Global Ozone Research Articles

Life cycle assessment of cobalt extraction process

Abstract This paper presents the results of an investigation carried out on the impacts of cobalt extraction process using a life cycle assessment by considering a cradle-to-gate system. Life cycle inventory data was collected from the EcoInvent and Australian Life cycle assessment database (AusLCI) and analysis were performed using SimaPro software employing the International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) method, and Cumulative Energy Demand method (CED) for per kg of cobalt production. Several impact categories are considered in the analysis i.e. global warming, ozone depletion, eutrophication, land use, water use, fossil fuels, minerals, human toxicity, ecotoxicity, and cumulative energy demand. The analysis results indicate that among the impact categories, eutrophication and global warming impacts are noteworthy. Medium voltage electricity used in cobalt production and the blasting operation appears to be causing most of the impact and emission into the environment. The sensitivity analysis was carried out using three different case scenarios by altering the electricity generation sources of UCTE (Synchronous Grid of Continental Europe) to investigate the proportional variation of impact analysis results. Furthermore, the impacts caused by cobalt production are compared with nickel and copper production processes to reveal their relative impacts on the environment and ecosystems.

Holistic assessment of solid wastes and their environmental impacts in Osogbo city, Southwestern Nigeria with the application of GaBi6 modeling tool

Environmental impacts and attendant nuisance of solid wastes escalate in the 21st Century. Effective management of the wastes in a holistic manner is a proven way out of the menace. This research focuses on accessing the life cycle of solid wastes in Osogbo. The main objective is to evaluate the physical and chemical constituents of the wastes and determine their best disposal method in the study area. In the study, wastes were collected over a period of 2 weeks, wastes composition was determined for the randomly selected residential buildings, and the per capital waste generation rate was evaluated for the area. Potable gas detectors were used to detect and measure the gases present at this dumpsite. The emission of gases and energy consumption was evaluated using the methodology of life cycle in calculating life cycle inventory of the waste strategies. The measured gases include; Sulphur (IV) oxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon (iv) oxide (CO2), ammonia (NH4). The Tool for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the Methodology of the Centre for Environmental Studies (CML) of the University of Leiden are the two approaches applied as provided for in the GaBi6 (Holistic Balancing) Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) software database, to classify and characterize environmental impacts of municipal wastes in Osogbo. The Impact Indices measured from both scenarios were: Global Warming Potential (GWP), Acidification Potential (AP), Eutrophication Potential (EP) and Ozone Layer Depletion Potential (ODP). For the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), two waste management scenarios were developed and compared using GaBi6 software. Scenario one involves collection, transportation and incineration, while Scenario 2 ends with landfilling. Findings showed that the overall mean percent (%) wastes composition for paper, biodegradable, plastic, glass, metal, wood and textile were respectively found to be 4.32, 67.53, 5.07, 4.90, 6.54, 8.74 and 2.90. The per capita waste generation in the study area was found to be 1.09 kg/capita/day. From the results of LCIA methods studied using the ODP index, Scenario one with the TRACI method gives the total values for GWP, AP, EP, ODP as 4.18, 1.08, 1.392E-4, 3.147E-8 respectively. With the CML method, the values are 4.18, 1.3E-3, 3.771E-4, 2.878E-8 respectively. The respective results from scenario two with the TRACI method and CML methods showed total values for GWP, AP, EP, ODP as 9.64, 0.112, 3.108E-3, 1.447E-11 and 9.64, 1.77E-3, 7.247E-3, 1.361E-11. It is concluded that of the two management scenarios considered, landfilling of wastes is more environmentally friendly as compared to incineration, and is therefore recommended for use in the study area.

