Agricultural fertilisers contribute substantially to microplastic concentrations in UK soils

Since their invention, plastics have driven a revolution in behavior in all aspects of our lives, including agriculture. In-use and as a waste material, plastics degrade and accumulate in agricultural systems. Accumulation of plastic pollution in agricultural systems has negative impacts on human health and agricultural productivity but little is known about concentrations of microplastics in soils. Here we used a historical time series to examine changes to microplastic concentrations in agricultural soils over time. Microplastics were stained with Nile Red and quantified using fluorescence microscopy. We demonstrate that microplastic concentrations increased at higher rates in soils that are amended with either organic or inorganic fertiliser between 1966 and 2022, suggesting that agricultural fertilisers are an important contributor to microplastic concentrations in agricultural soils over time. This study provides evidence that agricultural soils are receptors and reservoirs of microplastic pollution, a legacy which is growing over time

Two years of satellite-based carbon dioxide emission quantification at the world's largest coal-fired power plants

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from combustion sources are uncertain in many places across the globe. Satellites have the ability to detect and quantify emissions from large CO2 point sources, including coal-fired power plants. In this study, we routinely made observations with the PRecursore IperSpettrale della Missione Applicativa (PRISMA) satellite imaging spectrometer and the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) instrument aboard the International Space Station at over 30 coal-fired power plants between 2021 and 2022. CO2 plumes were detected in 50 % of the acquired PRISMA scenes, which is consistent with the combined influence of viewing parameters on detection (solar illumination and surface reflectance) and unknown factors (e.g., daily operational status). We compare satellite-derived emission rates to in situ stack emission observations and find average agreement to within 27 % for PRISMA and 30 % for OCO-3, although more observations are needed to robustly characterize the error. We highlight two examples of fusing PRISMA with OCO-2 and OCO-3 observations in South Africa and India. For India, we acquired PRISMA and OCO-3 observations on the same day and used the high-spatial-resolution capability of PRISMA (30 m spatial/pixel resolution) to partition relative contributions of two distinct emitting power plants to the net emission. Although an encouraging start, 2 years of observations from these satellites did not produce sufficient observations to estimate annual average emission rates within low (&lt;15 %) uncertainties. However, as the constellation of CO2-observing satellites is poised to significantly improve in the coming decade, this study offers an approach to leverage multiple observation platforms to better quantify and characterize uncertainty for large anthropogenic emission sources.</p

Using policy codesign to achieve multi-sector alignment in adolescent behavioral health: a study protocol

Background: Policymaking is quickly gaining focus in the field of implementation science as a potential opportunity for aligning cross-sector systems and introducing incentives to promote population health, including substance use disorders (SUD) and their prevention in adolescents. Policymakers are seen as holding the necessary levers for realigning service infrastructure to more rapidly and effectively address adolescent behavioral health across the continuum of need (prevention through crisis care, mental health, and SUD) and in multiple locations (schools, primary care, community settings). The difficulty of aligning policy intent, policy design, and successful policy implementation is a well-known challenge in the broader public policy and public administration literature that also affects local behavioral health policymaking. This study will examine a blended approach of coproduction and codesign (i.e., Policy Codesign), iteratively developed over multiple years to address problems in policy formation that often lead to poor implementation outcomes. The current study evaluates this scalable approach using reproducible measures to grow the knowledge base in this field of study. Methods: This is a single-arm, longitudinal, staggered implementation study to examine the acceptability and short-term impacts of Policy Codesign in resolving critical challenges in behavioral health policy formation. The aims are to (1) examine the acceptability, feasibility, and reach of Policy Codesign within two geographically distinct counties in Washington state, USA; (2) examine the impact of Policy Codesign on multisector policy development within these counties using social network analysis; and (3) assess the perceived replicability of Policy Codesign among leaders and other staff of policy-oriented state behavioral health intermediary organizations across the USA. Discussion: This study will assess the feasibility of a specific approach to collaborative policy development, Policy Codesign, in two diverse regions. Results will inform a subsequent multi-state study measuring the impact and effectiveness of this approach for achieving multi-sector and evidence informed policy development in adolescent SUD prevention and treatment

Global assessment of oil and gas methane ultra-emitters

International audienceMethane emissions from oil and gas (O&G) production and transmission represent a considerable contribution to climate change. These emissions comprise sporadic releases of large amounts of methane during maintenance operations or equipment failures not accounted for in current inventory estimates. We collected and analyzed hundreds of very large releases from atmospheric methane images sampled by the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) between 2019 and 2020. Ultra-emitters are primarily detected over the largest O&G basins throughout the world. With a total contribution equivalent to 8 to 12% (~8 million metric tons of methane per year) of the global O&G production methane emissions, mitigation of ultra-emitters is largely achievable at low costs and would lead to robust net benefits in billions of US dollars for the six major O&G-producing countries when considering societal costs of methane

Methane emissions decline from reduced oil, natural gas, and refinery production during COVID-19

In the summer of 2020, the AVIRIS-NG airborne imaging spectrometer surveyed California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley and the South Bay (Los Angeles County) to identify anthropogenic methane (CH _4 ) point source plumes, estimate emission rates, and attribute sources to both facilities and emission sectors. These flights were designed to revisit regions previously surveyed by the 2016–2017 California Methane Survey and to assess the socioeconomic responses of COVID-19 on emissions across multiple sectors. For regions flown by both the California Methane Survey and the California COVID campaigns, total CH _4 point source emissions from the energy and oil & natural gas sectors were 34.8% lower during the summer 2020 flights, however, emission trends varied across sector. For the energy sector, there was a 28.2% decrease driven by reductions in refinery emissions consistent with a drop in production, which was offset in part with increases from powerplants. For the oil & natural gas sector, CH _4 emissions declined 34.2% and significant variability was observed at the oilfield scale. Emissions declined for all but the Buena Vista and Cymric fields with an observed positive relationship between production and emissions. In addition to characterizing the short-term impact of COVID-19 on CH _4 emissions, this study demonstrates the broader potential of remote sensing with sufficient sensitivity, spatial resolution, and spatio-temporal completeness to quantify changes in CH _4 emissions at the scale of key sectors and facilities