Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Zhonghua Zheng, Arlene M. Fiore, Daniel M. Westervelt, George P. Milly, Jeff Goldsmith, Alexandra Karambelas, Gabriele Curci, Cynthia A. Randles, Antonio R. Paiva, Chi Wang, Qingyun Wu, Sagnik Dey
Summary: India lacks reliable ground-based measurements of PM2.5. This study explores the potential of using satellite retrievals of tropospheric trace gases to improve PM2.5 estimation in India. The results show that incorporating trace gas modeled columns enhances PM2.5 estimates, and AutoML is as effective as user-chosen models. This work demonstrates the promise of using satellite data and AutoML in atmospheric and environmental research.
JOURNAL OF ADVANCES IN MODELING EARTH SYSTEMS
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Yanan Wang, Xiao Fu, Tao Wang, Jianmin Ma, Hong Gao, Xin Wang, Wei Pu
Summary: Soil emissions of nitric oxide (NO) and nitrous acid (HONO) were investigated in this study. HONO emissions were found to be higher than NO emissions, especially in northern China. Long-term fertilization increased the abundance of nitrite-producing genes more significantly than NO-producing genes, especially in northern China. Simulation using a chemistry transport model showed that HONO emissions had a greater effect on air quality than NO emissions. These findings highlight the importance of considering HONO in assessing the impact of soil emissions on air quality.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jonathan E. Hickman, Niels Andela, Kostas Tsigaridis, Corinne Galy-Lacaux, Money Ossohou, Susanne E. Bauer
Summary: In low- and middle-income countries, socioeconomic development has led to increased emissions of air pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides, which impact human health. However, in Africa's northern biomass-burning region, decreasing burned area and increasing GDP density have led to reductions in tropospheric NO2 levels during the dry season, showing a unique pathway for potential air quality benefits. This suggests that economic development can play a role in mitigating air pollution during highly polluted months.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Daejin Kim, Haobing Liu, Xiaodan Xu, Hongyu Lu, Roger Wayson, Michael O. Rodgers, Randall Guensler
Summary: This work introduces a parallelly distributed computing technique to quantify the traffic-related pollutant concentrations at regional scales, with a streamlined framework and the connection between emissions and dispersion models through a parallel computing system to achieve high computational efficiency for estimating high-resolution traffic-related air quality impacts.
COMPUTER-AIDED CIVIL AND INFRASTRUCTURE ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Thermodynamics
Lauren Janicke, Destenie Nock, Kavita Surana, Sarah M. Jordaan
Summary: Inefficiencies in the transmission and distribution of electricity can result in compensatory electricity generation and air pollution. This study estimates the air pollutants associated with aggregate and non-technical losses at national and subnational scales using life cycle assessments and uncertainty analyses. The global analysis indicates significant emissions, such as 1 Gigatonne of CO2eq. Investments in T&D infrastructure can enhance the cost-effectiveness of renewable energy in a decarbonized system.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Lev D. Labzovskii, Dmitry A. Belikov, Alessandro Damiani
Summary: Coal use exacerbates environmental problems and can induce distinct tropospheric NO2 anomalies. The study reveals a long-term NO2 anomaly in the Kuzbass coal basin, attributed to coal mining and the reliance of cities on coal. The coal production in Kuzbass is positively correlated with NO2 enhancement, and as coal production increased, so did NO2 levels. In contrast, cities in Siberia without a coal industry followed the global trend of reducing NO2.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Yongxue Liu, Yuling Pu, Xueying Hu, Yanzhu Dong, Wei Wu, Chuanmin Hu, Yuzhong Zhang, Songhan Wang
Summary: Monitoring global offshore gas flaring is challenging, but the use of Sentinel-2 satellite data can provide valuable information. The study reveals a decline in global offshore gas flaring volumes, with a small number of sites contributing to the majority of flaring. This highlights the need for targeted regulations.
