| 1. |
- Axelsson, Josefine, et al.
(författare)
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A Precipitation Isotopic Response in 2014-2015 to Moisture Transport Changes in the Central Himalayas
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres. - 2169-897X .- 2169-8996. ; 128:13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The impact of moisture transport and sources on precipitation stable isotopes (d(18)O and d-excess) in the central Himalayas are crucial to understanding the climatic archives. However, this is still unclear due to the lack of in-situ observations. Here we present measurements of stable isotopes in precipitation at two stations (Yadong and Pali) in the central Himalayas during 2014-2015. Combined with simulations from the dispersion model FLEXPART, we investigate effects on precipitation stable isotopes related to changes in moisture sources and convections in the region, and possible influence by El Nino. Our results suggest that the moisture supplies related to evaporation over northeastern India and moisture losses related to convective activities over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) and Bangladesh region play important roles in changes in d(18)O and d-excess in precipitation in the Yadong Valley. Outgoing longwave radiation and moisture flux divergence analysis further confirm that the contribution from continental evaporation dominates the moisture supply in the central Himalayas with a lesser contribution from convection over the BoB during the 2015 monsoon season compared with 2014. A change in the altitude effect is observed in 2015, which is more significant than the temperature and precipitation amount effect during the observation period. These findings provide valuable insights into climatic interpretations of paleo-isotopic archives with an isotopic response to changes in moisture transport to the central Himalayas.
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| 2. |
- Breivik, Knut, et al.
(författare)
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Introducing a nested multimedia fate and transport model for organic contaminants (NEM)
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Science. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2050-7887 .- 2050-7895. ; :8
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Some organic contaminants, including the persistent organic pollutants (POPs), have achieved global distribution through long range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Regulatory efforts, monitoring programs and modelling studies address the LRAT of POPs on national, continental (e.g. Europe) and/or global scales. Whereas national and continental-scale models require estimates of the input of globally dispersed chemicals from outside of the model domain, existing global-scale models either have relatively coarse spatial resolution or are so computationally demanding that it limits their usefulness. Here we introduce the Nested Exposure Model (NEM), which is a multimedia fate and transport model that is global in scale yet can achieve high spatial resolution of a user-defined target region without huge computational demands. Evaluating NEM by comparing model predictions for PCB-153 in air with measurements at nine long-term monitoring sites of the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) reveals that nested simulations at a resolution of 1° × 1° yield results within a factor of 1.5 of observations at sites in northern Europe. At this resolution, the model attributes more than 90% of the atmospheric burden within any of the grid cells containing an EMEP site to advective atmospheric transport from elsewhere. Deteriorating model performance with decreasing resolution (15° × 15°, 5° × 5° and 1° × 1°), manifested by overestimation of concentrations across most of northern Europe by more than a factor of 3, illustrates the effect of numerical diffusion. Finally, we apply the model to demonstrate how the choice of spatial resolution affect predictions of atmospheric deposition to the Baltic Sea. While we envisage that NEM may be used for a wide range of applications in the future, further evaluation will be required to delineate the boundaries of applicability towards chemicals with divergent fate properties as well as in environmental media other than air.
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| 3. |
- Eckhardt, Sabine, et al.
(författare)
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Revised historical Northern Hemisphere black carbon emissions based on inverse modeling of ice core records
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 14:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Black carbon emitted by incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomasshas a net warming effect in the atmosphere and reduces the albedo whendeposited on ice and snow; accurate knowledge of past emissions is essentialto quantify and model associated global climate forcing. Although bottom-upinventories provide historical Black Carbon emission estimates that are widelyused in Earth System Models, they are poorly constrained by observationsprior to the late 20th century. Here we use an objective inversion techniquebased on detailed atmospheric transport and deposition modeling to reconstruct1850 to 2000 emissions from thirteen Northern Hemisphere ice-corerecords. We find substantial discrepancies between reconstructed Black Carbonemissions and existing bottom-up inventories which do not fully capturethe complex spatial-temporal emission patterns. Our findings imply changesto existing historical Black Carbon radiative forcing estimates are necessary,with potential implications for observation-constrained climate sensitivity.
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| 4. |
- Grythe, Henrik, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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A new aerosol wet removal scheme for the Lagrangian particle model FLEXPART
- 2017
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Ingår i: Geoscientific Model Development. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1991-959X .- 1991-9603. ; 10:4, s. 1447-1466
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new and more physically based treatment of how removal by precipitation is calculated by FLEXPART is introduced, to take into account more aspects of aerosol diversity. Also new, is the definition of clouds and cloud properties. Results from simulations show good agreement with observed atmospheric concentrations for distinctly different aerosols. Atmospheric lifetimes were found to vary from a few hours (large aerosol particles) up to a month (small non-soluble).
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Lunder Halvorsen, Helene, et al.
