Quantifying methane and nitrous oxide emissions from the UK and Ireland using a national-scale monitoring network

The UK is one of several countries around the world that has enacted legislation to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. In this study, we present top-down emissions of methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) for the UK and Ireland over the period August 2012 to August 2014. These emissions were inferred using measurements from a network of four sites around the two countries. We used a hierarchical Bayesian inverse framework to infer fluxes as well as a set of covariance parameters that describe uncertainties in the system. We inferred average UK total emissions of 2.09 (1.65–2.67) Tg yr−1 CH4 and 0.101 (0.068–0.150) Tg yr−1 N2O and found our derived UK estimates to be generally lower than the a priori emissions, which consisted primarily of anthropogenic sources and with a smaller contribution from natural sources. We used sectoral distributions from the UK National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory (NAEI) to determine whether these discrepancies can be attributed to specific source sectors. Because of the distinct distributions of the two dominant CH4 emissions sectors in the UK, agriculture and waste, we found that the inventory may be overestimated in agricultural CH4 emissions. We found that annual mean N2O emissions were consistent with both the prior and the anthropogenic inventory but we derived a significant seasonal cycle in emissions. This seasonality is likely due to seasonality in fertilizer application and in environmental drivers such as temperature and rainfall, which are not reflected in the annual resolution inventory. Through the hierarchical Bayesian inverse framework, we quantified uncertainty covariance parameters and emphasized their importance for high-resolution emissions estimation. We inferred average model errors of approximately 20 and 0.4 ppb and correlation timescales of 1.0 (0.72–1.43) and 2.6 (1.9–20 3.9) days for CH4 and N2O, respectively. These errors are a combination of transport model errors as well as errors due to unresolved emissions processes in the inventory. We found the largest CH4 errors at the Tacolneston station in eastern England, which may be due to sporadic emissions from landfills and offshore gas in the North Sea

Research data sharing: developing a stakeholder-driven model for journal policies

The conclusions of research articles generally depend on bodies of data that cannot be included in the articles themselves. The sharing of this data is important for reasons of both transparency and possible reuse. Science, Technology and Medicine journals have an obvious role in facilitating sharing, but how they might do that is not yet clear. The Journal Research Data (JoRD) Project was a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funded feasibility study on the possible shape of a central service on journal research data policies. The objectives of the study included, amongst other considerations: to identify the current state of journal data sharing policies and to investigate the views and practices of stakeholders to data sharing. The project confirmed that a large percentage of journals do not have a policy on data sharing, and that there are inconsistencies between the traceable journal data sharing policies. Such a state leaves authors unsure of whether they should deposit data relating to articles and where and how to share that data. In the absence of a consolidated infrastructure for the easy sharing of data, a journal data sharing model policy was developed. The model policy was developed from comparing the quantitative information gathered from analysing existing journal data policies with qualitative data collected from the stakeholders concerned. This article summarises the information gathered, outlines the process by which the model was developed and presents the model journal data sharing policy in full

Research data sharing: developing a stakeholder-driven model for journal policies

The conclusions of research articles generally depend on bodies of data that cannot be included in the articles themselves. The sharing of this data is important for reasons of both transparency and possible reuse. Science, Technology and Medicine journals have an obvious role in facilitating sharing, but how they might do that is not yet clear. The Journal Research Data (JoRD) Project was a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funded feasibility study on the possible shape of a central service on journal research data policies. The objectives of the study included, amongst other considerations: to identify the current state of journal data sharing policies and to investigate the views and practices of stakeholders to data sharing. The project confirmed that a large percentage of journals do not have a policy on data sharing, and that there are inconsistencies between the traceable journal data sharing policies. Such a state leaves authors unsure of whether they should deposit data relating to articles and where and how to share that data. In the absence of a consolidated infrastructure for the easy sharing of data, a journal data sharing model policy was developed. The model policy was developed from comparing the quantitative information gathered from analysing existing journal data policies with qualitative data collected from the stakeholders concerned. This article summarises the information gathered, outlines the process by which the model was developed and presents the model journal data sharing policy in full

Research data sharing: developing a stakeholder-driven model for journal policies