Exploring the Potential of Satellite Solar-Induced Fluorescence to Constrain Global Transpiration Estimates

The opening and closing of plant stomata regulates the global water, carbon and energy cycles. Biophysical feedbacks on climate are highly dependent on transpiration, which is mediated by vegetation phenology and plant responses to stress conditions. Here, we explore the potential of satellite observations of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)—normalized by photosynthetically-active radiation (PAR)—to diagnose the ratio of transpiration to potential evaporation (‘transpiration efficiency’, τ). This potential is validated at 25 eddy-covariance sites from seven biomes worldwide. The skill of the state-of-the-art land surface models (LSMs) from the eartH2Observe project to estimate τ is also contrasted against eddy-covariance data. Despite its relatively coarse (0.5°) resolution, SIF/PAR estimates, based on data from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2 (GOME-2) and the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES), correlate to the in situ τ significantly (average inter-site correlation of 0.59), with higher correlations during growing seasons (0.64) compared to decaying periods (0.53). In addition, the skill to diagnose the variability of in situ τ demonstrated by all LSMs is on average lower, indicating the potential of SIF data to constrain the formulations of transpiration in global models via, e.g., data assimilation. Overall, SIF/PAR estimates successfully capture the effect of phenological changes and environmental stress on natural ecosystem transpiration, adequately reflecting the timing of this variability without complex parameterizations.

An improved total and tropospheric NO<sub>2</sub> column retrieval for GOME-2

Abstract. An improved algorithm for the retrieval of total and tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) is presented. The refined retrieval will be implemented in a future version of the GOME Data Processor (GDP) as used by the EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Atmospheric Composition and UV Radiation (AC-SAF). The first main improvement is the application of an extended 425–497 nm wavelength fitting window in the differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) retrieval of the NO2 slant column density, based on which initial total NO2 columns are computed using stratospheric air mass factors (AMFs). Updated absorption cross sections and a linear offset correction are used for the large fitting window. An improved slit function treatment is applied to compensate for both long-term and in-orbit drift of the GOME-2 slit function. Compared to the current operational (GDP 4.8) dataset, the use of these new features increases the NO2 columns by ∼1–3×1014 molec cm2 and reduces the slant column error by ∼24 %. In addition, the bias between GOME-2A and GOME-2B measurements is largely reduced by adopting a new level 1b data version in the DOAS retrieval. The retrieved NO2 slant columns show good consistency with the Quality Assurance for Essential Climate Variables (QA4ECV) retrieval with a good overall quality. Second, the STRatospheric Estimation Algorithm from Mainz (STREAM), which was originally developed for the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) instrument, was optimised for GOME-2 measurements to determine the stratospheric NO2 column density. Applied to synthetic GOME-2 data, the estimated stratospheric NO2 columns from STREAM shows good agreement with the a priori truth. An improved latitudinal correction is introduced in STREAM to reduce the biases over the subtropics. Applied to GOME-2 measurements, STREAM largely reduces the overestimation of stratospheric NO2 columns over polluted regions in the GDP 4.8 dataset. Third, the calculation of AMF applies an updated box-air-mass factor (box-AMF) look-up table (LUT) calculated using the latest version 2.7 of the Vector-LInearized Discrete Ordinate Radiative Transfer (VLIDORT) model with an increased number of reference points and vertical layers, a new GOME-2 surface albedo climatology, and improved a priori NO2 profiles obtained from the TM5-MP chemistry transport model. A large effect (mainly enhancement in summer and reduction in winter) on the retrieved tropospheric NO2 columns by more than 10 % is found over polluted regions. To evaluate the GOME-2 tropospheric NO2 columns, an end-to-end validation is performed using ground-based multiple-axis DOAS (MAXDOAS) measurements. The validation is illustrated for six stations covering urban, suburban, and background situations. Compared to the GDP 4.8 product, the new dataset presents improved agreement with the MAXDOAS measurements for all the stations.

The use of QBO, ENSO, and NAO perturbations in the evaluation of GOME-2 MetOp A total ozone measurements

