Search

Light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols (including black carbon (BC)) pose serious health issues and play significant roles in atmospheric radiative properties. Two-year measurements (2015–2016) of aerosol light absorption, combined with measurements of sub-micrometric particles, were continuously conducted in A Coruña (northwest (NW) Spain) to determine their light absorption properties: absorption coefficients (σabs) and the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE). The mean and standard deviation of equivalent black carbon (eBC) during the period of study were 0.85 ± 0.83 µg m−3, which are lower than other values measured in urban areas of Spain and Europe. High eBC concentrations found in winter are associated with an increase in emissions from anthropogenic sources in combination with lower mixing layer heights and frequent stagnant conditions. The pronounced diurnal variability suggests a strong influence from local sources. AAE had an average value of 1.26 ± 0.22 which implies that both fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning influenced optical aerosol properties. This also highlights biomass combustion in suburban areas, where the use of wood for domestic heating is encouraged, as an important source of eBC. All data treatment was gathered using SCALA© as atmospheric aerosol data management support software program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Levels, origins and potential risks due to different air pollutants (ozone, SO and particle-borne metals) in NW Spain were investigated in eight locations affected by different emission sources. All monitored locations suffered the influence of traffic and industrial emissions, being this influence more important in urban locations. Although average values of the estimated hazard index (HI) due to particle-borne metals showed values lower than one, maximum values of this parameter exceeded this safety limit in urban locations. In general, Ni and As were identified as those metals most contributing to the HI. Furthermore, the presence of industrial emission episodes produced a significant increase in the magnitude of the HI in two of the seven urban areas. Therefore, the frequency and intensity of these episodes should be further investigated. Finally, levels of airborne and particle-borne pollutants were integrated with the aim of providing a comprehensive assessment of health risk. According to an established indexing system, air quality can be classified from good to moderate, being the southern urban locations (the most densely populated and industrialised ones) presenting the worst values. However, either the high or the low influence of acute and chronic-effect pollutants on air quality depends on the location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel in-vitro method, by using synthetic body fluids, human physiological conditions and a simulated air-blood barrier (by using a dialysis membrane) has been developed and applied to assess in-vitro inhalation bioavailability of metal(oid)s associated to particulate matter (PM 2,5) samples collected from an industrial site of the Northwest of Spain. A validated analytical methodology based on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to analyse metal(oid)s concentrations in bioavailable fractions. This approach would be a more realistic human health risk assessment since considering processes that occur in human body in contrast the overestimation derived from current models (which consider environmental concentrations). Metal(oid)s such as Cu and Mo seemed to be the most bioavailable (mean in-vitro bioavailability ratios higher than 70%); Ba, Cd, Mn, Pb, Rb, Sb, Sn, V and Zn shown mean ratios between 20 and 60%, while low in-vitro bioavailability ratios (less than 20%) were observed for metal(oid)s such as Al, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, Ti, and Tl. Health risk assessment via inhalation based on hazard carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic indexes (HI c and HI nc , respectively) were performed considering three exposure scenarios using both inhalation bioavailable and total metal(oid)s concentrations in PM 2.5 samples, suggesting no risk to human health. The influence of chemical composition on in-vitro bioavailability ratios was obtained, pointing out that inhalation ratios of Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and V seem to be affected by sea salt and/or crustal and/or biogenic and/or anthropogenic content of PM 2.5. [Display omitted] • Bioavailability of metal(oid)s was estimated by a simulated dialysis approach. • High inhalation bioavailability ratios (>70%) were found for Cu and Mo. • Low bioavailability ratios (<20%) were found for Al, Co, Cr, Fe, Ni, Ti and Tl. • Bioavailability of some metal(oid)s seemed to be correlated with PM 2.5 compositions. • Health risks for PM 2.5 -bound metal(oid)s via inhalation suggesting no risk to human. