surface. Influx of contaminants from soil to groundwater and their further downstream spread and impact on drinking water quality constitute a main exposure risk to humans. There is increasing concern that the present contaminant loading of groundwater and surface water systems may be altered, and potentially aggravated, by ongoing climate change, through large-scale impacts on recharge and groundwater levels. We investigated this issue by performing hydrogeological-geochemical model projections of changes in metal(loid) (As and Pb) mobilization in response to possible (climate-driven) future shifts in groundwater level and fluctuation amplitudes. We used observed initial conditions and boundary conditions for contaminated soils in the temperate climate zone. The results showed that relatively modest increases (0.2 m) in average levels of shallow groundwater systems, which may occur in Northern Europe within the coming two decades, can increase mass flows of metals through groundwater by a factor of 2–10. There is a similar risk of increased metal mobilization in regions subject to increased (seasonal or event-scale) amplitude of groundwater levels fluctuations. Neglecting groundwater level dynamics in predictive models can thus lead to considerable and systematic underestimation of metal mobilization and future changes. More generally, our results suggest that the key to quantifying impacts of climate change on metal mobilization is to understand how the contact between groundwater and the highly water-conducting and geochemically heterogeneous topsoil layers will change in the future.
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| 8. |
- Svensson, Nina, 1988-, et al.
(författare)
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Integrated cost and environmental impact assessment of management options for dredged sediment
- 2022
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Ingår i: Waste Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0956-053X .- 1879-2456. ; 138, s. 30-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large quantities of sediment must be dredged regularly to enable marine transport and trade. The sediments are often polluted, with e.g. metals, which limits the management options. The aim of this study has been to assess costs and environmental impacts (impact on climate, marine organisms, etc.) of different management options for polluted dredged sediment, by combining life-cycle assessment (LCA) of the climate impact, scoring of other environmental aspects and a cost evaluation. This approach has been used to study both traditional and new management alternatives for a real port case. The studied options include landfilling, deep-sea disposal, construction of a port area using a stabilization and solidification (S/S) method, and a combination of the aforementioned methods with the innovative option of metal recovery through sediment electrolysis. The LCA showed that deep-sea disposal had the lowest climate impact. The assessment of the other environmental impacts showed that the result varied depending on the pollution level and the time perspective used (short or long-term). Using sediment for construction had the highest climate impact, although other environmental impacts were comparably low. Electrolysis was found to be suitable for highly polluted sediments, as it left the sediment cleaner and enabled recovery of precious metals, however the costs were high. The results highlight the complexity of comparing different environmental impacts and the benefits of using integrated assessments to provide clarity, and to evaluate both the synergetic and counteracting effects associated with the investigated scenarios and may aid early-stage decision making.
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| 9. |
- Lundberg, Joacim, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Wet Dust Sampler : a Sampling Method for Road Dust Quantification and Analyses
- 2019
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Ingår i: Water, Air and Soil Pollution. - : Springer. - 0049-6979 .- 1573-2932. ; 230:8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In northern countries, the climate, and consequently the use of studded tyres and winter traction sanding, causes accumulation of road dust over winter and spring, resulting in high PM10 concentrations during springtime dusting events. To quantify the dust at the road surface, a method—the wet dust sampler (WDS)—was developed allowing repeatable sampling also under wet and snowy conditions. The principle of operation is flushing high-pressurised water over a defined surface area and transferring the dust laden water into a container for further analyses.In this paper, the latest version of the WSD is presented together with an evaluation of its performance. To evaluate the WDS, the ejected water amount was measured, as well as water losses in different parts of the sampling system, together with indicative dust measurement using turbidity as a proxy for dust concentration. The results show that the WDS, when accounting for all losses, have a predictable and repeatable water performance, with no impact on performance based on the variety of asphalt surface types included in this study, given undamaged surfaces. The largest loss was found to be water retained on the surface, and the dust measurements imply that this might not have as large impact on the sampled dust as could be expected. A theoretical particle mass balance shows small particle losses, while field measurements show higher losses. Several tests are suggested to validate and improve on the mass balances. Finally, the WDS is found to perform well and is able to contribute to further knowledge regarding road dust implications for air pollution.
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| 10. |
- Kalantari, Zahra, et al.
(författare)
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Modeller subjectivity and calibration impacts on hydrological model applications : an event-based comparison for a road-adjacent catchment in South-East Norway
- 2015
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 502, s. 315-329
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Identifying a ‘best’ performing hydrologic model in a practical sense is difficult due to the potential influences of modeller subjectivity on, for example, calibration procedure and parameter selection. This is especially true for model applications at the event scale where the prevailing catchment conditions can have a strong impact on apparent model performance and suitability. In this study, two lumped models (CoupModel and HBV) and two physically-based distributed models (LISEM and MIKE SHE) were applied to a small catchment upstream of a road in south-eastern Norway. All models were calibrated to a single event representing typical winter conditions in the region and then applied to various other winter events to investigate the potential impact of calibration period and methodology on model performance. Peak flow and event-based hydrographs were simulated differently by all models leading to differences in apparent model performance under this application. In this case-study, the lumped models appeared to be better suited for hydrological events that differed from the calibration event (i.e., events when runoff was generated from rain on non-frozen soils rather than from rain and snowmelt on frozen soil) while the more physical-based approaches appeared better suited during snowmelt and frozen soil conditions more consistent with the event-specific calibration. This was due to the combination of variations in subsurface conditions over the eight events considered, the subsequent ability of the models to represent the impact of the conditions (particularly when subsurface conditions varied greatly from the calibration event), and the different approaches adopted to calibrate the models. These results indicate that hydrologic models may not only need to be selected on a case-by-case basis but also have their performance evaluated on an application-by-application basis since how a model is applied can be equally important as inherent model structure.
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