Abstract. In this work we present evidence that quasi-cyclical perturbations in total ozone (quasi-biennial oscillation – QBO, El Niño–Southern Oscillation – ENSO, and North Atlantic Oscillation – NAO) can be used as independent proxies in evaluating Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment (GOME) 2 aboard MetOp A (GOME-2A) satellite total ozone data, using ground-based (GB) measurements, other satellite data, and chemical transport model calculations. The analysis is performed in the frame of the validation strategy on longer time scales within the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) Satellite Application Facility on Atmospheric Composition Monitoring (AC SAF) project, covering the period 2007–2016. Comparison of GOME-2A total ozone with ground observations shows mean differences of about -0.7±1.4 % in the tropics (0–30∘), about +0.1±2.1 % in the mid-latitudes (30–60∘), and about +2.5±3.2 % and 0.0±4.3 % over the northern and southern high latitudes (60–80∘), respectively. In general, we find that GOME-2A total ozone data depict the QBO–ENSO–NAO natural fluctuations in concurrence with the co-located solar backscatter ultraviolet radiometer (SBUV), GOME-type Total Ozone Essential Climate Variable (GTO-ECV; composed of total ozone observations from GOME, SCIAMACHY – SCanning Imaging Absorption SpectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY, GOME-2A, and OMI – ozone monitoring instrument, combined into one homogeneous time series), and ground-based observations. Total ozone from GOME-2A is well correlated with the QBO (highest correlation in the tropics of +0.8) in agreement with SBUV, GTO-ECV, and GB data which also give the highest correlation in the tropics. The differences between deseazonalized GOME-2A and GB total ozone in the tropics are within ±1 %. These differences were tested further as to their correlations with the QBO. The differences had practically no QBO signal, providing an independent test of the stability of the long-term variability of the satellite data. Correlations between GOME-2A total ozone and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) were studied over the tropical Pacific Ocean after removing seasonal, QBO, and solar-cycle-related variability. Correlations between ozone and the SOI are on the order of +0.5, consistent with SBUV and GB observations. Differences between GOME-2A and GB measurements at the station of Samoa (American Samoa; 14.25∘ S, 170.6∘ W) are within ±1.9 %. We also studied the impact of the NAO on total ozone in the northern mid-latitudes in winter. We find very good agreement between GOME-2A and GB observations over Canada and Europe as to their NAO-related variability, with mean differences reaching the ±1 % levels. The agreement and small differences which were found between the independently produced total ozone datasets as to the influence of the QBO, ENSO, and NAO show the importance of these climatological proxies as additional tool for monitoring the long-term stability of satellite–ground-truth biases.

Warming reduces the increase in N2O emission under nitrogen fertilization in a boreal peatland

Peatlands are known as N2O sinks or low N2O sources due to nitrogen (N) limitation. However, climate warming and N deposition can modulate this limitation, and little is known about the combinative effects of them on N2O emission from boreal peatlands. In this study, experimental warming and N fertilization treatments were conducted at a boreal peatland in western Newfoundland, Canada. Contrary to previous studies on permafrost peatland and alpine meadows, the effect of warming treatment on N2O flux was not detectable during the growing seasons of 2015 and 2016. The N fertilization treatment significantly increased the N2O flux by 1.61 nmol m−2 s−1 due to increased N availability. Noticeably, warming reduced the effect of N fertilization treatment on N2O flux with high significance in the middle growing season of 2015. This can be attributed to low N availability caused by stimulated vegetation growth in the warming treatment. In addition, the results showed that total nitrogen was the main control on N2O emission under N fertilization, while dissolved organic carbon was the main driver under the combined treatment of warming and N fertilization. Due to elevated N2O emissions under N deposition/fertilization, the contribution of N2O to global warming and ozone depletion should not be ignored.

Mitigation of climate change from the aspect of controlling F-gases in the field of cooling technology

