scholarly journals Bio-Monitoring of Air Quality Using Leaves of Tree and Lichens in Urban Environments

10.5772/31963 ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Maatoug ◽  
K. Tabi ◽  
A. Akermi ◽  
M. Achir ◽  
M. Mestrari
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Bio Monitoring

scholarly journals PARAMETERS OF INTEREST FOR THE DESIGN OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE

2019 ◽  
pp. 92-101
Author(s):  
Marija Šperac ◽  
Dino Obradović
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Hydrological Cycle ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Land Surfaces ◽  
Selection Of

The urbanization process significantly reduced the permeability of land surfaces, which affected the changes of runoff characteristics and the relations in the hydrological cycle. In urban environments, the relationships within the hydrological cycle have changed in quantity, in particular: precipitation, air temperature, evaporation, and infiltration. By applying the green infrastructure (GI) to urban environments is beneficial for the water resources and the social community. GI has an effect on the improvement of ecological, economic, and social conditions. Using GI into urban areas increases the permeability of land surfaces, whereby decreasing surface runoff, and thus the frequency of urban floods. It also has a significant influence on the regulation of air quality, water purification, climate change impact, and the changes in the appearance of the urban environment. When planning and designing the GI, it is necessary to identify the type of GI and determine the size and location of the selected GI. Since each urban environment has its own characteristics, it is necessary to analyze them before deciding on the GI. The paper analyzed meteorological parameters (precipitation, air temperature, insolation, air humidity) affecting the selection of GI types, using the specific example of an urban environment – the City of Osijek, Croatia. Significant parameters when designing GI are operation and maintenance These parameters directly affect the efficiency of GI. The proper selection of GI and its location results in maximum gains: the reduction of land surface drainage - drainage of the sewage system, purification and retention of precipitation at the place of production, the improvement of air quality, and the improvement of living conditions in urban environments

scholarly journals A New Wearable System for Sensing Outdoor Environmental Conditions for Monitoring Hyper-Microclimate

Sensors ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 502
Author(s):  
Roberta Jacoby Cureau ◽  
Ilaria Pigliautile ◽  
Anna Laura Pisello
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
Control Unit ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Wearable System ◽  
New Device

The rapid urbanization process brings consequences to urban environments, such poor air quality and the urban heat island issues. Due to these effects, environmental monitoring is gaining attention with the aim of identifying local risks and improving cities’ liveability and resilience. However, these environments are very heterogeneous, and high-spatial-resolution data are needed to identify the intra-urban variations of physical parameters. Recently, wearable sensing techniques have been used to perform microscale monitoring, but they usually focus on one environmental physics domain. This paper presents a new wearable system developed to monitor key multidomain parameters related to the air quality, thermal, and visual domains, on a hyperlocal scale from a pedestrian’s perspective. The system consisted of a set of sensors connected to a control unit settled on a backpack and could be connected via Wi-Fi to any portable equipment. The device was prototyped to guarantee the easy sensors maintenance, and a user-friendly dashboard facilitated a real-time monitoring overview. Several tests were conducted to confirm the reliability of the sensors. The new device will allow comprehensive environmental monitoring and multidomain comfort investigations to be carried out, which can support urban planners to face the negative effects of urbanization and to crowd data sourcing in smart cities.

scholarly journals Size-resolved particle number emissions in Beijing determined from measured particle size distributions

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 11329-11348 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenni Kontkanen ◽  
Chenjuan Deng ◽  
Yueyun Fu ◽  
Lubna Dada ◽  
Ying Zhou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Particle Size ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Particle Number ◽  
Aerosol Particles ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Integrated Assessment Model ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Size Distributions ◽  
Particle Size Distributions ◽  
Measured Particle

Abstract. The climate and air quality effects of aerosol particles depend on the number and size of the particles. In urban environments, a large fraction of aerosol particles originates from anthropogenic emissions. To evaluate the effects of different pollution sources on air quality, knowledge of size distributions of particle number emissions is needed. Here we introduce a novel method for determining size-resolved particle number emissions, based on measured particle size distributions. We apply our method to data measured in Beijing, China, to determine the number size distribution of emitted particles in a diameter range from 2 to 1000 nm. The observed particle number emissions are dominated by emissions of particles smaller than 30 nm. Our results suggest that traffic is the major source of particle number emissions with the highest emissions observed for particles around 10 nm during rush hours. At sizes below 6 nm, clustering of atmospheric vapors contributes to calculated emissions. The comparison between our calculated emissions and those estimated with an integrated assessment model GAINS (Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies) shows that our method yields clearly higher particle emissions at sizes below 60 nm, but at sizes above that the two methods agree well. Overall, our method is proven to be a useful tool for gaining new knowledge of the size distributions of particle number emissions in urban environments and for validating emission inventories and models. In the future, the method will be developed by modeling the transport of particles from different sources to obtain more accurate estimates of particle number emissions.