(författare)
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Spatial variability and temporal changes of POPs in European background air
- 2023
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 1352-2310 .- 1873-2844. ; 299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Concentration data on POPs in air is necessary to assess the effectiveness of international regulations aiming to reduce the emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) into the environment. POPs in European background air are continuously monitored using active- and passive air sampling techniques at a limited number of atmospheric monitoring stations. As a result of the low spatial resolution of such continuous monitoring, there is limited understanding of the main sources controlling the atmospheric burdens of POPs across Europe. The key objectives of this study were to measure the spatial and temporal variability of concentrations of POPs in background air with a high spatial resolution (n = 101) across 33 countries within Europe, and to use observations and models in concert to assess if the measured concentrations are mainly governed by secondary emissions or continuing primary emissions. Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) was not only the POP detected in highest concentrations (median: 67 pg/m3), but also the only POP that had significantly increased over the last decade. HCB was also the only POP that was positively correlated to latitude. For the other targeted POPs, the highest concentrations were observed in the southern part of Europe, and a declining temporal trend was observed. Spatial differences in temporal changes were observed. For example, γ-HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) had the largest decrease in the south of Europe, while α-HCH had declined the most in central-east Europe. High occurrence of degradation products of the organochlorine pesticides and isomeric ratios indicated past usage. Model predictions of PCB-153 (2,2’,4,4’,5,5’-hexachlorobiphenyl) by the Global EMEP Multi-media Modelling System suggest that secondary emissions are more important than primary emissions in controlling atmospheric burdens, and that the relative importance of primary emissions are more influential in southern Europe compared to northern Europe. Our study highlights the major advantages of combining high spatial resolution observations with mechanistic modelling approaches to provide insights on the relative importance of primary- and secondary emission sources in Europe. Such knowledge is considered vital for policy makers aiming to assess the potential for further emission reduction strategies of legacy POPs.
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| 7. |
- Mayer, Ludovic, et al.
(författare)
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Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air
- 2024
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - 0013-936X. ; 58:7, s. 3342-3352
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.
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| 8. |
- Platt, Stephen M., et al.
(författare)
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Atmospheric composition in the European Arctic and 30 years of the Zeppelin Observatory, Ny-Ålesund
- 2022
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Chemistry And Physics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1680-7316 .- 1680-7324. ; 22:5, s. 3321-3369
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Zeppelin Observatory (78.90∘ N, 11.88∘ E) is located on Zeppelin Mountain at 472 m a.s.l. on Spitsbergen, the largest island of the Svalbard archipelago. Established in 1989, the observatory is part of Ny-Ålesund Research Station and an important atmospheric measurement site, one of only a few in the high Arctic, and a part of several European and global monitoring programmes and research infrastructures, notably the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP); the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP); the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW); the Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS); the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) network; and the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS). The observatory is jointly operated by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Stockholm University, and the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU). Here we detail the establishment of the Zeppelin Observatory including historical measurements of atmospheric composition in the European Arctic leading to its construction. We present a history of the measurements at the observatory and review the current state of the European Arctic atmosphere, including results from trends in greenhouse gases, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), other traces gases, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals, aerosols and Arctic haze, and atmospheric transport phenomena, and provide an outline of future research directions.
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| 9. |
- Ruppel, Meri M., et al.
(författare)
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Observed and Modeled Black Carbon Deposition and Sources in the Western Russian Arctic 1800-2014
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 55:8, s. 4368-4377
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Black carbon (BC) particles contribute to climate warming by heating the atmosphere and reducing the albedo of snow/ice surfaces. The available Arctic BC deposition records are restricted to the Atlantic and North American sectors, for which previous studies suggest considerable spatial differences in trends. Here, we present first long-term BC deposition and radiocarbon-based source apportionment data from Russia using four lake sediment records from western Arctic Russia, a region influenced by BC emissions from oil and gas production. The records consistently indicate increasing BC fluxes between 1800 and 2014. The radiocarbon analyses suggest mainly (similar to 70%) biomass sources for BC with fossil fuel contributions peaking around 1960-1990. Backward calculations with the atmospheric transport model FLEXPART show emission source areas and indicate that modeled BC deposition between 1900 and 1999 is largely driven by emission trends. Comparison of observed and modeled data suggests the need to update anthropogenic BC emission inventories for Russia, as these seem to underestimate Russian BC emissions and since 1980s potentially inaccurately portray their trend. Additionally, the observations may indicate underestimation of wildfire emissions in inventories. Reliable information on BC deposition trends and sources is essential for design of efficient and effective policies to limit climate warming.
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| 10. |
- Skogeng, Lovise P., et al.
(författare)
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Spatial distribution of Dechlorane Plus and dechlorane related compounds in European background air
- 2023
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Environmental Science. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-665X. ; 10
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The highly chlorinated chemical Dechlorane Plus (DP) was introduced as a replacement flame retardant for Mirex, which is banned through the Stockholm Convention (SC) for its toxicity (T), environmental persistence (P), potential for bioaccumulation (B) and long-range environmental transport potential (LRETP). Currently, Dechlorane Plus is under consideration for listing under the Stockholm Convention and by the European Chemical Agency as it is suspected to also have potential for P, B, T and LRET. Knowledge of atmospheric concentrations of chemicals in background regions is vital to understand their persistence and long-range atmospheric transport but such knowledge is still limited for Dechlorane Plus. Also, knowledge on environmental occurrence of the less described Dechlorane Related Compounds (DRCs), with similar properties and uses as Dechlorane Plus, is limited. Hence, the main objective of this study was to carry out a spatial mapping of atmospheric concentrations of Dechlorane Plus and Dechlorane Related Compounds at background sites in Europe. Polyurethane foam passive air samplers were deployed at 99 sites across 33 European countries for 3 months in summer 2016 and analyzed for dechloranes. The study showed that syn- and anti-DP are present across the European continent (3 and 3, respectively), including parts of the Arctic. This supports that these compounds have potential for long-range atmospheric transport to remote regions. The highest concentrations of Dechlorane Plus were observed in central continental Europe, with anti-DP fractions close to the commercial mixture of Dechlorane Plus. The only detected Dechlorane Related Compounds was Dechlorane-602, which was found in 27% of the samples (3). The measured concentrations and spatial patterns of Dechlorane Plus and Dechlorane-602 in air across Europe indicate the influence of primary sources of these compounds on background concentrations in European air. Future air monitoring efforts targeting dechloranes is needed in both background and source areas, including consistent temporal trends.
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