The main objective is to identify, analyze and deliver data on F-gases in Bosnia and Herzegovina and identify potential mitigation measures. Bosnia and Herzegovina became a member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on December 6, 2000. In its status as non-Annex I country within the UNFCCC, Bosnia and Herzegovina is obliged to undertake the following reporting activities, such as: to calculate annual emissions of greenhouse gases using a defined methodology and reporting to the Conference of the Parties (COP), introduce and implement measures to mitigate the effects of climate change by regulating anthropogenic emissions and adaptation measures to climate change. Also cooperates in the development and transfer of technology, methods and processes that lead to limitation, reduction and stabilization of greenhouse gas emissions, include an impact assessment of climate change and appropriate economic development strategies and policies aimed at minimizing the negative impacts of climate change on the economy, the environment and the health of the population; conduct systematic observation and research, exchange data and exchange information on climate and climate change in order to improve scientific discoveries on the causes and consequences of climate change.This project not only supports the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina in fulfilling the above obligations as a signatory to the UNFCCC, but will also serve as an important strategic document for sustainable development. Also, this project promotes relations between entities and business sectors, establishing links between the environment and other sectors. The data on the emission of F-gases in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including sources of these gases, are provided. In this paper, potentially intrusive measures are suggested. Ozone is a gas located in the earth’s atmosphere in a layer of 15 to 35 km above the Earth and has a special significance for the planets and the entire life on it. It is very important his role for the protection of life on Earth, and the disrupted occurrences of ozone flows through the atmosphere can have harmful effects on the health of man and the environment as a whole. The amount of ozone in the tropospheric (in the first lower layer above the Earth) and the tratospheric (upper-upper layer) was in the past in a natural balance. Uncontrolled human activity, in particular the development of the refrigeration industry, and the accelerated increase in the emissions of individual industrial gases, there was an increase in ozone levels in the tropospheric layer and in the stratospheric reduction. Concentration of ozone in the stratosphere and troposphere is limited by the balance between the chemical processes produced by ozone and the processes that destroy it. This equilibrium of the process is determined and depends on the amount of gases (involved in the reaction) and the speed (or efficiency of individual reactions), depending on the intensity of sunlight, location and area in the atmosphere, temperature and other natural climate factors. Global ozone has declined steadily over the last few decades. The Earth’s stratosphere has increased the amount of reactive gases, containing chlorine and bromine. The biggest impact on climate change is the carbon dioxide emission CO2, due to the far-reaching emissions (measured in billions of tonnes per year). Among the “greenhouse gases” with the far-reaching “global warming potential” (GWP) are the so-called “Ozone gases” or substances that damage the ozone layer CFC and HCFC. Fortunately, there is a far smaller amount of these gases that reaches the atmosphere than CO2.

Implementing the Model/View architecture in software of Brewer Network Spectrophotometer for long-term monitoring of UV radiation and ozone atmospheric content

Observed recovery of the ozone layer likely caused by prohibiting some ozone-depleting substances under the Montreal Protocol is observed since 1998 but still may be unstable. In this regard, the task remains to provide the homogeneity of the ozone observations in comparison with the measurements of previous decades. One of the oldest global systems providing ozone data is the network of fully automated Brewer spectrophotometers which operates since the earlier 1980s. The existing software for control Brewer spectrophotometer was created more than 35 years ago and is in need of redeveloping to maintain long-term observations in the face of changing computer platforms. A new cross-platform control software for the Brewer is under development by a group of researchers from OIAP of RAS. This software is capable for running on computers with modern multitasking operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS), and at the same time it has one codebase. In the new Brewer control software, the Model/View architecture is implemented to separate the code of measurement data (models) from the code of their display to the user (views). The model is responsible for data management and provides an interface for reading and writing this data, and the view retrieves the necessary data from the model, reacting to its changes, and sends the data to the user, placing them properly in the GUI of application. Models are developed in the C++ programming language using the cross-platform Qt framework, and the relational database SQLite is used as a persistent storage. This software allows improving the quality and uniformity of TOC and UV radiation measurements on the Brewer spectrophotometers of the global ozone network.

Anisotropy of stratospheric irregularities inferred from stellar scintillation measurements by GOMOS/ENVISAT

Abstact. In this paper, we discuss the methods for evaluation of the anisotropy of small-scale atmospheric irregularities using satellite stellar occultation measurements. These methods are based on coherency analysis of bi-chromatic scintillation observed in occultations of double stars and in tangential (horizontal) occultations. These methods are applied to scintillation measurements by two fast photometers of the GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars) instrument on board ENVISAT. The estimates of the anisotropy of air density irregularities generated by saturated gravity waves are obtained for altitudes 30-45 km. The anisotropy coefficient varies from 50 down to 10 with decreasing vertical scales from 60 m to 10 m.

