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.

In urban areas, cigarette butts are the most common discarded refuse articles. In marine intertidal zones, they often fall into tidepools. We tested how common intertidal molluscs were affected by butt leachate in a laboratory experiment, where snails were exposed to various leachate concentrations. Mortality was very high, with all species showing 100% mortality at the full leachate concentration (5 butts per litre and 2h soak time) after 8days. However, Austrocochlea porcata showed higher mortality than the other 2 species at lower concentrations (10%, 25%) which may affect the relative abundance of the 3 snails under different concentrations of leachate pollution. Also, sublethal effects of leachate on snail activity were observed, with greater activity of Nerita atramentosa than the other 2 species at higher concentrations, suggesting it is more resilient than the other 2 species.While human health concerns predominate with respect to smoking, we show strong lethal and sublethal (via behavioural modifications) impacts of discarded butts on intertidal organisms, with even closely-related taxa responding differently.

Pollution caused by particles with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5μm (PM2.5) is now a major environmental problem in many Asian cities. Planting more trees has been suggested as an unconventional approach to alleviate the problem. In this study, we developed a ranking approach to evaluate the PM2.5 removal efficiency, negative impacts on air quality, and the suitability to urban environments of commonly occurring urban tree species. The results showed that the most frequently occurring tree species in global cities were not the best performers in removing PM2.5. Among the ten most frequently occurring tree species, only London plane (Platanus acerifolia (Aiton) Wild.), silver maple (Acer saccharinum L.) and honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos L.) were ranked above average. However, there is great potential for improving the removal of PM2.5 from urban air by using species that have high PM2.5 removal efficiency, especially conifer species. Use of conifer species requires choosing the correct gender and matching trees with appropriate sites. The results from this study can assist environmental management agencies in the selection of tree species for urban greening projects focusing on PM2.5 control.

Urban air quality management plan (UAQMP) is an effective and efficient tool employed in managing acceptable urban air quality. However, the UAQM practices are specific to a country’s needs and requirements. Majority of the developed countries have full–fledged UAQMP with a regulatory management framework. However, developing countries are still working in formulating the effective and efficient UAQMPs to manage their deteriorating urban air environment. The first step in the process of formulation of UAQMP is to identify the air quality control regions based on ambient air quality status and second, initiate a time bound program involving all stakeholders to develop UAQMPs. The successful implementation of UAQMPs depends on the strength of its key components, e.g. goal/objective, monitoring network, emission inventory, air quality modeling, control strategies and public participation. This paper presents a comprehensive review on UAQMPs, being implemented worldwide at different scales e.g., national (macro), city (medium), and local (micro).

In the era of plastic and global environmental issues, when large garbage patches have been observed in the main oceanic basins, this work is the first attempt to explore the possibility that similar permanent accumulation structures may exist in the Mediterranean Sea. The questions addressed in this work are: can the general circulation, with its sub-basins scale gyres and mesoscale instabilities, foster the concentration of floating items in some regions? Where are the more likely coastal zones impacted from open ocean sources?Multi-annual simulations of advected surface passive debris depict the Tyrrhenian Sea, the north-western Mediterranean sub-basin and the Gulf of Sirte as possible retention areas. The western Mediterranean coasts present very low coastal impact, while the coastal strip from Tunisia to Syria appears as the favourite destination. No permanent structure able to retain floating items in the long-term were found, as the basin circulation variability brings sufficient anomalies.

An elementary school is an important public place for children and it is where they spend most of their days. The objective of this study was to survey the environmental conditions at schools and to assess the relationship between air pollution and allergic diseases using the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood questionnaire. Nine elementary schools were selected and subsequently classified into three groups. The selection included two schools with no traffic-related or other pollutants, four schools situated near roads with six lanes, and three schools situated near beltways. Allergic diseases were assessed in a total of 6301 students. School zones with critical exposure to pollutants were selected within each school and were evaluated based on the levels of particulate matter, fine particulate matter, ozone, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and black carbon. O3 and PM10 exposures were significantly associated with the prevalence of lifetime symptoms and diagnosis of asthma. O3 and PM10 exposures were also associated with lifetime symptoms, diagnosis, and 1-year physician diagnosis prevalence of allergic rhinitis. BC exposure was significantly associated with the rates of 1-year treatment of disease for allergic rhinitis. For schools located near sources of air pollution, the prevalence of lifetime symptoms for atopic dermatitis was significantly increased. Some symptoms of allergies were significantly increased at schools surrounded by a higher traffic volume. This study provides additional evidence that exposure to school zone air pollutants and traffic volume put school children at risk for childhood allergic diseases. Thus, strategies and actions are necessary to protect children in schools from exposure to environmental pollutants. In addition, future analysis to evaluate the relationship between traffic-related air pollution and the development of allergic diseases at more advanced ages are needed to confirm or refute these associations.

Ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution is currently a major public health concern in Chinese urban areas. However, assessment of ambient PM2.5 exposure and its health effects is challenging in China because the exposure primarily occurs indoors. There is large inter-home variability of the fraction of ambient PM2.5 that penetrates indoors and remains airborne (Finf), and the factors influencing this variability are unknown. In this study, 24-h real-time indoor and outdoor PM2.5 mass concentrations were concurrently collected for 41 urban residences in the non-heating season. The Finf were estimated with steady-state and dynamic models derived from mass balance considerations. Multivariate statistical analyses were employed to examine the associations between Finf and 78 factors related to building characteristics, motor vehicle traffic, human behavior, meteorology, furnishings, and atmospheric/indoor chemistry. The estimate of Finf over the 24-h monitoring period with the steady-state model was 0.72 ± 0.01; the Finf estimate for single residences, using the dynamic model, were 0.59 ± 0.13 (N = 33). Two predictive models for Finf were constructed with categorical and numerical variables, respectively. The results revealed that building characteristics, traffic, wall and floor coverings, and human behavior had substantial influence on Finf in the non-heating season. The variance contributions of the determinants of traffic, wall and floor coverings, and human behavior were comparable to or even greater than those of the building characteristics.

Contamination of the marine environment by human-made plastic litter is a growing and global problem. Our study attempts to explain the presence of two plastic bottles beached on the Ouvéa Island, in the southwest Pacific Ocean, with trademarks from the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG). We simulate the oceanic drift tracks and associated transit times with a Lagrangian interpretation of the surface currents of a high-resolution ocean model. Our results show that it takes less than 2–3months for drifting objects to connect these archipelagos (New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and PNG) and highlight the role of the meridional component of the circulation rather than the dominant zonal jets. This study shows that the origin or traceability of trash represent valuable information that can be used to test and, ultimately, improve our understanding of ocean circulation.

Spatial and temporal changes around an area of conventional coastal engineering can be easily observed from field surveys because of the clear cause-and-effect observable in the before and after stages of the project. However, it is more difficult to determine environmental changes in the vicinity of tidal flats and coastal areas that are a considerable distance from the project. To identify any unexpected environmental impacts of the construction of Saemangeum Dyke in the area, we examined morphological changes identified by satellite-based observations through a field survey on Gomso Bay tidal flats (15km from Saemangeum Dyke), and changes in the suspended sediment distribution identified by satellite-based observations through a hydrodynamic analysis in the Saemangeum and Gomso coastal area. We argue that hydrodynamic changes due to conventional coastal engineering can affect the sedimentation pattern in the vicinity of tidal flats. We suggest that the environmental impact assessment conducted before a conventional coastal engineering project should include a larger area than is currently considered.