Spring Campaign Research Articles

Integrating physical and biogeochemical processes and oceanic exchanges at a coastal lagoon in Southern West Europe

Coastal lagoons are highly productive systems and the quantification of mass fluxes, which is of paramount importance for the sustainable management of these systems, remains poorly studied. In this context, a detailed study was conducted to better understand the exchanges between the productive coastal lagoon Ria Formosa (South-West Europe) and the ocean. The exchanges of water, nutrients, chlorophyll-a and suspended solids between the main inlets (Faro-Olhão inlet - BFO; Armona inlet - BAR; and Ancão inlet - BAN) and adjacent channels (Faro - CF and Olhão - CO) and the adjacent ocean were estimated along complete semidiurnal tidal cycles, under extreme fortnightly tidal ranges and different seasonal and environmental/oceanographic conditions. The net tidal prism was highest during spring tides. Among the three inlets, BFO was the most important in terms of exchange, followed by BAR and BAN. Net transport at BFO was lowest during the Summer campaign, although it exported material that fertilised the adjacent coast. The persistent net export of suspended solids and ammonium suggests the higher biological productivity of Ria Formosa compared to that found in coastal waters. In the Winter campaign, after a period of rainfall and increased land runoff, there was a remarkable export of matter, on which, ammonium and suspended particles exported can exceed 0.3 times and almost 0.9 times, respectively, those imported from coastal water. However, the import of phosphate and nitrate can be attributed to a weak coastal upwelling event, as well to low consumption and nitrification at this period of low temperature. During the Spring and Autumn campaigns, the Ria Formosa was fertilised either by upwelling events or due to rapid consumption of nutrients by phytoplankton in this shallow system. BFO and the other two inlets of the western sector of Ria Formosa are interconnected by CF and CO. The higher nutrient transport was recorded at CF, despite the highest nutrients concentrations was recorded at CO. The data show the strong link between physical and biogeochemical processes with meteorological/oceanographic factors. The study showed that associated biological processes are superimposed on the tidal effect in this system. Data from this study could be used as a reference, particularly important for management of Ria Formosa, a productive system where bivalves production depends deeply on water quality. In addition, the nutrient concentrations and mass exchanges resulting from the different processes can be used as a reference for other lagoon systems where shellfish production is practised.

Characterization and source apportionment of pharmaceuticals in surface water of the Yangtze Estuary and adjacent sea.

Pharmaceuticals, which are closely linked to human activities, have attracted global attention. This study investigated the occurrence characteristics of 20 pharmaceuticals in surface water of the Yangtze Estuary and adjacent sea. A total of 14 targeted pharmaceuticals were detected in both spring and summer sampling campaigns. The mean concentrations of sulfonamides and non-sulfonamides were 36.60 ± 19.43ng·L-1 and 50.02 ± 41.07ng·L-1, respectively. As for non-antibiotics, their concentrations were in the range of 24.34 ± 916.8ng·L-1 with caffeine accounting for 6.17 ~ 86.70% (average percentage of 42.22%). Meanwhile, spatial distribution patterns showed similarities between antibiotics and non-antibiotics, with high levels occurring near the upper estuary, aquaculture areas, wastewater treatment plants, and the maximum turbidity zone. This phenomenon could be related to the sources of pharmaceuticals and the physicochemical properties of water bodies. Obviously, the first three areas are highly impacted by human activities or serve as important sources of terrestrial contaminants entering the East China Sea. The last area retains high amounts of suspended particles which may exert strong trapping effects on hydrophobic chemicals. Principal component analysis revealed the presence of three potential sources for pharmaceuticals in the Yangtze Estuary, with a relatively high percentage originating from incompletely treated municipal sewage. As for the temporal trend, pharmaceutical contamination was found to be higher in spring compared to summer, potentially due to variations in pharmaceutical consumption patterns, local rainfalls, and water temperatures. These findings provide fundamental data support for implementing appropriate local management strategies for pharmaceutical usages.

