Augusto Screpanti

Corrosion on cultural heritage buildings in Italy: A role for ozone?

Because of climatic reasons and of reduced concentrations of SO(2), ground-level ozone (O(3)) is one of the main air pollutants in Southern Europe. Ozone levels are very high both in rural and urban locations. In the cities, O(3) can affect human health and materials. Regarding materials, most relevant is the exposure to pollutants of cultural heritage buildings. In particular, monuments registered on UNESCOs list of the world heritage require special monitoring. In Italy 34% and 97% of the territory is exposed to corrosion risk higher than the tolerable level for limestone and copper, respectively. The tolerable corrosion level for limestone and copper was also exceeded in the central area of Milan. In this area the tolerable O(3) concentration for copper was calculated. These concentrations (ranging between 30 and 40 microg/m(3)) cannot be exceeded at unchanged concentration of other pollutants to maintain corrosion levels below the tolerable ones.

Future impacts of nitrogen deposition and climate change scenarios on forest crown defoliation

Defoliation is an indicator for forest health in response to several stressors including air pollutants, and one of the most important parameters monitored in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests). The study aims to estimate crown defoliation in 2030, under three climate and one nitrogen deposition scenarios, based on evaluation of the most important factors (meteorological, nitrogen deposition and chemical soil parameters) affecting defoliation of twelve European tree species. The combination of favourable climate and nitrogen fertilization in the more adaptive species induces a generalized decrease of defoliation. On the other hand, severe climate change and drought are main causes of increase in defoliation in Quercus ilex and Fagus sylvatica, especially in Mediterranean area. Our results provide information on regional distribution of future defoliation, an important knowledge for identifying policies to counteract negative impacts of climate change and air pollution.

Geostatistics as a validation tool for setting ozone standards for durum wheat.

Which is the best standard for protecting plants from ozone? To answer this question, we must validate the standards by testing biological responses vs. ambient data in the field. A validation is missing for European and USA standards, because the networks for ozone, meteorology and plant responses are spatially independent. We proposed geostatistics as validation tool, and used durum wheat in central Italy as a test. The standards summarized ozone impact on yield better than hourly averages. Although USA criteria explained ozone-induced yield losses better than European criteria, USA legal level (75 ppb) protected only 39% of sites. European exposure-based standards protected > or =90%. Reducing the USA level to the Canadian 65 ppb or using W126 protected 91% and 97%, respectively. For a no-threshold accumulated stomatal flux, 22 mmol m(-2) was suggested to protect 97% of sites. In a multiple regression, precipitation explained 22% and ozone explained <0.9% of yield variability.

Ozone exposure affects tree defoliation in a continental climate

Ground-level ozone (O3) affects trees through visible leaf injury, accelerating leaf senescence, declining foliar chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, growth, carbon sequestration, predisposing to pests attack and a variety of other physiological effects. Tree crown defoliation is one of the most important parameters that is representative of forest health and vitality. Effects of air pollution on forests have been investigated through manipulative experiments that are not representative of the real environmental conditions observed in the field. In this work we investigated the role of O3 concentration and other metrics (AOT40 and POD0) in affecting crown defoliation in temperate Romanian forests. The impacts of O3 were estimated in combination with nitrogen pollutants, climatic factors and orographic conditions, by applying a non-linear modelling approach (Random Forest and Generalised Regression Models). Ozone concentration and AOT40 under Romanian conditions were more important than meteorological parameters in affecting crown defoliation. In these particular conditions, POD0 never exceeded the critical level suggested by previous literature for forest protection, and thus was not important in affecting crown defoliation.