scholarly journals Unexpected air quality impacts from implementation of green infrastructure in urban environments: A Kansas City case study

2020 ◽  
Vol 744 ◽  
pp. 140960 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqiang Zhang ◽  
Jesse O. Bash ◽  
Shawn J. Roselle ◽  
Angie Shatas ◽  
Andrea Repinsky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Kansas City ◽  
Urban Environments

scholarly journals On the Effects of Lateral Openings on Courtyard Ventilation and Pollution—A Large-Eddy Simulation Study

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tobias Gronemeier ◽  
Matthias Sühring
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
High Concentration ◽  
Eddy Simulation ◽  
Recreation Areas ◽  
Large Eddy ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Upstream Flow

Courtyards are an omnipresent feature within the urban environment. Residents often use courtyards as recreation areas, which makes them crucial for the physical and psychological comfort of the urban population. However, considering that courtyards represent enclosed cavities, they are often poorly ventilated spaces and pollutants from neighboring traffic, once entrained, can pose a serious threat to human health. Here, we studied the effects of lateral openings on courtyard pollution and ventilation. Therefore, we performed a set of large-eddy simulations for idealized urban environments with different courtyard configurations. While pollutant concentration and ventilation are barely modified by lateral openings for wide courtyards, lateral openings have a significant effect on the mean concentration, the number of high-concentration events and the ventilation within narrower and deeper courtyards. The impacts of lateral openings on air quality within courtyards strongly depend on their orientation with respect to the flow direction, as well as on the upstream flow conditions and upstream building configuration. We show that lateral openings, in most cases, have a negative impact on air quality; nevertheless, we also present configurations where lateral openings positively impact the air quality within courtyards. These outcomes may certainly contribute to improve future urban planning in terms of health protection.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in Three Italian Medium-Sized Cities

Atmosphere ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriele Donzelli ◽  
Lorenzo Cioni ◽  
Mariagrazia Cancellieri ◽  
Agustin Llopis Morales ◽  
Maria Morales Suárez-Varela
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Heavy Traffic ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Meteorological Conditions ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Source Control ◽  
Vehicular Traffic ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Italian Government ◽  
The Impact

Despite the societal and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures put in place by the Italian government provided an unprecedented opportunity to increase our knowledge of the effect transportation and industry-related emissions have on the air quality in our cities. This study assessed the effect of reduced emissions during the lockdown period, due to COVID-19, on air quality in three Italian cities, Florence, Pisa, and Lucca. For this study, we compared the concentration of particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and O3 measured during the lockdown period, with values obtained in the same period of 2019. Our results show no evidence of a direct relationship between the lockdown measures implemented and PM reduction in urban centers, except in areas with heavy traffic. Consistent with recently published studies, we did, however, observe a significant decrease in NO2 concentrations among all the air-monitoring stations for each city in this study. Finally, O3 levels remained unchanged during the lockdown period. Of note, there were slight variations in the meteorological conditions for the same periods of different years. Our results suggest a need for further studies on the impact of vehicular traffic and industrial activities on PM air pollution, including adopting holistic source-control measures for improved air quality in urban environments.

In situ biomonitoring of air quality in rural and urban environments of Mexico Valley through genotoxicity evaluated in wild plants

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Gómez-Arroyo ◽  
Josefina Cortés-Eslava ◽  
Paola Loza-Gómez ◽  
Francisco Arenas-Huertero ◽  
Michel Grutter de la Mora ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Wild Plants ◽  
Rural And Urban

scholarly journals A Simple Tool to Identify Representative Wind Sites for Air Pollution Modelling Applications

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. A. Elangasinghe ◽  
K. N. Dirks ◽  
N. Singhal ◽  
J. A. Salmond ◽  
I. Longley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Surface Wind ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Wind Data ◽  
Monitoring Site ◽  
Site Characteristics ◽  
A Site ◽  
Air Pollution Model

This paper investigates the use of the Site-Optimized Semiempirical (SOSE) air pollution model to identify the surface wind measurement site characteristics that yield the best air pollution predictions for urban locations. It compares the modelling results from twelve meteorological sites with varying anemometer heights, located at different distances from the air pollution measurements and exhibiting different land use characteristics. The results show that the index of agreement (IA) between observed and predicted concentrations can be improved from 0.4 to 0.8 by using the most compared to the least representative wind data as input to the air pollution model. Although improvements can be achieved using wind data from a site closer to the air quality monitoring site, choosing the closest wind site does not necessarily yield the best results, especially if the meteorological station is located in a region of complex land use. In addition, both the height of the anemometer and the openness of the terrain surrounding the anemometer were found to be equally important in obtaining good model predictions. The simple SOSE model can therefore be used to complement regulatory meteorological guidelines by providing a quantitative assessment of wind site representativeness for air quality applications in complex urban environments.

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