Drivers of seasonal water hyacinth dynamics in permanently eutrophic estuarine waters

Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment is one of the key global change pressures threatening the health of estuaries. This is evident at the persistently eutrophic Swartkops Estuary located along the warm temperate coast of South Africa. Augmented nutrient-rich baseflows (e.g., stormwater runoff, wastewater treatment work discharges) have resulted in the persistent growth of invasive alien aquatic plants (IAAPs), particularly water hyacinth (Pontederia crassipes), in the upper estuarine reaches. As such, the objective of this study was to investigate the temporal population dynamics of water hyacinth in the Swartkops Estuary to inform management options. Methods included five-weekly sampling campaigns in winter, spring, and summer, interspersed with monthly sampling over a year-long period. Physico-chemical variables and river inflow were measured in situ, while samples were collected for inorganic nutrients, phytoplankton biomass, and IAAP measurements (cover, biomass, and tissue nutrients). Model results indicated that increased water temperature and inorganic nitrogen (ammonium and NOx) levels promoted increased coverage of water hyacinth, while seasonal analysis highlighted reduced (p < 0.05) dissolved oxygen levels during the peak summer IAAP accumulation period. Notably, model results indicated declining IAAP tissue TN and TP concentrations with increasing water temperature, yet overall TN and TP storage was highest in summer due to the extensive water hyacinth cover observed during this period. Overall, the proportionally low and transient nature of nutrient storage by water hyacinth populations, together with the detrimental consequences they facilitate, highlights the need to integrate short-term control measures with catchment-scale management interventions geared towards mitigating the causative drivers.

Early response of understory vegetation to the mass dieback of Norway spruce in the European lowland temperate forest

Spruce-dominated forests are commonly exposed to disturbances associated with mass occurrences of bark beetles. The dieback of trees triggers many physical and chemical processes in the ecosystem resulting in rapid changes in the vegetation of the lower forest layers. We aimed to determine the response of non-tree understory vegetation to the mass dieback of Norway spruce (Picea abies) in the first years after the disturbance caused by the European spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) outbreak. Our study area was the Białowieża Biosphere Reserve covering the Polish part of the emblematic Białowieża Forest, in total 597 ​km2. The main data source comprised 3,900 phytosociological relevés (combined spring and summer campaigns) collected from 1,300 systematically distributed forest sites in 2016–2018 – the peak years of the bark beetle outbreak. We found that the understory responded immediately to mass spruce dieback, with the most pronounced changes observed in the year of the disturbance and the subsequent year. Shade-tolerant forest species declined in the initial years following the mass spruce dieback, while hemicryptophytes, therophytes, light-demanding species associated with non-forest semi-natural communities, as well as water-demanding forest species, expanded. Oxalis acetosella, the most common understory species in the Białowieża Forest, showed a distinct fluctuation pattern, with strong short-term expansion right after spruce dieback, followed by a gradual decline over the next 3–4 years to a cover level 5 percentage points lower than before the disturbance. Thus, our study revealed that mass spruce dieback selectively affects individual herb species, and their responses can be directional and non-directional (fluctuation). Furthermore, we demonstrated that the mass dieback of spruce temporarily increases plant species diversity (α-diversity).

Upgrade of EAST data acquisition system

After the 2021 spring campaign, EAST (Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) facility carried out maintenance. EAST data acquisition system, which is responsible for the unified diagnostic data acquisition and long-term data storage, also has been upgraded. This article will present an overview of the upgrade data acquisition system. The EAST data acquisition system consists of a DAQ console, DAQ units, and data storage database. The DAQ console is used to manage the data acquisition configuration information and control the data acquisition workflow. The old DAQ console has been developed for many years, however, it has become inadequate with increasing of data acquisition units. After upgrade, it is replaced by a data acquisition workflow control program and a configuration management module. The configuration management module provides a website based on Spring Boot framework for administrator and diagnostic users to manage the DAQ units, data storage servers, and signal conditioning equipment, while the data acquisition workflow control program runs as a Linux service. Up to 65 DAQ units with about 4000 channels are distributed in different physical positions for different diagnostic systems. The raw diagnostic data acquired by DAQ units is quasi-real-time transferred to the data storage database. The data acquisition driver plugin has been updated for various kinds of data acquisition cards. The data server cluster keeps these data with MDSPlus for long-term storage. The upgraded data acquisition system has been used in the EAST campaign.

