The English Channel is one of the world’s busiest sea areas with intense shipping and port activity juxtaposed with recreation, communications and important conservation areas. Opportunities for marine renewable energy vie with existing activities for space. The current governance of the English Channel is reviewed and found to lack integration between countries, sectors, legislation and scientific research. Recent developments within the EU’s marine management frameworks are significantly altering our approach to marine governance and this paper explores the implications of these new approaches to management of the English Channel. Existing mechanisms for cross-Channel science and potential benefits of an English Channel scale perspective are considered. In conclusion, current management practices are considered against the 12 Malawi Principles of the ecosystem approach resulting in proposals for enhancing governance of the region through science at the scale of the English Channel.

Oil fingerprints have been a powerful tool widely used for determining the source of spilled oil. In most cases, this tool works well. However, it is usually difficult to identify the source if the oil spill accident occurs during offshore petroleum exploration due to the highly similar physiochemical characteristics of suspected oils from the same drilling platform. In this report, a case study from the waters of the South China Sea is presented, and multidimensional scaling analysis (MDS) is introduced to demonstrate how oil fingerprints can be combined with mathematical methods to identify the source of spilled oil from highly similar suspected sources. The results suggest that the MDS calculation based on oil fingerprints and subsequently integrated with specific biomarkers in spilled oils is the most effective method with a great potential for determining the source in terms of highly similar suspected oils.

Apart from the physiological impacts on marine organisms caused by ingesting microplastics, the toxicity caused by substances leaching from these particles into the environment requires investigation. To understand this potential risk, we evaluated the toxicity of virgin (raw) and beach-stranded plastic pellets to the development of embryos of Lytechinus variegatus, simulating transfers of chemical compounds to interstitial water and water column by assays of pellet–water interface and elutriate, respectively. Both assays showed that virgin pellets had toxic effects, increasing anomalous embryonic development by 58.1% and 66.5%, respectively. The toxicity of stranded pellets was lower than virgin pellets, and was observed only for pellet–water interface assay. These results show that (i) plastic pellets act as a vector of pollutants, especially for plastic additives found on virgin particles; and that (ii) the toxicity of leached chemicals from pellets depends on the exposure pathway and on the environmental compartment in which pellets accumulate.

A disposable instrument for measuring water turbidity in rivers and coastal oceans is described. It transmits turbidity measurements and position data via a satellite uplink to a processing server. The primary purpose of the instrument is to help document changes in sediment runoff from river catchments in North Queensland, Australia. The ‘river drifter’ is released into a flooded river and drifts downstream to the ocean, measuring turbidity at regular intervals. Deployment in the Herbert River showed a downstream increase in turbidity, and thus suspended sediment concentration, while for the Johnstone River there was a rapid reduction in turbidity where the river entered the sea. Potential stranding along river banks is a limitation of the instrument. However, it has proved possible for drifters to routinely collect data along 80km of the Herbert River. One drifter deployed in the Fly River, Papua New Guinea, travelled almost 200km before stranding.

Samples of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) from the Southern Yellow Sea (SYS) and the East China Sea (ECS) were evaluated by fluorescent Excitation Emission Matrix (EEM) combined with Parallel Factorial Analysis (PARAFAC). Three terrestrial humic-like components (C1, C2 and C3) and one autochthonous protein-like component (C4) were identified. As for seasonal variations, CDOM displayed the following order on the whole: summer>spring>autumn. The C1, C2 and C3 components were mainly dominated by terrestrial inputs and their spatial distributions and temporal variations also can be influenced by primary productivity of phytoplankton, microbial activities and photobleaching. C4 was produced by phytoplankton and microorganisms and consumed by marine bacteria, and besides its distribution was attributed to the influence of riverine inputs. Terrestrial inputs were the dominant sources of CDOM in the SYS and ECS.

The environmental occurrence, sources and risk factors of organochlorine pesticides (HCHs and DDTs) and their isomers or metabolites were studied using comprehensive surveys (including soil, surface water, groundwater and sediment sampling) conducted in the Yellow River Delta (YRD). HCHs and DDTs were all detected in multi environmental media. Compared with reported organochlorine pesticide values in China and abroad and with related environmental quality standards, the concentrations of HCHs and DDTs were generally at low levels in the YRD. Composition of OCPs (DDT metabolites and HCH isomers) showed that DDTs in the multiple environments of the YRD not only came from residues of dicofol but also from atmospheric deposition, while HCH pollution results from the historical usage of a mixture of technical HCH and lindane. Furthermore, the sum of Excess Lifetime Cancer Risk (∑ELCR) exposure to HCHs exceeded the generally acceptable risk level of 1.0E-06 recommended by the USEPA for carcinogenic chemicals.

