Air pollutant emissions are a fundamental input for accurate air quality simulations. Therefore, a detailed estimation of current emissions should be performed, mainly for the activity sectors that have higher contributions to emission totals. In order to estimate air quality under climate change at regional scale, it is extremely important to provide the most accurate emission inventories based on the emission scenarios used as input for the global climate models. The Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) are the most recent developed emission scenarios. Emission inventories used in air quality simulations at regional scale for future periods should be based on these recent developments. In this sense, an Emission Projections under RCP scenarios (EmiPro–RCP) model was developed to assist the estimation of future emission inventories for GHG and common air pollutants. This paper describes the methodology developed under EmiPro–RCP model and presents the estimation of current and projected emissions for Portugal for CO, PM2.5, PM10, SOx, NOx, NMVOC and NH3, which will be used as input in air quality modeling systems. A comparison between the inventories was performed and the results indicated that all the RCPs scenarios predict a decrease in most of the air pollutant emissions until 2100, with the exception of NH3 that increases. The main decreases are found in the coastal zone of Portugal, mainly in Porto and Lisbon urban areas, while the NH3 increases are located not only in the coastal zone but also in the southern inland of Portugal.

By using an appropriate in-line sampling system, it is possible to obtain representative samples of ballast water from the main ballast line. An important parameter of the sampling port is its “isokinetic diameter” (DISO), which is the diameter calculated to determine the velocity of water in the sample port relative to the velocity of the water in the main ballast line. The guidance in the U.S. Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) program protocol suggests increasing the diameter from 1.0× DISO (in which velocity in the sample port is equivalent to velocity in the main line) to 1.5–2.0× DISO. In this manner, flow velocity is slowed—and mortality of organisms is theoretically minimized—as water enters the sample port. This report describes field and laboratory trials, as well as computational fluid dynamics modeling, to refine this guidance. From this work, a DISO of 1.0–2.0× (smaller diameter sample ports) is recommended.

A suite of twenty organophosphorus flame retardant compounds have been determined in blubber and liver tissue of twenty harbour porpoises stranded or bycaught in the UK during 2012 in order to establish current levels of contamination. Fourteen of the twenty compounds were below the limits of quantification in all samples. Six could be quantified at maximum concentrations (in blubber) between 6.7 and 246μgkg−1 wet weight. These levels do not suggest a high level of concern regarding potential impacts and do not indicate that routine monitoring in UK porpoises is warranted at this time.

Rapid assessment surveys of non-indigenous species (NIS) of sessile invertebrates were made at seven marinas in NW France and 10 marinas in SW England in 2010, and repeated in 2013. Fourteen NIS were recorded, 12 of which were seen on both coasts. Site occupancy differed between the opposite sides of the western English Channel. In Brittany, most species occurred at most sites in both 2010 and 2013. In 2010, site occupancy in Devon & Cornwall was distinctly lower; by 2013, the difference compared to Brittany had narrowed considerably, largely because of rapid colonisation of additional sites by species that were infrequent in 2010. Three more of the recent NIS are present in Devon & Cornwall but have still not become widespread. It is concluded that the recently introduced fouling animals studied here are longer established in NW France than in SW England, and have probably spread northwards across the Channel.

The dynamics and composition of the bacterial community in the coastal waters of Kuwait are poorly understood. In this study, the spatial–temporal variations in the bacterial composition in the surface water along the Kuwaiti coast was examined by 16S rRNA denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) fingerprinting and phylogeny analyses. The sampling sites were Kuwait Bay, Al-Sabbiya (north of the bay) and Al-Khairan (to the south). The bacterial composition was more variable in the summer for all sites. A cluster analysis of the DGGE fingerprint revealed two main clusters, indicating a temporal similarity between sites. Kuwait Bay and Al-Khairan were more similar to each other than to Al-Sabbiya. The bacterial community composition exhibited distinctive spatial variations, with more diversity at Al-Khairan and less diversity at Al-Sabbiya. At all sites, the dominant bacteria were Alphaproteobacteria, in particular Rhodobacteraceae, followed by Alteromonadaceae (Gammaproteobacteria) and Bacteroidetes.