Bicycle Parking Use Patterns, Occupancy and Rotation Rates in the Streets of Barcelona

Bicycle parking is a critical piece of cycling infrastructure and yet there is little known about who and how often these facilities are used. This study investigates the use patterns, occupancy, duration times and rotation rates of on-street bike parking in Barcelona, Spain. We sampled all city districts with rectangular plots (20 ha) that included 163 bike parking locations. We visited them 4-15 times during two field work campaigns in spring and summer 2021. We measured total occupancy, bicycle type (bike-share, kid, abandoned, private) and developed a method to estimate rotation rates, turnover and service levels. We estimate that Barcelona has approximately 18,730 bicycles parked on the street every day, of which 8% are dockless shared bikes, 5% are kid bikes and 3% are abandoned bikes or bike parts. We find that 10% of bike parking locations were saturated (average occupancy 90%+) and 30% reached saturation in at least one measurement. Contrary to our hypothesis, we do not find strong diurnal temporal variations, as occupancy rates are remarkably stable over the day across the city. We estimate that 35% of bicycles parked on the streets are for long term parking (1 week+) or storage, while only 12% of bicycles are short-term day-users. To improve the management of on-street bicycle parking, cities must maintain an updated spatial data set of bike parking locations and understand the patterns of who and when they are used.

Measurement report: Diurnal variations of brown carbon during two distinct seasons in a megacity in northeast China

Abstract. Brown carbon (BrC) represents an important target for the “win-win” strategy of mitigating climate change and improving air quality. However, estimating co-benefits of BrC control remains difficult for China, partially because current measurement results are insufficient to represent the highly variable emission sources and meteorological conditions across different regions. In this study, we investigated, for the first time, the diurnal variations of BrC during two distinct seasons in a megacity in northeast China. The winter campaign conducted in January 2021 was characterized by low temperatures rarely seen in other Chinese megacities (down to about −20 ∘C). The mass absorption efficiencies of BrC at 365 nm (MAE365) were found to be ∼ 10 % higher at night. The variations of MAE365 could not be explained by the influence of residential biomass burning emissions or secondary aerosol formation but were strongly associated with the changes of a diagnostic ratio for the relative importance of coal combustion and vehicle emissions (RS/N). Given that most coal combustion activities were uninterruptible, the higher nighttime MAE365 in winter were attributed primarily to increased emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks. The spring campaign conducted in April 2021 was characterized by frequent occurrences of agricultural fires, as supported by the intensive fire hotspots detected around Harbin and the more-than-doubled ratios of levoglucosan to organic carbon (LG/OC) compared to the winter campaign. In spring, the MAE365 depended little on RS/N but exhibited a strong positive correlation with LG/OC, suggesting open burning emissions as the dominant influencing factor for BrC's light absorption capacity. MAE365 were ∼ 70 % higher at night for the spring campaign, pointing to the prevalence of nighttime agricultural fires, which were presumably in response to local bans on open burning. It is noteworthy that the agricultural-fire emissions resulted in a distinct peak at ∼ 365 nm for the light absorption spectra of BrC, and candidates for the compounds at play were inferred to be aromatic species with nitro-functional groups. The presence of the ∼ 365 nm peak complicated the determination of absorption Ångström exponents for the agricultural-fire-impacted samples. In addition, the ∼ 365 nm peak became much less significant during the day, likely due to photobleaching of the relevant chromophores.

MARGE — a new ModulAr Robotic Gas-jet targEt system for chemistry studies with homologues of superheavy elements

A new ModulAr Robotic Gas-jet targEt (MARGE) system for chemistry studies with homologues of SuperHeavy Elements (SHEs) was designed, constructed, and successfully tested on a beam line at the U-120M accelerator in NPI in Řež, near Prague. The installation of the MARGE system represents an important milestone in research in the field of homologues of SHEs in the Czech Republic. The MARGE system utilizes a robotic target switching mechanism that is remotely controlled from the laboratory. A significant advantage of this functionality is that targets can be switched without personnel having to enter the cyclotron vault, which greatly reduces the radiation exposure of the personnel, as well as prevents long delays due to the necessary cool-down time. The MARGE system is completely modular, allowing for easy upgrades or maintenance. One of the modules houses a new four-pole beam position monitor, which allows for more precise ion beam focusing and on-line diagnostics, when compared with the previous circular one-pole design. The heart of the MARGE system, the Recoil-Transfer Chamber (RTC) module, is designed as a standalone building block with the possibility of stacking multiple RTC modules. In this way, the residual beam exiting the first module can be used to produce radionuclides in a second RTC module, thus enabling the simultaneous collection and transport of atoms recoiling from more than one target foil. The system was tested during two experimental campaigns in spring and autumn of 2021. This included an optimization of the transport yield of prepared radionuclides, and a measurement of the cross sections of the following reactions: 197Au (3He, 6n) 194mTl, 165Ho (3He, 5n) 163Tm, natPd (3He, xn) 104Cd, and natPd (3He, yn) 105Cd. The transport yield reached during the pilot test was 38 ± 2%. The performance of the system, comprising two stacked RTC modules, was verified during the third campaign in autumn of 2022.

