E. Chianese

Source apportion of atmospheric particulate matter: a joint Eulerian/Lagrangian approach

PM2.5 samples were collected during an annual monitoring campaign (January 2012–January 2013) in the urban area of Naples, one of the major cities in Southern Italy. Samples were collected by means of a standard gravimetric sampler (Tecora Echo model) and characterized from a chemical point of view by ion chromatography. As a result, 143 samples together with their ionic composition have been collected. We extend traditional source apportionment techniques, usually based on multivariate factor analysis, interpreting the chemical analysis results within a Lagrangian framework. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Model (HYSPLIT) model was used, providing linkages to the source regions in the upwind areas. Results were analyzed in order to quantify the relative weight of different source types/areas. Model results suggested that PM concentrations are strongly affected not only by local emissions but also by transboundary emissions, especially from the Eastern and Northern European countries and African Saharan dust episodes.

Spatial distribution of heavy hydrocarbons, PAHs and metals in polluted areas. The case of “Galicia”, Spain

The aim of this work is to verify the impact of anthropogenic activities and the effects of accidental events, e.g. oil spills, on the marine environment. For this reason, marine sediments and soil samples were collected in the inner part of Vigo and Pontevedra bays, in the Galicia region, northwest Spain, an area interested by many events of oil spills and also characterized by coastal areas with intense anthropic activities; also Cíes Islands, a natural protected area facing the Vigo bay, was investigated, as background site. PAHs, heavy hydrocarbons and metals were analyzed according to standard methods, in order to satisfy quality assurance and quality check constraints. Total PAHs concentration (Σ16 compounds) were in the range of 25-4000ng/g, and 30-800ng/g for marine sediments and soil samples, respectively. Even some samples from the Cíes Islands, show a contamination with values achieving >200ng/g of PAHs. Although contamination levels have been shown to be strong at several locations in the study area, their ranges are those typical of other estuarine sites, with PAHs and hydrocarbons primarily of pyrolytic origin. This observation was further confirmed by enrichment factors of some metals (Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) that match to those of harbor and shipyard zones of the main industrial and commercial maritime areas.

The Role of Methane Emissions on Ancient and Present Climatic Changes

In this Chapter we have reviewed the available literature to discuss how the changes in the atmospheric concentration of methane can affect the future of climate. There is an increasing interest in the exploitation of natural gas for the energy policy by all Countries. In fact its physical properties and its about constant chemical composition (as largely constituted by methane) recommend it to restrict pollutants during combustion processes and to give the best ratio between energetic content and CO2 emissions, with respect to all other oil derivatives and fossil sources. Moreover natural gas seems to promise more conspicuous reserves than oil, then assuring a “methane peak” more delayed in time than “oil peak”. However, during the last century, we were in the presence of an increasing accumulation of methane in the atmosphere, as never was occurred in the last 800,000 years. Note that methane is much more effective (25 times) as Green House Gas (GHG) than CO2. The main suspicion about the causes of this accumulation is charged on the leaks of gas that occurs during the extraction and management activities. On the other hands, the increasing accumulation of methane in the atmosphere could influence the future of the climate because of two dangerous effects: the first is the fast achievement of a no-return threshold, beyond which the Global Warming (GW) become out of human control. This is made easier by a non linear positive feedback, promoted by the increasing of the same GW on the dynamics of emission processes from the natural sources (destabilization of hydrates, stimulation of metabolic production by plants and animals, etc.). For these complex reasons it will need to know better and, if possible, to control the emission mechanisms by natural sources and, besides, to study how ameliorate the present extraction technologies or invent novel ones that will guarantee an about null gas leaks. That needs to prevent the threat for the future of next human generations. On these purposes we organized the presentation of this Chapter according to the following Sections.