Six volatile halogenated organic compounds (VHOC), namely, chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene, bromodichloromethane, dibromochloromethane, and bromoform, were studied in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from April to May, 2009. The spatial variability of these VHOC was influenced by various factors, including anthropogenic inputs, biogenic production and complicated hydrographic features such as Changjiang Diluted Water, Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass, and Kuroshio Current. Diurnal study results showed that factors such as solar irradiation, biological activity, and tide affected the abundance of these VHOC. Correlation analyses revealed that bromodichloromethane was positively correlated with chlorophyll a in surface seawater. Principal component analysis suggested that chlorinated compounds like carbon tetrachloride originated from anthropogenic sources whereas brominated compounds such as bromodichloromethane originated from biogenic sources. Sources of other chlorinated and brominated compounds may not be governed by biological processes in the marine environment.

Size–fractionated (7 fractions from <0.39 up to ≥10.2μm) airborne particulate matter (PM) was collected from Guiyang, southwest China. The concentrations of Al, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, As, Sr, Mo, Cd, Sb, Ba, and Pb in PM and the water–soluble concentrations of these elements were determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Compared to most other large cities in China, the total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10.2, and PM2.1 concentrations in Guiyang were at relatively low levels (59.1–222, 48.6–192, and 33.2–131μg/m3). This is consistent with the small industrial scale of this city. In the winter, coal combustion was proven to be the dominant source of airborne PM, whereas in other seasons, road dust resuspension was considered the primary source. Al, Ti, Fe, Sr, and Ba were highly associated with soil particles in the road dust. Cu and Zn could be associated with vehicle emissions that accumulated in road dust, while As, Mo, Cd, Sb, and Pb (and another portion of Zn) could be associated with main local industrial emissions. Compared to the coarse PM, the fine PM typically exhibited lower concentrations of crustal elements but higher concentrations of anthropogenic elements. The anthropogenic elements exhibited higher water solubility than crustal elements. Almost all of the elements in the PM in the winter exhibited the highest water solubility because of the lowest pH of the PM in this season.

Microplastics (<5mm) have been discovered in fresh and saltwater ecosystems, sediments, and wastewater effluent around the world. Their ability to persist and accumulate up food chains should be a concern as research is still experimenting with techniques to assess their long-term effects on the environment. I sought to characterize the microbeads found in facial exfoliating cleansers so as to better understand how to reduce this source of pollution through consumer use and wastewater treatment solutions. By sampling products from national-grossing cosmetic personal care brands, I was able to gather information on the size, color, volume, mass, and concentration of polyethylene beads in the cleansers. From that data, I modeled onto a consumer survey the estimated volume of microplastics entering a wastewater stream. Through inquiry, I learned the practices of two local wastewater treatment facilities. My findings show that consumer decisions and treatment protocols both play crucial parts in minimizing microplastic pollution.

The groundwater of the Bengal basin, in Bangladesh and West Bengal state of India, is found to be severely polluted by non-point sourced, geogenic arsenic (As), which has been regarded as the largest public health concern in the human history. The geomorphology and geology of the aquifers play very important role in the three dimensional existence of the As in the groundwater. The provenance of the groundwater As of Bengal basin may be hypothesized to be sourced to the Himalayan orogenic belt, where the contaminant might have originated by deep-seated tectono-magmatism and subsequently introduced to the surficial system by exhumation. Later, sedimentary processes transported the As-laden sediments from the orogenic belt to the peripheral foreland basin of Bengal where, under conducive biogeochemical environment, the As is released from the solid-phase to the circulating groundwater. Ferric hydroxides and pyrite are considered to be the two most important host minerals for As, although clay minerals may also act as important substrates for the sorbed As. The mobilized As then exists in the groundwater until a suitable geochemical sink is available. The mobilization process may be related to reductive-dissolution of metal oxides and hydroxides that exist in the unconsolidated sediments of the Bengal basin. Other mechanisms like pyrite oxidation, redox cycling in surficial soils, and competitive ion exchange are also accepted as potential mechanisms for arsenic mobilization, and multiple processes may simultaneously contribute to the mobilization of As. The processes are significantly complicated by redox disequilibria in the Bengal basin aquifers. These inorganic processes may have been significantly catalyzed and accentuated by microbially mediated activities. The tertiary source of groundwater As is the irrigation return flow from the agricultural fields.