High-resolution temperature profiles retrieved from bichromatic stellar scintillation measurements by GOMOS/Envisat

Abstract. In this paper, we describe the inversion algorithm for retrievals of high vertical resolution temperature profiles (HRTPs) using bichromatic stellar scintillation measurements in the occultation geometry. This retrieval algorithm has been improved with respect to nominal ESA processing and applied to the measurements by Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars (GOMOS) operated on board Envisat in 2002–2012. The retrieval method exploits the chromatic refraction in the Earth's atmosphere. The bichromatic scintillations allow the determination of the refractive angle, which is proportional to the time delay between the photometer signals. The paper discusses the basic principle and detailed inversion algorithm for reconstruction of high-resolution density, pressure and temperature profiles in the stratosphere from scintillation measurements. The HRTPs are retrieved with a very good vertical resolution of ∼200 m and high precision (random uncertainty) of ∼1–3 K for altitudes of 15–32 km and with a global coverage. The best accuracy is achieved for in-orbital-plane occultations, and the precision weakly depends on star brightness. The whole GOMOS dataset has been processed with the improved HRTP inversion algorithm using the FMI's scientific processor; and the dataset (HRTP FSP v1) is in open access. The validation of small-scale fluctuations in the retrieved HRTPs is performed via comparison of vertical wavenumber spectra of temperature fluctuations in HRTPs and in collocated radiosonde data. We found that the spectral features of temperature fluctuations are very similar in HRTPs and collocated radiosonde temperature profiles. HRTPs can be assimilated into atmospheric models, used in studies of stratospheric clouds and used for the analysis of internal gravity waves' activity. As an example of geophysical applications, gravity wave potential energy has been estimated using the HRTP dataset. The obtained spatiotemporal distributions of gravity wave energy are in good agreement with the previous analyses using other measurements.

Balance of Emission and Dynamical Controls on Ozone During the Korea-United States Air Quality Campaign From Multiconstituent Satellite Data Assimilation.

Global multiconstituent concentration and emission fields obtained from the assimilation of the satellite retrievals of ozone, CO, NO2, HNO3, and SO2 from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment 2, Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere, Microwave Limb Sounder, and Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)/OMI are used to understand the processes controlling air pollution during the Korea‐United States Air Quality (KORUS‐AQ) campaign. Estimated emissions in South Korea were 0.42 Tg N for NOx and 1.1 Tg CO for CO, which were 40% and 83% higher, respectively, than the a priori bottom‐up inventories, and increased mean ozone concentration by up to 7.5 ± 1.6 ppbv. The observed boundary layer ozone exceeded 90 ppbv over Seoul under stagnant phases, whereas it was approximately 60 ppbv during dynamical conditions given equivalent emissions. Chemical reanalysis showed that mean ozone concentration was persistently higher over Seoul (75.10 ± 7.6 ppbv) than the broader KORUS‐AQ domain (70.5 ± 9.2 ppbv) at 700 hPa. Large bias reductions (>75%) in the free tropospheric OH show that multiple‐species assimilation is critical for balanced tropospheric chemistry analysis and emissions. The assimilation performance was dependent on the particular phase. While the evaluation of data assimilation fields shows an improved agreement with aircraft measurements in ozone (to less than 5 ppbv biases), CO, NO2, SO2, PAN, and OH profiles, lower tropospheric ozone analysis error was largest at stagnant conditions, whereas the model errors were mostly removed by data assimilation under dynamic weather conditions. Assimilation of new AIRS/OMI ozone profiles allowed for additional error reductions, especially under dynamic weather conditions. Our results show the important balance of dynamics and emissions both on pollution and the chemical assimilation system performance.

Sustainable Wine Scoring System (SWSS): A life cycle assessment (LCA) multivariable approach

Sustainable practices have become accepted by a large part of the wine community as a necessary step to face climate change challenges and natural resources depletion. Also, in recent years, there is a rising influence of sustainability on consumer’s buying decision. However, buyers fail to distinguish sustainable attributes from wine that is promoted under different sustainability labels. Moreover, wineries find it challenging to quantify the improvement of their environmental impact when following a specific sustainable practice. The objective of this study is to evaluate the methodology for the development of a Sustainable Wine Scoring System (SWSS). The SWSS aims to be a single numeric index of the sustainable attribute of a bottle of wine, constituted by multiple normalized indicators. Our initial approach for the SWSS is to quantify different environmental impact categories following a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), to then normalizes and weighs the result regarding a reference region. We used as a case of study “Craft Wineries” in Indiana in the USA, as a non-traditional winemaking area. The impact assessment was conducted using SimaPro8.5 in accordance to TRACI2.1 for the USA. As result of our LCA, grape growing is the process that contributes the most to the ecotoxicity, non-carcinogenic, and eutrophication impact categories, while transportation stages contribute the most to global warming potential, smog, and ozone depletion. The calculated SWSS results vary from 279 for the scenario with the highest environmental impact to 350 for the best performance scenario. The SWSS has the potential to represent sustainable attributes of wine in a more suitable way than a single isolated indicator such as carbon footprint.

