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Less traffic on the roads during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the UK led to a reduction in air pollution but may have caused potentially damaging surface ozone levels to rise, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of York. The 25–75% range is shown by the shaded area. These results are a cautionary tale.
In early 2013, the Chinese government declared a war on air pollution and began instituting stringent policies to regulate the emissions of PM 2.5. Cities restricted the number of cars on the road, coal-fired power plants reduced emissions or were shuttered and replaced with natural gas. Over the course of five years, PM 2.5
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing new, stronger standards to promote clean air and reduce pollution from heavy-duty vehicles and engines starting in model year (MY) 2027. This proposed rulemaking builds on and improves the existing emission control program for on-highway heavy-duty engines and vehicles.
Levels of two major air pollutants have been reduced significantly since lockdowns began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a secondary pollutant—ground-level ozone—has increased in China, according to new research. Maybe this unintended experiment could be used to understand better the emission regulations.
Since the 1980s, air pollution has increased worldwide, but it has increased at a much faster pace in regions close to the equator. They found that the increase in ozone burden due to the spatial distribution change slightly exceeds the combined influences of the increased emission magnitude and global methane.
Drought conditions can have complicated effects on ozone air quality, so to better understand the process, researchers have analyzed data from two ozone-polluted cities before, during and after the California drought. However, plants also decrease air ozone levels by taking the gas up through pores in their leaves.
Data from the ESA’s Tropomi (TROPOspheric Monitoring) instrument on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite shows the variation of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) emissions over China from December to March. The drop in emissions also coincided with Lunar New Year celebrations, which usually sees a similar drop in emissions each year.
New WHO has issued new Global Air Quality Guidelines (AQGs) that reduce levels of key air pollutants, some of which also contribute to climate change. Since WHO’s last 2005 global update, there has been a marked increase of evidence that shows how air pollution affects different aspects of health. Source: WHO. nitrogen dioxide (NO?)
Long-term exposure to ambient ozone appears to accelerate arterial conditions that progress into cardiovascular disease and stroke, according to a new University at Buffalo study. The study found that chronic exposure to ozone was associated with a progression of thickening of the main artery that supplies blood to the head and neck.
More than half of all air-quality-related early deaths in the United States are a result of emissions originating outside of the state in which those deaths occur, MIT researchers report in a paper in the journal Nature. Electric power generation is the greatest contributor to out-of-state pollution-related deaths, the findings suggest.
Daily exposure to ground level ozone in cities worldwide is associated with an increased risk of death, according to the largest study of its kind, published in an open-access paper in The BMJ. Ground level ozone is a highly reactive gas commonly found in urban and suburban environments, formed when pollutants react in sunlight.
Annual average concentrations of fine particulates from US sources of combustion emissions from (a) electric power generation; (b) industry; (c) commercial and residential sources; (d) road transportation; (e) marine transportation; (f) rail transportation; (g) sum of all combustion sources; (h) all sources. Source: MIT. Click to enlarge.
The World Health Organization now estimates that in 2012 around 7 million people died—one in eight (12.5%) of total global deaths—as a result of air pollution exposure. million deaths linked to indoor air pollution and 2.6 million deaths related to outdoor air pollution—5.9 million deaths in total.
High levels of air pollutants, especially fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and to a lesser extent, ozone, may be linked to a heightened risk of developing mouth cancer, suggests a study by a team of Taiwanese researchers. Diagnoses of mouth cancer were then linked to local area readings for air pollutants taken in 2009.
A study by a pair of researchers at Northwestern University found that when fuel prices drove residents of São Paulo, Brazil, to switch from ethanol to gasoline in their flexible-fuel vehicles, local ozone levels dropped 20%. Ozone levels are relatively high in São Paulo, with hourly concentrations above 75 and 125 µg m ?3
New research by George Mason University found that exposure to certain air pollutants is linked to increased emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. We estimated associations between twelve ambient air pollutants of both primary (e.g. The study is published in the journal Environment International.
Ozone levels across much of North America and Europe dropped significantly between 2000 and 2014. People living in parts of southern Europe, South Korea and southern Japan and China also experienced more than 15 days a year of ozone levels above 70 ppb. Trends in daily maximum ozone levels (known as 4MDA8) at urban and non-urban sites.
Average annual percentage of black carbon pollution related to Chinese exports. China is responsible for only a small percentage of the annual pollution in the US, but powerful global winds known as “westerlies” can push airborne chemicals across the ocean in days, particularly during the spring, causing dangerous spikes in contaminants.
In a statement released this morning, President Barack Obama said he has requested that US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson withdraw the agency’s draft Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) rulemaking. Earlier post.) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
The European Community’s air pollutantemission inventory report released by the European Environment Agency finds that in 2007, sulphur oxides (SO x ) emissions were down by 72 % from 1990 levels. EU-27 emissions of all four pollutants were lower in 2007 than in 2006.
Air pollution in India resulted 1.67 million deaths in 2019—the largest pollution-related death toll in any country in the world—and also accounted for $36.8 The 2019 death toll attributed to air pollution in India accounted for 17.8% Pollution takes an enormous human toll in India. It is causing 1.67
Ozone, the main component of smog, is a plant-damaging pollutant formed by emissions from vehicles, cooking stoves and other sources. New research shows that ozonepollution damaged millions of tons of wheat, rice, soybean and cotton crops in India in 2005. Smog in India. Credit: Mark Danielson/Flickr.