NATURE SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Jozef Salva, Miroslav Vanek, Marian Schwarz, Milada Gajtanska, Peter Tonhauzer, Anna Duricova
Summary: The study estimated the contributions of exhaust and non-exhaust traffic-related PM2.5 and PM10 emissions to total ambient pollution in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia using the AERMOD dispersion model. It was found that on-road mobile sources, particularly non-exhaust emissions, significantly contribute to PM pollution in the study area, highlighting the need for attention to these sources in air quality management efforts.
Article
Environmental Sciences
David J. X. Gonzalez, Christina K. Francis, Gary M. Shaw, Mark R. Cullen, Michael Baiocchi, Marshall Burke
Summary: Previous studies have shown that proximity to upstream oil and gas production sites is associated with increased risk of adverse health outcomes. This study in California found that air quality monitors near preproduction wells within 4 km and producing wells within 2 km observed higher concentrations of ambient air pollutants such as PM2.5, CO, NO2, O-3, and VOCs.
SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT
(2022)
Article
Otorhinolaryngology
Amanda E. Dilger, Jekaterina Shelley, Regan W. Bergmark, Jonathan E. Slutzman
Summary: The objective of this study was to quantify annual greenhouse gas emissions from a surgical specialty hospital and identify high-yield areas for emissions reduction in patient care. The study found that waste anesthetic gases and purchased steam were the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions from the hospital. Hospital leadership used these results to develop a plan for reducing emissions, and ongoing monitoring is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of these interventions.
OTOLARYNGOLOGY-HEAD AND NECK SURGERY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiangchuan Hu, H. Christopher Frey, Behdad Yazdani Boroujeni
Summary: For light-duty gasoline vehicles equipped with catalytic converters, hot-stabilized tailpipe emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are well controlled. However, there is a lack of real-world measurements for cold starts. This study measured the emissions of 37 vehicles during idling cold starts, hot-stabilized trips, and driving cold starts. It found that cold starts contribute substantially to total exhaust mass emissions, and driver decisions regarding driving versus idling can significantly affect the contribution of cold starts, especially for CO and NOx.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Peng Wei, Peter Brimblecombe, Fenhuan Yang, Abhishek Anand, Yang Xing, Li Sun, Yuxi Sun, Mengyuan Chu, Zhi Ning
Summary: This study used mobile sensors on buses to monitor air quality along ten important routes in Hong Kong, finding that NO and NO2 in spring are mainly locally influenced while PM2.5 and CO largely originate from background sources. PM2.5 displays a homogeneous spatial pattern, decreasing during summer, with regional transport pollution being the primary contributor during high pollution episodes.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Abdul Samad, Kathryn Arango, Ioannis Chourdakis, Ulrich Vogt
Summary: Air quality investigations at airports have shown that aircrafts cause a significant increase in air pollution, especially in ultrafine particle concentrations. The concentrations of coarse particles and gases do not show notable changes. During aircraft arrivals, there is a definite increase in particle concentration, particularly in the 10nm size class. Furthermore, parameters such as PNC and D-p can be used to distinguish between particles from aircrafts and vehicles, while the influence of aircraft activity on BC concentrations is minimal.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Greg Lackey, Isabelle Pfander, James Gardiner, Owen A. Sherwood, Harihar Rajaram, Joseph N. Ryan, Robert M. Dilmore, Burt Thomas
Summary: The study reveals that fluids leaked from oil and gas wells mostly originate from compromised surface casings, indicating extensive integrity issues in the region. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating surface casing geochemical analysis in well integrity monitoring programs to identify and mitigate leaks.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Yawen Wang, Jiahua Zhang, Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo, Katsumasa Tanaka, Joerg Trentmann, Wenping Yuan, Martin Wild
Summary: Exploration of the diurnal pattern of global dimming and brightening has been limited by the scarcity of high-temporal resolution observations. Changes in surface solar radiation are most pronounced near sunrise and sunset over China, affecting the length of daytime in different seasons and regions. Reduction in pollution in Beijing during the 2014 APEC summit led to a significant rebound in diurnal surface solar radiation.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)