Impurity Behavior in Plasma Recovery after a Vacuum Failure in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak

After a vacuum failure in a tokamak, plasma runaway or plasma disruptions frequently occur during plasma recovery, causing difficulties in rebuilding a well-confined collisional plasma. In this work, the impurity behavior during plasma recovery after a vacuum failure in the 2019 spring campaign of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) was studied by analyzing the spectra recorded by fast-time-response extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometers with 5 ms/frame. During the plasma current ramp-up in recovery discharges, a high content of the low-Z impurities of oxygen and carbon was found, i.e., dozens of times higher than that of normal discharges, which may have caused the subsequent runaway discharges. The electron temperature in the recovery discharge may have dropped to less than 75 eV when the collisional plasma quenched to the runaway status, based on the observable impurity ions in the two cases. Therefore, the lifetime of collisional plasma in the recovery discharge, τc, was deduced from the lifetime of H- and He-like oxygen and carbon ions identified from EUV spectra. It was found that, after several discharges with real-time lithium granule injection, the runaway electron flux and O+ influx reduced to 45% and 20%, respectively. Meanwhile, the lifetime of confined plasma was extended from 113 ms to 588 ms, indicating the effective suppression of impurities and runaway electrons and improvement in plasma performance by real-time lithium granule injection. The results in this work provide valuable references for the achievement of first plasma in future superconducting fusion devices such as ITER and CFETR.

Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 by Ricardo A. Herrera

Reviewed by: Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778 by Ricardo A. Herrera Ann M. Becker (bio) George Washington, American Revolution, Valley Forge, Continental Army, Grand Forage Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778. By Ricardo A. Herrera. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2022. Pp. 256. Cloth, $28.00.) [End Page 176] The privations endured by the Continental Army during the Valley Forge winter encampment have been well documented by historians, yet efforts by General George Washington and his staff to alleviate the lack of provisions, supplies, and clothing have rarely been the focus of the numerous books that address Valley Forge. For example, while Bob Drury and Tom Clavin's book Valley Forge (New York, 2018) describes the transformation of the Continental Army during this winter encampment, highlighting Baron von Steuben's training of the troops, Alexander Hamilton's supporting Washington in the face of attacks by political rivals, and the Marquis de Lafayette's lobbying France for assistance, it does not address the crucial need for forage to keep the soldiers alive and the army viable for a spring campaign. Professor Ricardo Herrera, on the other hand, provides a comprehensive view of those efforts in his book, Feeding Washington's Army: Surviving the Valley Forge Winter of 1778. Painting a realistic picture of the shocking state of the army, which had held together despite the many battlefield losses and desperate need for food and shelter, Herrera credits Washington and his officers and staff with actively being engaged in finding ways to survive and persevere. The first section of the book describes the "Grand Forage," a series of foraging expeditions over six weeks beginning in February of 1778, as a proactive attempt to both reduce the suffering of the American soldiers and to prevent the British Army, quartered nearby in Philadelphia, from procuring the limited supplies of food, fodder, wagons, and livestock available across the Pennsylvania countryside and beyond. Detailing the challenges of the Continental Army, which included the presence of disease, incidences of desertion, and the possibility of mutiny, in addition to the lack of food and shelter, the author argues that taking action to support and feed the troops was crucial to its survival and the ultimate survival of the Revolution itself. Longstanding problems within the quartermaster general's department and with the commissariat charged with supplying and feeding the army had roots in the Congressional fear of central authority and corruption, leading to a distrust of military power. Inability to provide sustenance for the Continental Army led to the Grand Forage, which Herrera frames as illustrating Washington's "burgeoning acumen as a planner and commander, and his long-standing willingness to accept risk" (5). The amount of food needed to sustain the troops was staggering, with the average monthly consumption of bread nearly 454 tons, and meat consumption about 397 tons. The daily ration per soldier was one pound of meat and [End Page 177] bread, a pint of milk, a quart of beer, one ounce of rice, six ounces of peas or beans and a small amount of butter. On average, the army needed about 1.7 million pounds of food per month to provide adequately for its soldiers. One of the most problematic aspects of supplying these vast quantities was the lack of horses and wagons to transport any food and supplies foraged. Needing over 113 wagons per day, the army had only 8, with few horses to pull them. The challenges also included unwilling sellers, with the local population hoarding supplies for their own use or to sell to the British who paid with hard specie rather than the nearly worthless Continental script offered by the Americans. Ultimately Washington placed his trust in Nathanael Greene, Anthony Wayne, and Henry Lee, Jr. as he planned his grand foraging expedition. By mid-February 1778 the soldiers at Valley Forge had been short of meat for four days. Regardless of the danger of allowing the British to know how dire the situation was, and the irony of denying local residents their liberty and property in the name of political and economic freedom from Britain, Washington had...