In this paper, we postulate a unique environmental triggering sequence for primary outbreaks of crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS, Acanthaster planci) on the central Great Barrier Reef (GBR, Australia). Notably, we extend the previous terrestrial runoff hypothesis, viz. nutrient-enriched terrestrial runoff→elevated phytoplankton ‘bloom’ concentrations→enhanced COTS larval survival, to include the additional importance of strong larvae retention around reefs or within reef groups (clusters) that share enhanced phytoplankton concentrations. For the central GBR, this scenario is shown to occur when El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) linked hydrodynamic conditions cause the ‘regional’ larval connectivity network to fragment into smaller ‘local’ reef clusters due to low ocean current velocities. As inter-annual variations in hydrodynamic circulation patterns are not amenable to direct management intervention, the ability to reduce the future frequency of COTS outbreaks on the central GBR is shown to be contingent on reducing terrestrial bioavailable nutrient loads ~20–40%.

Coastal reclamation (CR) is a prevailing approach to solve the contradiction between the land shortage and the growing demand of living space for human beings. In general, environmental impact assessment (EIA) focuses on evaluating the feasibility of individual coastal reclamation project (CRP). However, few studies have investigated the cumulative effect of multiple CRPs on surrounding environment. In this study, an integrated framework based on coastal hydrodynamics was established, and then applied to the feasibility evaluation of multiple CRPs for future coastal management in Haizhou Bay, China. The results indicated that three out of five reclamation projects were feasible and the remaining two were forbidden in the study area, whereas EIA approves of all the CRPs. It provides a scientific reference for effective management of coastal reclamation and future environmental impact researches when new CRPs are proposed.

The Kolmogorov–Zurbenko (KZ) filter method is a tool to improve air quality management, since it determines meteorological effects on air quality concentrations and separates out those effects in order to examine underlying trends. Air quality in Portugal is exceeding the legislated particulate matter (PM10), nitrogen oxides (NO2) and ozone (O3) levels; accordingly, measures to reduce pollutant emissions have been designed. The primary objective of this work is to investigate the influence of meteorology on O3, NO2 and PM10 levels and the long-term air quality trends. Air quality and meteorological datasets were explored for the period 2002–2012 through the decomposition of time-series using the Kolmogorov–Zurbenko (KZ) filter. To determine the best meteorological predictors for the air quality data, a stepwise regression analysis of the filtered time-series was applied. The KZ filter application revealed that the short-term component has the highest contribution to the total variance of the original air quality data (≈64%–PM10; ≈52%–O3; ≈54%–NO2) followed by the seasonal component. The long-term component exhibits the influence of the emission control regulations implemented in each study region. The statistical analysis of the air quality and the meteorological data indicated that O3 has a statistically significant relationship with temperature in most of the components. The results also indicate that emission control strategies are primary regulators for NO2 and PM10 levels. Therefore, to establish an accurate strategy to improve air quality further, it will be essential to include meteorological effects. This study highlights that the KZ filter is a useful tool to support the design and implementation of adequate air quality strategies and for the investigation of the interactions between the emissions, the meteorological conditions and the air quality levels, to improve air quality management in these two urban areas.

The global NEWS model was calibrated and then used to quantify the long term trend of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) export from two tributaries of Jiulong River (SE China). Anthropogenic N inputs contributed 61–92% of river DIN yield which increased from 337 in 1980s to 1662kgNkm−2yr−1 in 2000s for the North River, and from 653 to 3097kgNkm−2yr−1 for the West River. North River and West River contributed 55% and 45% respectively of DIN loading to the estuary. Rapid development and poor management driven by national policies were responsible for increasing riverine N export. Scenario analysis and source tracking suggest that reductions of anthropogenic N inputs of at least 30% in the North River (emphasis on fertilizer and manure) and 50% in the West River (emphasis on fertilizer) could significantly improve water quality and mitigate eutrophication in both river and coastal waters.

Sewage pollution is one of major concerns of coastal and shoreline settlements in Southeast Asia, especially Brunei. The distribution and sources of LABs as sewage molecular markers were evaluated in surface sediments collected from Brunei Bay. The samples were extracted, fractionated and analyzed using gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS). LABs concentrations ranged from 7.1 to 41.3ngg−1 dry weight (dw) in surficial sediments from Brunei Bay. The study results showed LABs concentrations variably due to the LABs intensity and anthropogenic influence along Brunei Bay in recent years. The ratio of Internal to External isomers (I/E ratio) of LABs in sediment samples from Brunei Bay ranged from 0.56 to 2.17 along Brunei Bay stations, indicating that the study areas were receiving primary and secondary effluents. This is the first study carried out to assess the distribution and sources of LABs in surface sediments from Brunei Bay, Brunei.