ALBERT

Description: Chemical Reviews DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.5b00089

Description: Despite climate change mitigation and sustainability agendas, road transport systems in Germany and the resulting environmental burden are growing. Road transport is a significant source of emissions in urban areas and the infrastructure has a significant impact on the urban form. Nevertheless, mobility is a fundamental requirement for the satisfaction of the human desire to socially and economically engage in society. Considering these realities and the desire for sustainable development in a growing city (Potsdam, Germany), an integrated assessment methodology was co-developed among scientists and practitioners to prioritize a suite of transport-related measures. The methodology reflects the city’s qualitative and quantitative goals to improve public transport and promote sustainability, capturing synergies in categories that include environmental considerations as well as road safety, eco-mobility, and quality of life. This approach applies a multi-criteria analysis (MCA) to derive a practically relevant solution for the local traffic and mobility problems that fosters ownership and accountability of all involved. This paper reflects on the process of developing the MCA, and the different aspects that were found important and required consideration during the process. Recommendations on specific traffic-related measures and the assessment of their effectiveness are not given. The aim is that such process information could foster greater collaboration within city departments and similar transdisciplinary efforts.

Description: As the emissions of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are reduced through regulatory measures and improved control technologies, biogenic VOCs could gain in importance in terms of reactivity, especially in urban areas. Here we investigate a 12 year record of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in central London and the importance of biogenics (in the form of isoprene) for ozone formation through the contribution to OH reactivity. Significant reductions in NMHCs were observed from 1998 through 2009 at an urban traffic site (−13% per year) and suburban background site (−5% per year) in London. Total isoprene levels decreased similarly and the relative contribution of isoprene to the total NMHC OH reactivity did not change. Furthermore, a dataset for Paris showed strong similarities to the data from London, which would indicate that these results are not limited to London. Interestingly, a rural site to the east of London, Harwell, showed similar contributions of isoprene to the total NMHC reactivity, which may indicate the need for measurements of other biogenic species, such as monoterpenes, in some areas to reliably capture the importance of biogenics in the region. These results would indicate that the influence of biogenic isoprene in London, and likely other low isoprene emitter urban areas have a long way to go before the importance of biogenic VOCs equals or exceeds that of anthropogenic contributions.

Description: Organic molecular marker compounds are widely used to identify emissions from anthropogenic and biogenic air pollution sources in atmospheric samples and in deposition. Specific organic compounds have been detected in polar regions, but their fate after deposition to snow is poorly characterized. Within this context, a series of exposure experiments were carried out to observe the post-depositional processing of organic compounds under real-world conditions in snow on the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet, at the Summit research station. Snow was prepared from water spiked with isotopically labelled organic compounds, representative of typical molecular marker compounds emitted from anthropogenic activities. Reaction rate constants and reaction order were determined based on a decrease in concentration to a stable, non-zero, threshold concentration. Fluoranthene- d 10 , docosane- d 46 , hexadecanoic acid- d 31 , docosanoic acid- d 43 and azelaic acid- d 14 were estimated to have first order loss rates within surface snow with reaction rate constants of 0.068, 0.040, 0.070, 0.067 and 0.047 h -1 , respectively. No loss of heptadecane- d 36 was observed. Overall, these results suggest that organic contaminants are archived in polar snow, although significant post-depositional losses of specific organic compounds occur. This has implications for the environmental fate of organic contaminants, as well as for ice-core studies that seek to use organic molecular markers to infer past atmospheric loadings, and source emissions. Keywords: Snow; photochemistry; air pollution; Greenland; Arctic To access the supplementary material to this article: 'Supplementary Figures & Table' and 'Supplementary File', please see Supplementary files in the column to the right (under Article Tools). (Published: 26 July 2012) Citation: Polar Research 2012, 31 , 11597, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.11597

Description: Air pollution remains a problem in German cities. In particular, the nitrogen dioxide (NO2) annual limit-value set by the European Union of 40 µg/m3 was not met at ~40% of roadside monitoring stations across German cities in 2018. In response to this issue, many cities are experimenting with various traffic-reducing measures targeting diesel passenger vehicles so as to reduce emissions of NO2 and improve air quality. Identifying the determinants of public acceptance for these measures using a systematic approach can help inform policy-makers in other German cities. Survey data generated from a questionnaire in Potsdam, Germany, were used in predictive models to quantify support for investments in traffic-reducing measures generally and to quantify support for a specific traffic-reducing measure implemented in Potsdam in 2017. This exploratory analysis found that general support for investments in such measures was most strongly predicted by environmental and air pollution perception variables, whereas specific support for the actual traffic measure was most strongly predicted by mobility habits and preferences. With such measures becoming more common in German cities and across Europe, these results exemplify the complexity of factors influencing public acceptance of traffic-reducing policies, highlight the contrasting roles environmental beliefs and mobility habits play in determining support for such measures, and emphasize the connections between mobility, air pollution, and human health.

Description: Exceedances of the concentration limit value for ambient nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) at roadside sites are an issue in many cities throughout Europe. This is linked to the emissions of light duty diesel vehicles which have on-road emissions that are far greater than the regulatory standards. These exceedances have substantial implications for human health and economic loss. This study explores the possible gains in ambient air quality if light duty diesel vehicles were able to meet the regulatory standards (including both emissions standards from Europe and the United States). We use two independent methods: a measurement-based and a model-based method. The city of Berlin is used as a case study. The measurement-based method used data from 16 monitoring stations throughout the city of Berlin to estimate annual average reductions in roadside NO 2 of 9.0 to 23 µg m −3 and in urban background NO 2 concentrations of 1.2 to 2.7 µg m −3 . T...