Aircraft measurements of single particle size and composition reveal aerosol size and mixing state dictate their activation into cloud droplets

Activated cloud droplet fraction versus the below-cloud aerosol hygroscopicity for spring and summer campaigns.

Untargeted analysis of environmental contaminants in surface snow samples of Svalbard Islands by liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry

In recent years, there is increasing attention on the contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), which include plasticizers, flame retardants, industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, since they have been detected even far away from pollution sources. The polar regions are not exempt from the presence of anthropogenic contaminants, and they are employed as a model for understanding the pollutant fate and impact.During the 2021 spring campaign, sixteen surface snow samples were collected close to the research station of Ny-Ålesund located on the Spitsbergen Island of the Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago. The samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction and analyzed by liquid chromatography-high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS/MS) following an untargeted approach. Compound tentative identification was obtained with the aid of the software Compound Discoverer, using both mass spectral database search and manual validation. Among the 114 compounds identified with a high confidence level in the snow samples, >80 have some commercial or industrial use (drugs, plasticizers, fragrances, etc.), therefore they could be of anthropogenic origin. Nonetheless, a clear contamination trend did not appear in the snow samples collected on eight different days during one month. The comparison with aerosol samples collected in the same area did not help identifying the source, either, since only a few compounds were in common, and they were mainly of natural origin. As such, the analysis of aerosol sample did not support possible long-range transport, also considering that compounds were detected mostly in the coarse fraction.

What can we learn from studying plastic debris in the Sea Scheldt estuary?

The Sea Scheldt estuary has been suggested to be a significant pathway for transfer of plastic debris to the North Sea. We have studied 12,801 plastic items that were collected in the Sea Scheldt estuary (Belgium) during 3 sampling campaigns (in spring, summer, and autumn) using a technique called anchor netting. The investigation results indicated that the abundance of plastic debris in the Scheldt River was on average 1.6 × 10−3 items per m3 with an average weight of 0.38 × 10−3 g per m3. Foils were the most abundant form, accounting for >88 % of the samples, followed by fragments for 11 % of the samples and filaments, making up for <1 % of the plastic debris. FTIR spectroscopy of 7 % of the total number of plastic debris items collected in the Sea Scheldt estuary (n = 883) revealed that polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), and polystyrene (PS) originating from disposable packaging materials were the most abundant types of polymers. A limited number of plastic debris items (n = 100) were selected for non-destructive screening of their mineral element composition using micro-X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (μXRF). The corresponding results revealed that S, Ca, Si, P, Al, and Fe were the predominant mineral elements. These elements originate from flame retardants, mineral fillers, and commonly used catalysts for plastic production. Finally, machine learning algorithms were deployed to test a new concept for forensic identification of the different plastic entities based on the most important elements present using a limited subset of PP (n = 36) and PE (n = 35) plastic entities.

Seasonal dependency of the atmospheric oxidizing capacity of the marine boundary layer of Bermuda

In this study, we investigate the atmospheric oxidation capacity in the marine boundary layer during two measurement campaigns in spring and summer 2019 at the Tudor Hill Marine Atmospheric Observatory, Bermuda. Measured species included non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs), HONO, HNO3, particulate matter, particulate nitrates, NO, NO2, O3, in addition to the meteorological parameters. Measured concentrations of all species were generally higher in spring than in summer. During the spring and summer, OH initiation sources made 61% and 42% of the total OH production rate (POH) during the daytime, respectively. The higher levels of NMHCs and OH production from ozone photolysis lead to a higher oxidation rate of NMHCs in the spring compared to summer. However, the low NO in the spring and summer leads to inefficient recycling of RO2 and HO2 to OH, with HO2 reaction with NO accounting for only 22% and 42% of POH during spring and summer. Sensitivity analysis suggests that OH reactivity in the MBL can be potentially enhanced by an oceanic source rather than a secondary oxidation product. Including halogen monoxides, BrO and IO were found to decrease HO2 by ∼14 and 18% during spring and summer, respectively, with marginal impact on OH due to the higher loss by aerosol uptake. The results demonstrate the complex multiphase HOx-Halogen chemistry and call for a more comprehensive multiphase investigation.