The conclusions of research articles generally depend on bodies of data that cannot be included in the articles themselves. The sharing of this data is important for reasons of both transparency and possible reuse. Science, Technology and Medicine journals have an obvious role in facilitating sharing, but how they might do that is not yet clear. The Journal Research Data (JoRD) Project was a JISC (Joint Information Systems Committee) funded feasibility study on the possible shape of a central service on journal research data policies. The objectives of the study included, amongst other considerations: to identify the current state of journal data sharing policies and to investigate the views and practices of stakeholders to data sharing. The project confirmed that a large percentage of journals do not have a policy on data sharing, and that there are inconsistencies between the traceable journal data sharing policies. Such a state leaves authors unsure of whether they should deposit data relating to articles and where and how to share that data. In the absence of a consolidated infrastructure for the easy sharing of data, a journal data sharing model policy was developed. The model policy was developed from comparing the quantitative information gathered from analysing existing journal data policies with qualitative data collected from the stakeholders concerned. This article summarises the information gathered, outlines the process by which the model was developed and presents the model journal data sharing policy in full

Investigation of East Asian emissions of CFC-11 using atmospheric observations in Taiwan

Recent findings of an unexpected slowdown in the decline of CFC-11 mixing ratios in the atmosphere have led to the conclusion that global CFC-11 emissions have increased over the past decade and have been attributed in part to eastern China. This study independently assesses these findings by evaluating enhancements of CFC-11 mixing ratios in air samples collected in Taiwan between 2014 and 2018. Using the NAME (Numerical Atmospheric Modeling Environment) particle dispersion model, we find the likely source of the enhanced CFC-11 observed in Taiwan to be East China. Other halogenated trace gases were also measured, and there were positive interspecies correlations between CFC-11 and CHCl3, CCl4, HCFC-141b, HCFC-142b, CH2Cl2, and HCFC-22, indicating co-location of the emissions of these compounds. These correlations in combination with published emission estimates of CH2Cl2 and HCFC-22 from China, and of CHCl3 and CCl4 from eastern China, are used to estimate CFC-11 emissions. Within the uncertainties, these estimates do not differ for eastern China and the whole of China, so we combine them to derive a mean estimate that we term as being from "(eastern) China". For 2014-2018, we estimate an emission of 19 ± 5 Gg year-1 (gigagrams per year) of CFC-11 from (eastern) China, approximately one-quarter of global emissions. Comparing this to previously reported CFC-11 emissions estimated for earlier years, we estimate CFC-11 emissions from (eastern) China to have increased by 7 ± 5 Gg year-1 from the 2008-2011 average to the 2014-2018 average, which is 50 ± 40% of the estimated increase in global CFC-11 emissions and is consistent with the emission increases attributed to this region in an earlier study

T: Use of point-of-sale data to track usage patterns of residential pesticides: methodology development. Environ Health 2006

Abstract Background: Residential-use pesticides have been shown to be a major source of pesticide exposur

Halocarbon emissions by selected tropical seaweeds exposed to different temperatures

Four tropical seaweeds, Gracilaria manilaensis Yamamoto & Trono, Ulva reticulata Forsskål, Kappaphycus alvarezii (Doty) L.M.Liao and Turbinaria conoides (J.Agardh) Kützing, collected from various habitats throughout Malaysia, were subjected to temperatures of 40, 35, 30, 25 and 20 ◦C in the laboratory. An exposure range of 21–38 ◦C is reported for Malaysian waters. The effect of the temperature exposures on the halocarbon emissions of the seaweeds were determined 4 and 28 h after treatment. The emission rates for a suite of six halocarbons commonly emitted by seaweeds, bromoform (CHBr3), dibromomethane (CH2Br2), diiodomethane (CH2I2), iodomethane (CH3I), dibromochloromethane (CHBr2Cl) and dichlorobromomethane (CHBrCl2), were measured using a cryogenic purge-and-trap sample preparation system coupled to a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The emission rate of CHBr3 was the highest of the six halocarbons for all the seaweeds under all the temperatures tested, followed by CH2Br2, and CH2I2. The emission rates were affected by temperature change and exposure duration, but overall responses were unique to each seaweed species. Larger decreases in the emissions of CHBr3, CH2Br2, CH2I2 and CHBr2Cl were found for K. alvarezii and T. conoides after 4 h at 40 ◦C. In both cases there was a >90% (p < 0.05) reduction in the Fv/Fm value suggesting that photosynthetic actitivity was severely compromised. After a 28 h exposure period, strong negative correlations (r = -0.69 to -0.95; p < 0.01) were observed between temperature and the emission of CHBr3, CH2Br2 and CH2I2 for U. reticulata, K. alvarezii and T. conoides. This suggests a potential decrease in the halocarbon emissions from these tropical seaweeds, especially where the temperature increase is a prolonged event. Strong correlations were also seen between seaweed chlorophyll and carotenoid pigment contents and the emission rates for CHBr3, CH2Br2 and CH2I2 (r = 0.48 to 0.96 and -0.49 to -0.96; p < 0.05). These results suggest that the regulation of halocarbon production versus reactive oxygen species production in seaweeds is an area worthy of further exploration