Atmospheric burden of ozone depleting substances (ODSs) and forecasting ozone layer recovery

The global ozone layer has been continuously depleted in the last few decades due to the anthropogenic emissions of the ozone depleting substances (ODSs). This has created major concern for the ecosystem as well as mankind. This points to the need to examine the influence of each individual ODS in order to estimate how this burden can change in the future. To that end, we have analysed 52 years (1965–2017) data of the ozone depleting substances using the Box-Jenkins model, and have predicted the future trend of the ODSs until the year 2030. On the basis of the relationship between the trend in variations of the ozone depleting substances and the total ozone column, we have established that how much of the recent ozone increment is attributable to the concentration of the ozone depleting substances. By using the above mentioned model, we have estimated that the present atmospheric abundance of chlorine and bromine is about 3325 and 14.3 parts per trillion (ppt) respectively and have calculated that the atmospheric abundance of these substances will reduce to values of 3217 ppt (∼3.2%) and 13.1 ppt (∼8.3%) respectively. We have also inferred that if the decreasing trend of ODSs continues with the same rate in the coming decades, the ozone column will increase by 9–10% and the ozone level will return to its pre-1980 level by the year 2030.

Use of Sun-Induced Chlorophyll Fluorescence Obtained by OCO-2 and GOME-2 for GPP Estimates of the Heihe River Basin, China

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) provides a new method for monitoring vegetation photosynthesis from space and has been widely used to estimate gross primary productivity (GPP). However, the ability of SIF obtained from the Orbital Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2 SIF) and Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) to estimate GPP in the cold and arid region of Heihe River Basin remains unclear because previous comparisons were insufficient. Here, we choose maize and alpine meadow to evaluate the performance of SIF obtained by OCO-2 and GOME-2 in GPP estimations. The results of this study show that daily SIF757 had stronger correlations with daily tower GPP than daily SIF771, and the correlation between daily SIF757 and daily tower GPP was stronger than the correlation between 16-d averaged SIF740 and 16-d averaged tower GPP. The 16-d averaged absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (APAR) and reconstructed sun-induced fluorescence (RSIF) had the strongest linear correlations with 16-d averaged tower GPP. GPP_VPM and GPP_RSIF exhibited the best performance in GPP estimation, closely followed by GPP_SIF757, then GPP_SIF771 and GPP_ SIF740. We also found that the robustness of the correlation coefficients of OCO-2 SIF with GOME-2 SIF was highly dependent on the size of their spatial footprint overlaps, indicating that the spatial differences between OCO-2 and GOME-2 footprints contribute to the differences in GPP estimates between OCO-2 and GOME-2. In addition, the differences of viewing zenith angle (VZA), cloud contamination, scale effects, and environmental scalars (Tscalar × Wscalar) can result in differences between OCO-2 SIF and GOME-2 SIF.

THE IMPORTANCE AND THE ROLE OF INTRODUCTION OF ECOLOGICAL ACCOUNTING IN THE FUNCTION OF MANAGEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