Arctic Sea-Ice Surface Elevation Distribution from NASA’s Operation IceBridge ATM Data

In this paper, we characterize the sea-ice elevation distribution by using NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) Airborne Topographic Mapper (ATM) L1B data over the Arctic Ocean during 94 Spring campaigns between 2009 and 2019. The ultimate objective of this analysis is to better understand sea-ice topography to improve the estimation of the sea-ice freeboard for nadir-looking altimeters. We first introduce the use of an exponentially modified Gaussian (EMG) distribution to fit the surface elevation probability density function (PDF). The characteristic function of the EMG distribution can be integrated in the modeling of radar altimeter waveforms. Our results indicate that the Arctic sea-ice elevation PDF is dominantly positively skewed and the EMG distribution is better suited to fit the PDFs than the classical Gaussian or lognormal PDFs. We characterize the elevation correlation characteristics by computing the autocorrelation function (ACF) and correlation length (CL) of the ATM measurements. To support the radar altimeter waveform retracking over sea ice, we perform this study typically on 1.5 km ATM along-track segments that reflect the footprint diameter size of radar altimeters. During the studied period, the mean CL values range from 20 to 30 m, which is about 2% of the radar altimeter footprint diameter (1.5 km).

PAHs and nitro-PAHs in urban Beijing from 2017 to 2018: Characteristics, sources, transformation mechanism and risk assessment

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their nitrated derivatives (NPAHs) attract continuous attention due to their distinct carcinogenicity and mutagenicity. To investigate the characteristics, sources, formation mechanism and health risk assessment of PAHs and NPAHs, PM2.5 were collected at an urban site in Beijing from 2017 to 2018. The highest PAHs and NPAHs concentrations were 77.92 ± 54.62 ng/m3 and 963.71 ± 695.06 pg/m3 in the winter campaign, which were several times larger than those in other seasonal campaigns. Distinct diurnal variations of nocturnal levels higher than daytime levels were shown for PAHs and NPAHs. Source analysis indicated that besides vehicle exhaust, biomass burning and coal combustion were important sources of PAHs and NPAHs in the fall and winter campaigns. Secondary formation in atmosphere was another source of NPAHs especially in the spring and summer campaigns. NO2 and RH could positively influence the heterogeneous formation of NPAHs when RH was less than 60%. Quantum calculation results confirmed the formation pathway of 2N‐FLA from the OH/NO3-initiated oxidation of FLA. The results of health risk assessment showed the potential health risks for the residents, especially in the winter campaign. These results indicated that PAHs and NPAHs still deserve attention following with the decrease concentrations of particulate matter.

Napoleoński 3 Pułk Cudzoziemski (Irlandzki) na Dolnym Śląsku w 1813 roku

The Irish Regiment of the Napoleonic army is one of its most interesting formations. Having fought in battles in Spain and the Netherlands, the unit formed part of the Great Army in Lower Silesia in 1813 and participated in the spring campaign, entering Wrocław at the end of May. After the end of the truce, the regiment fought with the Bóbr Army at Dębowy Gaj on 19 August, at Płakowice a day later, at Złotoryja on 23 August, and again at Płakowice on 29 August 1813, where it was decimated whilst fighting alongside the 17th Division. The unit was disbanded shortly after.

The origin of GHG's emission from self-heating coal waste dump: Atmogeochemical interactions and environmental implications