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the exponential growth of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Spain (2020), the Spanish Government adopted lockdown measures as mitigating strategies to reduce the spread of the pandemic from 14 March. In this paper, we report the results of the change in air quality at two Atlantic Coastal European cities (Northwest Spain) during five lockdown weeks. The temporal evolution of gaseous (nitrogen oxides, comprising NOx, NO, and NO2; sulfur dioxide, SO2; carbon monoxide, CO; and ozone, O3) and particulate matter (PM10; PM2.5; and equivalent black carbon, eBC) pollutants were recorded before (7 February to 13 March 2020) and during the first five lockdown weeks (14 March to 20 April 2020) at seven air quality monitoring stations (urban background, traffic, and industrial) in the cities of A Coruña and Vigo. The influences of the backward trajectories and meteorological parameters on air pollutant concentrations were considered during the studied period. The temporal trends indicate that the concentrations of almost all species steadily decreased during the lockdown period with statistical significance, with respect to the pre-lockdown period. In this context, great reductions were observed for pollutants related mainly to fossil fuel combustion, road traffic, and shipping emissions (−38 to −78% for NO, −22 to −69% for NO2, −26 to −75% for NOx, −3 to −77% for SO2, −21% for CO, −25 to −49% for PM10, −10 to −38% for PM2.5, and −29 to −51% for eBC). Conversely, O3 concentrations increased from +5 to +16%. Finally, pollutant concentration data for 14 March to 20 April of 2020 were compared with those of the previous two years. The results show that the overall air pollutants levels were higher during 2018–2019 than during the lockdown period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SCALA© (Sampling Campaigns for Aerosols in the Low Atmosphere) is a web-based software system that was developed in a multidisciplinary manner to integrally support the documentation and the management and analysis of atmospheric aerosol data from sampling campaigns. The software development process applied considered the prototyping and the evolutionary approaches. The software product (SCALA©) allows for the comprehensive management of the sampling campaigns' life cycle (management of the profiles and processes involved in the start-up, development and closure of a campaign) and provides support for both intra- and inter-campaigns data analysis. The pilot deployment of SCALA© considers the Spanish Network on Environmental Differential Mobility Analysers (DMAs) (REDMAAS) and the PROACLIM project. This research project involves, among other objectives, the study of temporal and spatial variations of the atmospheric aerosol through a set of microphysical properties (size distribution, optical properties, hygroscopicity, etc.) measured in several locations in Spain. The main conclusions regarding size distribution are presented in this work. These have been have been extracted through SCALA© from the data collected in the REDMAAS 2015 and 2019 intercomparison campaigns and two years (2015 and 2016) of measurements with two Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers (SMPS) at CIEMAT (Madrid, central Spain) and UDC (A Coruña, NW of Spain) sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The occurrence of 50 multi-class pollutants comprising 18 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 12 phthalate esters (PAEs), 12 organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs), 6 synthetic musk compounds (SMCs) and 2 bisphenols was studied in atmospheric particulate matter (PM 2.5) samples collected at an industrial area focused on automotive manufacturing located at the Southwestern Atlantic European region (Vigo city, Spain) during 1-year period. Among all quantitated pollutants in PM 2.5 samples, bisphenol A (BPA) was the most predominant with an average concentration of 6180 pg m−3, followed by PAHs comprising benzo(b+j)fluoranthene (BbF + BjF) and benzo(g,h,i)perylene (BghiP), accounting for 546 pg m−3 and 413 pg m−3 respectively. In addition, two OPFRs concerning tris(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP) and triphenyl phosphine oxide (TPPO) were the next following the concentration order, accounting for 411 pg m−3 and 367 pg m−3 respectively; being butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) the most profuse PAE (56.1 pg m−3 by average). High relative standard deviations (RSDs) were observed during the whole sampling period, while statistically significant differences were only observed for PAHs concentrations during cold and warm seasons. Furthermore, some water-soluble ions and metal(oid)s were analysed in PM 2.5 samples to be used as PM source tracers, whose concentrations were quite below the target levels set in the current legislation. Data obtained from principal component analysis (PCA) and PAHs molecular indices suggested a pyrogenic and petrogenic origin for PAHs, whereas occurrence of the remaining compounds seems to be attributed to resources used in the automotive industrial activity settled in the sampling area. Moreover, although a substantial anthropogenic source to PM 2.5 in the area was observed, marine and soil resuspension contributions were also accounted. Finally, carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic risks posed by PM 2.5 -bound pollutants inhalation were assessed, being both averages within the safe level considering the whole period. [Display omitted] • Bisphenol A was the most predominant compound, with a mean value of 6180 pg m−3. • The occurrence of PM 2.5 -bound industrial chemicals was persistent all year round. • PM 2.5 sources were mainly attributed