Counties where measured ozone is above proposed range of standards, based on 2011-2013 monitoring data. Earlier this year, EPA staff had recommended the further reduction of this primary ozone standard from the current 75 ppb (parts per billion) to a revised level within the range of 70 ppb to 60 ppb—and preferably below 70 ppb.
Large improvements of air quality in China during the lockdown have been widely reported, but new research shows that two pollutants harmful to human health—fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and ozone—were only slightly reduced. and ozone were only slightly reduced or barely affected.
A study by researchers at the University of Texas found that in general, use of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) can lead to an increase in ozone during nighttime hours (due to decreased scavenging from both vehicles and EGU stacks) and a decrease in ozone during daytime hours. The results are less clear in Dallas and Houston.
US Congressman Scott Peters (CA-52) introduced the Super PollutantEmissions Reduction Act (SUPER Act) of 2013, legislation aimed at combating short-lived climate pollutants, which are only somewhat addressed by disparate government programs. C in projected cumulative warming by 2050 and 1.1 °C
Exposure to ozone, long associated with impaired lung function, is also connected to health changes that can cause cardiovascular disease such as heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke, according to a new study of Chinese adults. The findings associated ozone exposure with markers of platelet activation and increased blood pressure.
Asphalt is a near-ubiquitous substance—it’s found in roads, on roofs and in driveways—but its chemical emissions rarely figure into urban air quality management plans. A new study now finds that asphalt is a significant source of air pollutants in urban areas, especially on hot and sunny days. —Khare et al.
The rapidly growing space industry may have a greater climate effect than the aviation industry and undo repair to the protective ozone layer if left unregulated, according to a new study led by UCL and published in the journal Earth’s Future as an open-access paper. Effect of rocket launch and re-entry emissions on global climate forcing.
As levels of ozone and fine particulate pollution (PM 2.5 ) rise, more patients end up in the ER with breathing problems, according to the largest US study of air pollution and respiratory emergency room visits of patients of all ages. In “Age-specific Associations of Ozone and PM 2.5 among children, 5.1%
Researchers from Rice University and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report in a paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry that particularly in Northeastern cities, ozone levels dropped even beyond what was anticipated by cutting emissions of NO x from 2002 to 2006. —Daniel Cohan, co-author. Earlier post.).
US EPA Region 9 8-hour ozone trends, 1979-2000. These State Implementation Plans (SIPs) are the roadmaps to meeting the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 0.08 In 1997, EPA first established the 8-hour ozone standard, which replaced the older 1-hour ozone standard (0.12 Source: EPA.
A new study led by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has found that deaths related to air pollution in the US were nearly halved between 1990 and 2010. This study demonstrates that those changes have had a real impact with fewer people dying each year due to exposure to outdoor air pollution.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing regulations employing the “good neighbor” provision of the Clean Air Act to reduce interstate transport of upwind state emissions from power generation that contribute to air quality problems in downwind states. NO x emissions would drop by 52%.
have developed a simulator able to predict tropospheric ozone concentrations across the whole of South and East Asia. Tropospheric ozone is the main cause of photochemical smog, an atmospheric pollutant harmful to human health and plant growth. Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) and Toyota Central R&D Labs.,
and ozone at or above the current standards have been linked to neuroinflammation and high risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). suggesting long-term exposure to PM 2.5 , as well as ozone above the current US EPA standards, are associated with increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Exposures to concentrations of PM 2.5 g/m 3 in PM 2.5
and of 10 ppb in ozone were associated with increases in all-cause mortality of 7.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 7.1 of less than 12 μg per cubic meter and ozone of less than 50 ppb, the same increases in PM 2.5 and ozone were associated with increases in the risk of death of 13.6% (95% CI, 13.1 and 1.1% (95% CI, 1.0
Ozonepollution across the continental United States will become far more difficult to keep in check as temperatures rise, according to new work led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Ozone formation. Scenario A2 and RCP 8.5. The RCP 8.5
In a recent open-access paper published in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology , researchers from the University of York report that alcohols in windshield washer fluid account for a larger fraction of real-world vehicle emissions than previous estimates have suggested. —Cliff et al.
The processes that create ozonepollution in the summer can also trigger the formation of wintertime air pollution, according to a new study from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder and NOAA, in partnership with the University of Utah. A key control strategy is to reduce emissions of the limiting reagent.
While the existence of higher CO 2 levels overs cities—CO 2 domes—has been known for more than a decade, their effects on local air pollution has up to now not been explored. His study estimates that local CO 2 emissions may increase premature mortality by 50-100 and 300-1,000/year in California and the US, respectively. Mark Jacobson.
Consumer products such as shampoo, cleaning products and paint now contribute as much to emitted volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in cities as tailpipe emissions from vehicles, according to a new study led by NOAA. Total VOC emission factors for end uses of petrochemical sources in the study. McDonald et al. Click to enlarge.
A University of Utah engineer has developed an inexpensive new method to remove oil sheen by repeatedly pressurizing and depressurizing ozone gas, creating microscopic bubbles that attack the oil so it can be removed by sand filters. Emerging contaminants, such as wastewater polluted with medications and personal care products.
This year’s report includes the latest results on air pollution exposure and its health burden around the world based on the 2017 GBD (Global Burden of Disease) study. Among the findings of the report is that current levels of air pollution levels have reduced life expectancy by 1 year and 8 months (1.67 and tropospheric ozone.
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