A method for assessing environmental contamination in harbour sediments and designing the forthcoming monitoring activities in enlarged coastal ecosystems is proposed herein. The method is based on coupling principal component analysis of previous sampling campaigns with a discrete optimisation of a value for money function. The objective function represents the utility derived for every sum of money spent in sampling and chemical analysis. The method was then used to assess actual contamination and found to be well suited for reducing the number of chemicals to be searched during extended monitoring activities and identifying the possible sources of contamination. Data collected in Savona Harbour (Porto Vado), Italy, where construction of a new terminal construction is planned, were used to illustrate the procedure. 23 chemicals were searched for within a total of 213 samples in 68 sampling points during three monitoring campaigns. These data were used to test the procedure. Subsequently, 28 chemicals were searched for within 14 samples in 10 sampling points and collected data were used to evaluate the experimental error and to validate the proposed procedure.

Oil is principally one of the most important energy sources in the world. However, as long as oil is explored and transported for being used, there will be the risk of the spillage into the marine environment. The use of technical textiles, i.e. fibrous beds, is a conventional separation technique for oil/water emulsion since it is efficient and easy to design. In this paper, the recovery of oil by technical textiles was mathematically modeled based on the structural parameters of textile and the capillary mechanism. Eleven types of commercial technical textiles with different properties were prepared for the experimental program. The experimental design included fiber type (polypropylene and polyester), fabric type (woven and/or nonwoven), fabric thickness and fabric areal density. Consequently, the absorption capacities of different technical textile samples were derived by the use of theoretical and experimental methods. The results show that there is a well fitness between theoretical outputs and experimental data.

A method based on sample preparation by accelerated solvent extraction and analysis by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was validated and used for determination of seven typical lipophilic marine toxins (LMTs) in marine sediment samples collected from three typical coastal bays in China. Satisfactory specificity, reproducibility (RSDs≤14.76%), stability (RSDs≤17.37%), recovery (78.0%–109.0%), and detection limit (3.440pg/g–61.85pg/g) of the developed method were achieved. The results obtained from the analysis of samples from Hangzhou Bay revealed okadaic acid as the predominant LMT with concentrations ranging from 186.0 to 280.7pg/g. Pecenotoxin-2 was quantified in sediment samples from Laizhou Bay at the concentrations from 256.4 to 944.9pg/g. These results suggested that the proposed method was reliable for determining the typical LMTs in marine sediments and that the sediments obtained from Hangzhou Bay, Laizhou Bay and Jiaozhou Bay were all contaminated by certain amounts of LMTs.

To investigate concentrations of pelagic micro- (<5mm in size) and mesoplastics (>5mm) in the East Asian seas around Japan, field surveys using two vessels were conducted concurrently in summer 2014. The total particle count (pieceskm−2) was computed based on observed concentrations (piecesm−3) of small plastic fragments (both micro- and mesoplastics) collected using neuston nets. The total particle count of microplastics within the study area was 1,720,000pieceskm−2, 16 times greater than in the North Pacific and 27 times greater than in the world oceans. The proportion of mesoplastics increased upstream of the northeastward ocean currents, such that the small plastic fragments collected in the present surveys were considered to have originated in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea southwest of the study area.

The decline of groundwater table and deterioration of water quality related to seawater have long been regarded as a crucial problem in coastal regions. In this work, a hydrogeologic investigation using combined hydrochemical and isotopic approaches was conducted in the coastal region of the South China Sea near the Leizhou peninsular to provide primary insight into seawater intrusion and groundwater circulation. Hydrochemical and isotopic data show that local groundwater is subjected to anthropogenic activities and geochemical processes, such as evaporation, water–rock interaction, and ion exchange. However, seawater intrusion driven by the over-exploitation of groundwater and insufficient recharge is the predominant factor controlling groundwater salinization. Systematic and homologic isotopic characteristics of most samples suggest that groundwater in volcanic area is locally recharged and likely caused by modern precipitation. However, very depleted stable isotopes and extremely low tritium of groundwater in some isolated aquifers imply a dominant role of palaeowater.

Ten surface sediments were collected from the open Indian Ocean at depths below 4000m in 2011, for the analysis of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The concentrations of Σ32 PCBs, Σ7 PBDEs, and BDE-209 were 120–514, 49–152, and 7–133pg/g, respectively. These concentrations are close to the lowest values recorded in the global marine environment. The PCBs had a relatively uniform composition, and were dominated by low chlorinated congeners. The concentrations of di-, tri-, and tetra-PCBs were strongly correlated with the total organic carbon (TOC), suggesting the dissolved PCBs were derived from the atmosphere via diffusive air–water exchange, and absorbed by phytoplankton. A high proportion of BDE209 was only detected in the sediment of the low fan of the Ganga River. There were weak correlations between low brominated BDEs and TOC, implying the degradation of BDE209 is a possible source of lower-brominated BDEs in deep-sea sediments.

