This article deals with the state-of-the-art of experimental and numerical studies carried out regarding air pollutant dispersion in urban environments. Since the simulation of the dispersion field around buildings depends strongly on the correct simulation of the wind-flow structure, the studies performed during the past years on the wind-flow field around buildings are reviewed. This work also identifies errors that can produce poor results when numerically modelling wind flow and dispersion fields around buildings in urban environments. Finally, particular attention is paid to the practical guidelines developed by researchers to establish a common methodology for verification and validation of numerical simulations and/or to assist and support the users for a better implementation of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach.

We investigated 400 individual fish of four North Sea species: Atlantic Herring, Sprat, Common Dab, and Whiting on ingestion of >20μm microplastic. Strict quality assurance criteria were followed in order to control contamination during the study. Two plastic particles were found in only 1 (a Sprat) out of 400 individuals (0.25%, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.09–1.1%). The particles were identified to consist of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) through FTIR spectroscopy. No contamination occurred during the study, showing the method applied to be suitable for microplastic ingestion studies in biota. We discuss the low particle count for North Sea fish with those in other studies and suggest a relation between reported particle count and degree of quality assurance applied. Microplastic ingestion by fish may be less common than thought initially, with low incidence shown in this study, and other studies adhering to strict quality assurance criteria.