Showing papers in "Atmospheric Environment in 2016"

TL;DR: In this article, a review discusses recent developments in catalytic systems for the destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and their sources of emission, mechanisms of catalytic destruction, the causes of catalyst deactivation, and catalyst regeneration methods.

TL;DR: In this article, a literature review suggests that electric vehicles may not reduce levels of PM as much as expected, because of their relatively high weight and there is a positive relationship between weight and non-exhaust PM emission factors.

TL;DR: In this article, emissions and concentration trends of criteria and other air pollutants (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and greenhouse gases) were examined in the three Indian megacities.

TL;DR: The authors reviewed the current status of studies of the complex interactions between climate, air quality and megacities, and identified the main gaps in our current knowledge as well as further research needs in this important field of research.

TL;DR: The 1st EuNetAir Air Quality Joint Intercomparison Exercise organized in Aveiro (Portugal) from 13th-27th October 2014, focused on the evaluation and assessment of environmental gas, particulate matter (PM) and meteorological microsensors, versus standard air quality reference methods through an experimental urban air quality monitoring campaign.

TL;DR: The empirical study indicates that the proposed hybrid decomposition-ensemble model is remarkably superior to all considered benchmark models for its higher prediction accuracy and hit rates of directional prediction.

TL;DR: Based on spectrophotometric absorption measurements on extracts of bulk aerosol samples, Wang et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the characteristics of BrC during winter in Beijing, China, and showed that light absorption by BrC could be comparable with black carbon in the spectral range of near-ultraviolet light.

TL;DR: The abundance of certain bacterial taxa is of interest, not only for their ability to mediate a range of chemical and physical processes in the atmosphere, such as cloud formation and ice nucleation, but also for their implications -both beneficial and detrimental-for human health as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: This work was supported by the NERC knowledge exchange fellowship for Dr Roland Leigh under grant NE/L002930/1 and used the ALICE High Performance Computing Facility at the University of Leicester.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors review and synthesize the current state of knowledge regarding acid deposition and its environmental effects across Asia. But, the authors do not consider the effects of acid deposition in tropical and subtropical regions.

TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors developed linear mixed effects (LMEs) models that integrate Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) AOD measurements, meteorological parameters, and satellite-derived tropospheric NO2 column density measurements as predictors to estimate PM2.5 concentrations over three major industrialized regions in China, namely, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTH), the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD), and the Pearl River delta region (PRD).

TL;DR: In this article, the authors use surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5) measurements collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) networks as independent validation for Version 1 of the Modern Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications Aerosol Reanalysis (MERRAero) developed by the Global Modeling Assimilation Office (GMAO).

TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined potential relationships between air quality, synoptic weather patterns, and the East Asian Monsoon (EAM) over the North China Plain (NCP) during the time period of 1980-2013 using a weather typing technique and ground-based air pollution index (API) data from three cities: Beijing, Tianjin and Shijiazhuang.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the characteristics, secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formation potential and contributing factors of VOC during hazy episodes and found that VOC concentrations rapidly increased at a visibility range of 4-5 km with the rate of 25%/km in alkanes, alkenes and halocarbons and the rate at 45%/ km in aromatics.

TL;DR: The authors used a backward propagation neural network to calibrate GEOS-Chem predictions with a spatial resolution of 0.500°×-0.667° using monitoring data collected during the period from 2001 to 2010 for the Northeastern United States.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors used the displacement method to assess the variability in source profiles to improve the interpretation of PMF results and suggest more attention needs to be paid to traffic emissions in Beijing.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the spatio-temporal variability of the mass absorption cross-section (MAC) of atmospheric black carbon, defined as light absorption coefficient (σap) divided by elemental carbon mass concentration (mEC).

TL;DR: In this paper, the relation between synoptic flow patterns and low visibility events of haze and fog over the North China Plain (NCP), and the contribution of Synoptic Flow Patterns and boundary layer structure to the severe haze events over the NCP in January 2013, was elucidated.

TL;DR: Overall, the screen room, sludge thickening basin and biological reaction basin imposed significant microbial exposure risks, including those from airborne antibiotic resistance genes.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conducted a critical review of European and US BC source apportionment studies published since 2003, finding a striking difference in the commonly used source-apportionment methods between the two regions and variations in the assigned source categories.

TL;DR: In this article, a mesoscale chemical transport model is used to investigate the impact of urban greening and highly reflective surfaces on the concentrations of primary (CO, NO) as well as secondary pollutants inside the urban canopy.

TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors proposed a nested linear mixed effects (LME) model including nested month-, week, and day-specific random effects of PM2.5-AOD relationships.

TL;DR: In this article, a brake wear dynamometer with a constant volume sampling system was developed to measure driving-distance-based mass emission factors for airborne brake wear particulate matter (PM; i.e., brake wear particles) related to the non-asbestos organic friction of brake assembly materials (pads and lining).

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used moderate resolution imaging spectrometer data at 550nm to investigate the variation in and factors affecting AOD over a 3-km grid for the entire of China, and five typical regions in particular.

TL;DR: A method was developed to establish a comprehensive anthropogenic VOC emission inventory in China, in which a four-level source categorization was proposed, and an emission factor determination system together with a reference database were developed as mentioned in this paper.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the response of lake water chemistry in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA to decreases in acid deposition and found that sulfate and hydrogen ion fluxes in wet deposition have been observed since the late 1970s, while significant decreases in nitrate have been evident since the early 2000s.

TL;DR: In this article, the effect of acidified sulfate aerosol on secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from isoprene ozonolysis was investigated using diethyl ether as an OH radical scavenger.

TL;DR: Results from the development and validation campaign of an optical pollen monitoring method based on time-resolved scattering and fluorescence and the high sampling from the automatic device allows to go beyond the commonly-presented daily values and the authors obtain statistically significant hourly concentrations.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated the contribution of secondary aerosols and primary pollutants to PM2.5 and the effects of domestic heating and mitigation measures during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors presented an extensive data set on PM 2.5 samples (n = 147) collected for one full year from a sampling site (Patiala: 30.2°N, 76.3°E) in the source region of BBEs in northern India.