New Fractional Release Factors, Ozone Depletion Potentials, and Lifetimes for Four Long-Lived CFCs: CFC-13, CFC-114, CFC-114a, and CFC-115

Knowing the stratospheric lifetime of an Ozone Depleting Substance (ODS), and its potential depletion of ozone during that time, is vital to reliably monitor and control the use of ODSs. Here, we present improved policy-relevant parameters: Fractional Release Factors (FRFs), Ozone Depletion Potentials (ODPs), and stratospheric lifetimes, for four understudied long-lived CFCs: CFC-13 (CClF3), CFC-114 (CClF2CCCLF2), CFC-114a (CCl2FCF3), and CFC-115 (C2ClF5). Previously derived lifetime estimates for CFC-114 and CFC-115 have substantial uncertainties, while lifetime uncertainties for CFC-13 and CFC-114a are absent from the peer-reviewed literature (Carpenter & Danie et al, 2018).This study used both observational and model data to investigate these compounds and this work derives, for the first time, observation-based lifetimes utilising measurements of air samples collected in the stratosphere. We also used a version of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) 2-D atmospheric model driven by temperature and transport fields derived from MERRA/MERRA-2 reanalysis.FRFs for these compounds, which had been lacking until now, were derived using stratospheric air samples collected from several research flights with the high-altitude aircraft M55-Geophysica, and the background trend from archived surface air samples from Cape Grim, Tasmania.&#160;By using a previously-published correlation between lifetime and FRF for seven well-characterised compounds (CF4, C2F6, C3F8, CHF3, HFC-125, HFC-227ea and SF6), we were able to derive lifetimes for these four new species. Lifetime estimates for CFC-114a agreed within the uncertainties (agreement to one sigma) with the lifetime estimates compiled in Burkholder et al. (2018), while the one for CFC-114 agreed within 2 sigma (measurement-related uncertainties) with those cited in Burkholder et al. (2018). However, observation-based lifetimes for CFC-13 and CFC-115 only agreed with those in Burkholder et al. (2018) within 3 sigma. The lifetime uncertainties in this study were reduced compared to those in Carpenter & Danie et al (2018).As our lifetime estimates for these latter two compounds are notably lower than previous estimates, this suggests that these two compounds may have had greater emissions than previously thought, in order to account for their abundance. It also implies that they will be removed from the atmosphere more quickly than previously thought.New ODPs were derived for these compounds from their new lifetimes and FRFs. Since for two of these compounds (CFC-13 and CFC-114a), there is an absence of observation-derived ODPs in the peer-reviewed literature, this is new and relevant information. The ODPs for CFC-114 and CFC-115 are comparable with estimates from the most recent Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion (Burkholder et al., 2018). Providing new and updated lifetimes, FRFs and ODPs for these compounds will help improve future estimates of their tropospheric emissions and their resulting damage to the stratospheric ozone layer.&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;&#160;ReferencesBurkholder et al. (2018). Appendix A, Table A-1 in Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No. 58, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland,&#160; http://ozone.unep.org/science/assessment/sap.Carpenter, L.J., Danie, J.S. et al (2018). Scenarios and Information for Policymakers Chapter 6, Table 6-1 in Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion: 2018, Global Ozone Research and Monitoring Project, Report No. 58, World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland.</p

The SHIVA Western Pacific Campaign in Fall 2011

This paper briefly summarizes the activities and observations made during the SHIVA (Stratospheric Ozone: Halogen Impacts in a Varying Atmosphere) Western Pacific campaign in fall 2011, here referred to as the SHIVA South China Sea (SCS) campaign. The campaign addressed investigation of emissions of so-called halogenated very short-lived substances (VSLS) from the South China Sea (SCS), their atmospheric transport and transformation, their contribution to the budget of ozone destroying halogens in the stratosphere. Key findings of the SHIVA campaign are that, (a) the SCS is indeed a prominent emission region for halogenated VSLS, mostly due to the emissions of micro- and macro-algae, (b) in the boundary layer of the marine atmosphere typical VSLS mixing ratios were 3.6 - 13.3 ppt and in the upper troposphere 4.1±0.6 ppt, which may well explained a total source gas (SG) and product gas (PG) injection of [VSLS] = 4-5 ppt into the global stratosphere