A fine-scale survey of δ15N, δ13C, tissue-N in seaweeds was conducted using samples from 17 sampling points at two sites (Grandcamp-Maisy (GM), Courseulles/Mer (COU)) along the French coast of the English Channel in 2012 and 2013. Partial triadic analysis was performed on the parameter data sets and revealed the functioning of three areas: one estuary (EstA) and two rocky areas (GM∗, COU∗). In contrast to oceanic and anthropogenic reference points similar temporal dynamics characterized δ15N signatures and N contents at GM∗ and COU∗. Nutrient dynamics were similar: the N-concentrations in seawater originated from the River Seine and local coastal rivers while P-concentrations mainly from these local rivers. δ15N at GM∗ were linked to turbidity suggesting inputs of autochthonous organic matter from large-scale summer seaweed beachings made up of a mixture of Rhodophyta, Phaeophyta and Chlorophyta species. This study highlights the coupling between seaweed beachings and nitrogen sources of intertidal macroalgae.

Standards and guidelines as defined by various international agencies are employed by the researchers to evaluate an acceptable quality of air in indoor as well as outdoor environments. The main objective of this paper is to establish a comprehensive review of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) guidelines and other standard values that are implemented currently. For this purpose, the present study summarizes the main standards and guidelines related to key indoor air pollutants and levels of thermal comfort developed by different agencies around the world. These agencies and organizations include the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air– Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Department (HKEPD), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) of Australia. Common indoor air pollutants that are found to frequently affect indoor populations are, carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), formaldehyde (HCHO), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter in sizes <2.5 and 10 μm (PM2.5 and PM10, respectively). Other factors that affect IAQ are the moisture content of the air (i.e., relative humidity), the temperature of the indoor air, and the air speed or movement. Sick building syndrome (SBS) describes the various interactions between these major pollutants and factors of IAQ that cause adverse health effects on humans. In addition, this paper reviews various stipulated guidelines that are implemented by the relevant regulatory institutions and agencies to prevent SBS.

This study aimed to examine the main characteristics of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations over the Northeast Asia, using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) data from 2005 to 2010. The annual mean NO2 concentrations (AMNC) had an increasing trend mainly due to increasing NO2 emissions in China except during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games period, while the reduction policies of South Korea and Japan have led it to be stagnant or decreased. To investigate further regional characteristics of NO2 increasing trends in China, we divided our study area into 6 geographical regions (sectors 1–6) and then considering 4 different socio–economic levels (groups 1–4) among main cities in Eastern regions (sector 2 and 4) where the concentrations level is the highest in China and NO2 concentrations show continued increasing trend. Especially OMI NO2 and emissions consistently showed that metropolitan/big—sized and developed cities (group 1), such as Beijing and Shanghai, had an increasing trend of NO2 concentrations until 2007 and decreasing thereafter, while small/mid–sized and developing cities (groups 2 and 3) kept a continuous increasing trend over all periods. The seasonal change in NO2 concentrations showed the apparent increasing trend in winter and no significant trend in summer in all groups except for group 1. These results indicate that an increase in AMNC in Northeast Asia was mainly attributed to the increasing NO2 concentrations in winter in groups 2 and 3. Therefore, it strongly suggests the importance of the NO2 management for groups 2 and 3 to improve air quality in the Northeast Asia.

Samples of surface sediment were collected off the north Shandong Peninsula for grain size and element analyses. Based on the grain size analysis, the surface sediments were dominated by silt and sand, with a small portion of clay, and were probably from the coastal erosion of the Shandong Peninsula. The spatial distribution patterns of the heavy metals were primarily controlled by the sediment types. The geo-accumulation indexes suggest that there was no Cu, Zn and Cr pollution in the study area; Pb and Cd contaminations appeared only at a few stations, while As pollution was distributed widely. The enrichment factors indicated that Cu, Zn and Cr were primarily from terrigenous materials. By contrast, Cd, Pb and As, and especially Cd and As, were probably largely provided by anthropogenic sources. Due to the dilution of coarse-grained matters, there was no contamination at some of the stations at which the influence of human activities was obvious.