More and more global warming, ozone depletion and loss of biodiversity have contributed to raising awareness of the need to implement measures that enable sustainable development, so that different pillars of society find a balance between economic growth and social interest in preserving a healthy environment. The environmental impacts of the company have led to the strengthening of environmental demands by society and the incorporation of various management tools into the environmental management process. In order to properly address the issue of environmental protection, a so-called environmental management system is required, which carries out an important part of the information systems management system in an integrated form, together with another accounting information system. Ecological accounting is an important tool for understanding the role of the natural environment in the economy. Environmental accounts provide data that highlight the contribution of natural resources to economic well-being and the costs of imposed pollution or resource degradation. The use of accounting in the environment is necessary with more aspects on various issues, such as cost estimates, investment analysis and strategic decision-making. Companies, which are important subjects of economic activity, play the main roles in economic activities. Therefore, a clear introduction of the goal of preserving the environment in every activity activity becomes a strong motivating force for the structural transformation of this economic society. This paper will present a brief overview of the history, concept, division, role, significance and contributions of ecological accounting, and the importance and necessity of introducing ecological accounting in enterprises.Given the financial implications that environmental impacts can have on the business of the company, this paper aims to point out the role and significance of environmental accounting and the environmental management process.

Nitrogen oxides in the global upper troposphere: interpreting cloud-sliced NO<sub>2</sub> observations from the OMI satellite instrument

Abstract. Nitrogen oxides (NOx≡NO+NO2) in the upper troposphere (UT) have a large impact on global tropospheric ozone and OH (the main atmospheric oxidant). New cloud-sliced observations of UT NO2 at 450–280 hPa (∼6–9 km) from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) produced by NASA and the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) provide global coverage to test our understanding of the factors controlling UT NOx. We find that these products offer useful information when averaged over coarse scales (20∘×32∘, seasonal), and that the NASA product is more consistent with aircraft observations of UT NO2. Correlation with Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) and Optical Transient Detector (OTD) satellite observations of lightning flash frequencies suggests that lightning is the dominant source of NOx to the upper troposphere except for extratropical latitudes in winter. The NO2 background in the absence of lightning is 10–20 pptv. We infer a global mean NOx yield of 280±80 moles per lightning flash, with no significant difference between the tropics and midlatitudes, and a global lightning NOx source of 5.9±1.7 Tg N a−1. There is indication that the NOx yield per flash increases with lightning flash footprint and with flash energy.

Global climate forcing driven by altered BVOC fluxes from 1990 to 2010 land cover change in maritime Southeast Asia

Abstract. Over the period of 1990–2010, maritime Southeast Asia experienced large-scale land cover changes, including expansion of high-isoprene-emitting oil palm plantations and contraction of low-isoprene-emitting natural forests. The ModelE2-Yale Interactive terrestrial Biosphere global chemistry–climate model is used to quantify the atmospheric composition changes, and for the first time, the associated radiative forcing induced by the land-cover-change-driven biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emission changes (+6.5 TgC y−1 isoprene, −0.5 TgC y−1 monoterpenes). Regionally, surface-level ozone concentrations largely decreased (−3.8 to +0.8 ppbv). The tropical land cover changes occurred in a region of strong convective transport, providing a mechanism for the BVOC perturbations to affect the composition of the upper troposphere. Enhanced concentrations of isoprene and its degradation products are simulated in the upper troposphere, and, on a global-mean basis, land cover change had a stronger impact on ozone in the upper troposphere (+0.5 ppbv) than in the lower troposphere (<0.1 ppbv increase). The positive climate forcing from ozone changes (+9.2 mW m−2) was partially offset by a negative forcing (−0.8 mW m−2) associated with an enhancement in secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The sign of the net forcing is sensitive to uncertainty in the SOA yield from BVOCs. The global-mean ozone forcing per unit of regional oil palm expansion is +1 mW m−2 Mha−1. In light of expected continued expansion of oil palm plantations, regional land cover changes may play an increasingly important role in driving future global ozone radiative forcing.

Analysis of dust wet deposition in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere

Wet deposition is the efficient removal process for fine dust aerosol. Dust wet deposition in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere is investigated in this study by analyzing the dust simulations with the Global Ozone Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model, measurements from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO), and the meteorological and hydrological fields from Modern Era-Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis. The dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) and dust extinction coefficient from CALIPSO observation and GOCART simulation, in conjunction with the wind field from MERRA, show that the dust plume extending eastward from Asia to Pacific in the mid-latitudes becomes strongest in spring, while Taklamakan, Sahara, and Gobi dust are the main components and distribute vertically in the upper, middle, and lower parts of the dust layer across North Pacific, respectively. The wet deposition of dust in the mid-latitudes is mainly in the large-scale wet removal process, which becomes strongest in spring. The occurrence of wet deposition is accompanied by dust loading or transport. The comparison of wet deposition from GOCART simulation with the cloud water mixing ratio and precipitation production rate from MERRA indicated that wet deposition is mainly related to the water amount in ice cloud, and has a positive relationship with the precipitation in ice cloud layer. On the other hand, over arid and semiarid regions in central and eastern Asia with high dust loading, the absence of cloud water caused by the semidirect effect of dust (Huang et al., Geophys Res Lett 33(19), 2006b), can lower the amount of wet deposition. The comparison of wet deposition from GOCART simulation with the cloud water mixing ratio and vertical pressure velocity from MERRA demonstrates that a large-scale dynamic process, the ascending motion in the subpolar low-pressure system over the North Pacific, can increase the water amount in cloud and cause much more wet deposition of dust, which explains the occurrence of the largest wet deposition over the North Pacific.

Global simulation of tropospheric chemistry at 12.5 km resolution: performance and evaluation of the GEOS-Chem chemical module (v10-1) within the NASA GEOS Earth system model (GEOS-5 ESM)

Abstract. We present a full-year online global simulation of tropospheric chemistry (158 coupled species) at cubed-sphere c720 (∼12.5×12.5km2) resolution in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5 Earth system model (GEOS-5 ESM) with GEOS-Chem as a chemical module (G5NR-chem). The GEOS-Chem module within GEOS uses the exact same code as the offline GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (CTM) developed by a large atmospheric chemistry research community. In this way, continual updates to the GEOS-Chem CTM by that community can be seamlessly passed on to the GEOS chemical module, which remains state of the science and referenceable to the latest version of GEOS-Chem. The 1-year G5NR-chem simulation was conducted to serve as the Nature Run for observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) in support of the future geostationary satellite constellation for tropospheric chemistry. It required 31 wall-time days on 4707 compute cores with only 24 % of the time spent on the GEOS-Chem chemical module. Results from the GEOS-5 Nature Run with GEOS-Chem chemistry were shown to be consistent to the offline GEOS-Chem CTM and were further compared to global and regional observations. The simulation shows no significant global bias for tropospheric ozone relative to the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite and is highly correlated with observations spatially and seasonally. It successfully captures the ozone vertical distributions measured by ozonesondes over different regions of the world, as well as observations for ozone and its precursors from the August–September 2013 Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) aircraft campaign over the southeast US. It systematically overestimates surface ozone concentrations by 10 ppbv at sites in the US and Europe, a problem currently being addressed by the GEOS-Chem CTM community and from which the GEOS ESM will benefit through the seamless update of the online code.

A generalized computational model for the simulation of adsorption packed bed reactors – Parametric study of five reactor geometries for cooling applications

Environmental concerns regarding global warming and ozone depletion urge towards sustainable solutions for satisfying the increasing cooling demand. Adsorption cooling technology could form part of the solution since it can be driven by solar energy and industrial or vehicular waste heat, as well as it employs non ozone-destructive refrigerants. However, its low performance hinders its extensive development and commercialization. The design of the adsorption reactor is crucial for its performance improvement, since its inherent cyclic operation imposes a compromise between the Specific Cooling Power and the Coefficient of Performance. A generalized three-dimensional computational model based on unstructured meshes is presented, capable to simulate all potential geometries. Dynamic conjugate simulations of the packed bed and the heat exchanger allow to study the latter’s influence on the reactor performance. A parametric study of five reactor geometries was conducted, demonstrating quantitatively the strong impact of the solid volume fraction, fin length and fin thickness on the performance. Within the studied range, the Specific Cooling Power is maximized for the highest solid volume fraction and for the lowest fin thickness and fin length. The effect of the adsorbed mass spatial distribution on the desorption phase is discussed. A sensitivity analysis exhibits the importance of the heat transfer coefficient between the two domains. Copper and aluminium are compared as heat exchanger materials, revealing that the former performs more effectively, although the difference is appreciable only for longer fin lengths. The presented numerical model can be employed for improving the design of adsorption packed bed reactors.