The aim of this work was to analyse the origin of the exhaust gases containing large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) from self-heating coal waste dump and its potential health and environmental impact. Air samples were collected from the coal waste dump and its vicinity in Nowa Ruda − Słupiec (NR-S), Southwestern Poland, during ground survey campaigns in spring (March 30, 2019) and winter (December 1, 2019). In order to detect the origin of the exhaust plume emission, stable carbon isotopic composition (δ13C) of CH4 and CO2 was measured using a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS). We investigated the gases collected from the hotspots at the surface of the coal-mine dump, from the air above the dump and finally from surroundings of the dump. This allowed to estimate the stage and magnitude of CH4 oxidation inside the coal dump. Many gas seeps from the places, where the dump is actively burning were identified during the ground surveys. CH4 mole fraction in those seeps (hot-spots) reached up to 10,000 ppm. Methane found in the most of the air samples collected from the dump was strongly enriched in 13C, with an average of −27.4 ± 5.8‰, which is heavier than methane coming out from formerly excavated coal seams what indicate coal pyrolysis as the predominant source of methane seeps. The covarying with methane, CO2 mole fraction from active burn dump sites reached up to 73,000 ppm with an average δ13C value of −27.3 ± 8.4‰. Therefore, CO2 resembles isotopically it's predominant precursor, the pyrolytic methane, via incomplete combustion in the shallow oxygenated parts of the hot spots.Substantial amounts of methane escape from the self-ignited spots on the NR-S coal waste dump, however, the mobile surveys did not reveal the enhanced methane mole fraction at the ground level in distance between 1 and 3 km from the dump. Even at distances of 150 m from the hot spots impact was limited, implying convective transport of these localized hot pollutant plumes. The results highlight changes in the fire intensity, prevailing winds, dump architecture, and surface roughness in the surrounding regions are the most important factors of air pollutant emission from complex coal mine dump system.

Oxidation of Proteinaceous Matter by Ozone and Nitrogen Dioxide in PM2.5: Reaction Mechanisms and Atmospheric Implications

AbstractInteractions between proteinaceous matter and atmospheric oxidants can affect amino acids (AAs) bioavailability, the climate, and human health. However, atmospheric reactions of proteinaceous matter remain poorly understood. PM2.5 samples were collected during spring (2019) and winter (2020) sampling campaigns conducted in Nanchang, China. Concentrations of combined and free AAs, and the δ15N values of combined and free glycine (C‐Gly and F‐Gly) in PM2.5 samples were analyzed. Concentrations of TFAA under different O3 and NO2 levels, and correlations of specific FAA species with ambient O3 and NO2 concentrations suggest that the ability of O3 to release TFAA from proteinaceous matter is greater than that of NO2. Furthermore, O3 may trend to release neutral and hydrophilic FAA species, whereas NO2 tends to generate hydrophobic FAA species. With aerosol aging, the slope of the fitted line between [TFAA] and [TSAA] [O3 + NO2] increased, indicating that FAAs yield from protein degradation in PM2.5 was affected greatly by aerosol aging. The TCAAs concentration observed in spring was substantially higher than that in winter. Moreover, the δ15NF‐Gly and δ15NC‐Gly values in PM2.5 exhibited negative correlations with atmospheric O3 concentration. These results suggest that increased levels of proteinaceous matter in spring were derived from natural sources related to biological activities rather than biomass burning sources. Our study confirms that the reaction of degradation of proteinaceous matter to FAAs could be influenced by aerosol aging, which is a finding that enhances current understanding regarding atmospheric processes of aerosol proteinaceous matter under different ambient O3 and NO2 levels.

Analysis of Oil and Gas Ethane and Methane Emissions in the Southcentral and Eastern United States Using Four Seasons of Continuous Aircraft Ethane Measurements

AbstractIn the last decade, much work has been done to better understand methane (CH4) emissions from the oil and gas (O&amp;G) industry in the United States. Ethane (C2H6), a gas that is co‐emitted with thermogenic sources of CH4, is emitted in the US predominantly by the O&amp;G sector. In this study, we perform an inverse analysis on 200 h of atmospheric boundary layer C2H6 measurements to estimate C2H6 emissions from the US O&amp;G sector. Measurements were collected from 2017 to 2019 as part of the Atmospheric Carbon and Transport (ACT) America aircraft campaign and encompass much of the central and eastern United States. We find that for the fall, winter, and spring campaigns, C2H6 data consistently exceeds values that would be expected based on EPA O&amp;G leak rate estimates by more than 50%. C2H6 observations from the summer 2019 data set show significantly lower C2H6 enhancements in the southcentral region that cannot be reconciled with data from the other three seasons, either due to complex meteorological conditions or a temporal shift in the emissions. Combining the fall, winter, and spring C2H6 posterior emissions estimate to an inventory of O&amp;G CH4 emissions, we estimate that O&amp;G CH4 emissions are larger than EPA inventory values by 48%–76%. Uncertainties in the gas composition data limit the accuracy of using C2H6 as a proxy for O&amp;G CH4 emissions. These limits could be resolved retroactively by increasing the availability of industry‐collected gas composition data.