Impacts of air pollution on cultural heritage corrosion at European level: What has been achieved and what are the future scenarios

The interaction of pollutants with Cultural Heritage materials leads to artworks and materials degradation and loss, causing an unpriceless damage. This works aims to estimate the impacts of air pollution and meteorological conditions on limestone, copper and bronze and represents the European risk assessment for corrosion of Cultural Heritage materials. The measures and policies for atmospheric pollution reduction have cut off the SO2 concentration and consequently its impact on materials is drastically reduced. Indeed, in 1980 the number of UNESCO sites in danger was extremely high (94% for limestone, 54% for copper and 1% for bronze) while in 2010 these sites did not exceed the tolerable value of surface recession and corrosion. However, some problem related to air pollution persists. In particular, Random Forest Analysis (RFA), highlights PM10 as the main responsible for materials corrosion, in 2010. Two scenarios in 2030 have been tested, highlighting that the corrosion levels of limestone, copper and bronze exceed the tolerable limits only in the Balkan area and Turkey. Our results show the importance in the air quality modelling as a powerful tool for the UNESCO sites conservation.

Drinking water contamination from perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): an ecological mortality study in the Veneto Region, Italy

Background Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a heterogeneous group of highly stable man-made chemicals, have been widely used since 1960s and can be detected almost ubiquitously in all environmental matrices. In Italy, on January 2014, drinking water contamination in an area of the Veneto Region was detected mainly due to the drain of fluorinated chemicals by a manufacturing company operating since 1964. Methods The present ecological mortality study was aimed at comparing mortality for some causes of death selected on the basis of previous reported associations, during the period 1980-2013, in municipalities with PFAS contaminated and uncontaminated drinking water on the basis of the levels indicated by the Italian National Health Institute (ISS). Sex-specific number, standardized mortality rates and rate ratios (RR) for PFAS contaminated and uncontaminated areas were computed for each cause of death through the ENEA epidemiological database. Results In both sexes, statistically significant RRs were detected for all causes mortality, diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, myocardial infarction and Alzheimers disease. In females, RRs significantly higher than 1.0 were also observed for kidney and breast cancer, and Parkinsons disease. Increased risk, although not statistically significant, was observed for bladder cancer in both sexes, and for testicular cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukemia in males only. Conclusions Higher mortality levels for some causes of death, possibly associated with PFAS exposure, were detected in contaminated municipalities in comparison with uncontaminated ones with similar socioeconomic status and smoking habits. These results warrant further individual level analytic studies to delineate casual associations.

Rockfalls Monitoring Along Eastern Coastal Cliffs of the Favignana Island (Egadi, Sicily): Preliminary Remarks

Favignana island (Sicily, Italy) is a historical and environmental attraction site frequented by tourists during the long warm season of the year. For several centuries the calcareous sandstone outcropping in the east side of the island has been extracted and used as building stone. Actually the quarries and the caves are undergoing to erosional and gravitational processes that are influencing the touristic use. As well as putting at risk the safety of people attending the area, the diffused rock falls are likely to jeopardize sites of great anthropological value that, once destroyed, can no longer be reconstructed. An integrated monitoring project of the cliffs is aimed to identify the most active areas and to provide support to the local government’s policies in the implementation of mitigation measures. If adequate measures will be taken in the future, operators and users of the tourist circuit will have the opportunity to enjoy these amazing areas with lower level of landslide risk.

Comparison Between Ozone Monitoring DataAnd Modelling Data, In Italy, From ThePerspective Of Health Indicator Assessments

The need for comparison between monitoring data and modelling data on ozone comes both from the qualitatively and quantitatively scarce outcome of the Italian ozone monitoring network and, at the same time, from the necessity for assessment and validation of the modelling methodology. Indeed, the distribution of the monitoring stations in Italy is not uniform and a dramatic lack of data is observed in all of the southern Italian areas. A number of different strategies can be applied to obtain a uniform distribution of data within the territory. The methodology of “spatialization” is described in the paper and applied to the health exposure indicator SOMO35 (developed by the WHO), pursuing the ultimate objective of identifying risk areas for the population. Such areas are then compared with similar areas from the analysis carried out by the Italian Integrated Assessment model RAINS Italy. The comparative analysis reported in this paper highlighted the differences, deepening the background rationale and ultimately increasing the robustness of the health risk analysis. Moreover, maps generated by the model could also be used to identify critical areas not covered by monitoring stations, so driving a more cost efficient allocation of expensive equipment.