to combustion and automotive manufacturing. • Health risks posed by inhalation of PM 2.5 -bound pollutants were in the safe level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A monitoring programme was carried out on wastewater, surface and drinking water on the NW area of Spain during the four seasons of a year period (November 2007–September 2008). This study covered a series of emerging pollutants of different classes, including pharmaceuticals, neutral and acidic organophosphorus flame retardant/plasticizers (OPs), triclosan, phenoxy-herbicides, insect repellents and UV filters. From the total set of 53 compounds, 19 were found in raw wastewater with median concentrations higher than 0.1μgL−1. Among them, salicylic acid, ibuprofen and the UV filter benzophenone-4 (BP-4) were the most concentrated, exceeding the 1μgL−1 median value. Subsequently, 11 of these contaminants are not efficiently enough removed in the small WWTPs tested and their median concentrations in effluents still surpassed the 0.1μgL−1, so that they can spread through surface water. These chemicals are the pharmaceuticals naproxen, diclofenac and atenolol; the OPs tri(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tri(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP), tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP), diphenyl phosphate (DPhP) and diethylhexyl phosphate (DEHP); and the sulphonate UV filters BP-4 and 2-phenylbenzimidazole-5-sulphonic acid (PBSA). These OPs were then the dominant emerging pollutants occurring in surface and drinking water, where they are detected in the 20–200ngL−1 range. Pharmaceuticals and UV filters are typically below the 10ngL−1 level. Finally, herbicides were only detected in the last sampling campaign under the 100ngL−1 drinking water European Union limit. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The presence of ammonium ion in rainwater is due to atmospheric processes which involve its scavenging from gas phase and particulate matter. The fractionated samplings of rainwater can provide information about these processes and their potential sources. However, only a low sample volume may be available, which constrained the analysis in general and more particularly in situ mode. For minimizing this limitation, this work proposes a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-salicylate sensor that produces a color change. The embedding of solid reagents into PDMS was optimized. Good analytical characteristics (analysis time of 10 min, sample volume of 500 μL, limit of detection 0.03 μgmL -1 ) were obtained. Furthermore, other features of the method such as carbon footprint, equipment cost, residues, toxicity and safety have to be taken into account to be assessed according to the Green Analytical Chemistry approach. In this sense, the hexagon tool was employed for comparing the proposed sensor with methods based on the same reaction as well as with general methods for the ammonium analysis in water (using luminol, ion selective electrode, Nessler and modified Roth method). The proposed method based on PDMS-salicylate sensor stands out from all the others by its sustainability, particularly, in terms of low carbon footprint, residues and cost. The method was applied to fractionated samplings in a suburban site (Galicia, Northwestern Spain) and a higher contribution of the rainout process was observed. When long-duration rain events were analyzed, a relationship between the sampling time and ammonium concentration could indicate a loss of ammonium ion over time. The research focuses on developing an innovative PDMS-sensor, for monitoring ammonium determination in rainwater under wide conditions (scavenging process)., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Isoprene and monoterpenes emission fluxes emitted by Quercus robur seedlings were measured at a leaf scale in the field. Isoprene emissions were always predominant over the monoterpene ones, alpha-pinene, beta-pinene and camphene being the most abundant emitted monoterpenes. Emission fluxes were normalised at standard conditions of temperature and photosynthetically active radiation, PAR, (30 degrees C and 1000 micromol m(-2) s(-1) respectively) using temperature and light dependent algorithms. The standardised emission fluxes ranged from 43 to 73 microg g(DM)(-1) h(-1) for isoprene and from 0.04 to 2.95 microg g(DM)(-1) h(-1) for the monoterpenes. The values reported in the literature are within our experimental intervals. These standardised fluxes were used to estimate the Quercus robur emissions in Galicia (NW Spain). This region is characterised by its abundant forest extensions where Quercus robur occupies the second place in species abundance with a total of 195029 ha of Quercus robur pure stands. To estimate the region emission fluxes, both the extension and distribution of the forest areas and the regional climatic conditions over five years (2002-2006) were taken into account. The averaged annual fluxes regarding the forest extension were 0.04 t ha(-1) yr(-1) for isoprene and 0.52 kg ha(-1) yr(-1) for monoterpenes. This means averaged annual fluxes of 9730 t yr(-1) and 114 t yr(-1) for isoprene and monoterpenes, respectively. These values place Galicia as an important isoprene emitter power in Spain as a consequence of the extension of its forests more than of the climatic conditions.