Polluting the Internet

Sand gets everywhere

Will Morgan June 6, 2014

Saharan dust is currently escaping the confines of the desert and making a break for it over the Atlantic Ocean towards South America.

Below is a true colour image from the MODIS instrument on the TERRA satellite from this morning (6th June). You can see the dust from the desert over the ocean; note the constrast between the darker blue ocean surface and the lighter shade where the dust resides.

Image of the dust plume on 6th June 2014 from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the TERRA satellite. Image courtesy of NASA. The strip of bright light across the image is due to sun glint, where sunlight reflects off the ocean surface. Click on the image for a larger view.

Below is the same image but with Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) overlaid. This provides a measure of the total amount of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. The red portions are values above 0.7, which is quite elevated (anything above 0.3 would be fairly polluted).

Such incidences aren’t particularly unusual and the dust actually acts as a natural fertiliser for the ocean! Dust from the Sahara has also been observed to reach the Amazon rainforest. There are some more satellite images here on the OMPS blog.

Image of the dust plume on 6th June 2014 from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on the TERRA satellite. Aerosol optical depth from MODIS is overlaid to highlight the location of the dust. Image courtesy of NASA. Click on the image for a larger view.

Dust from the Sahara is also moving across western Europe heading for the UK based on this forecast from the University of Athens, which was highlighted by the Defra Twitter account.

https://twitter.com/DefraUKAir/status/474884744514375680/photo/1

This follows the pollution episode that struck the UK in early April, where Saharan dust combined with pollution from continental Europe and the UK. On this occasion though, thunderstorms are expected during Saturday, which will likely reduce any build-up of pollution and also wash out the dust from the atmosphere.

A sprinkling of dust might be found on cars in the south-east should the forecasts pan out. Dust gets around.

EGU 2014 Day 1: A day in the life of an aerosol particle

Will Morgan April 29, 2014

My first day at EGU 2014 in Vienna was principally spent listening to various speakers describe the life and death of tiny particles in the atmosphere, known as aerosols. These aerosol particles come from a variety of sources – one of the major sources is through burning of fossil fuels, which produces a cocktail of pollutants that form these particles. They can also arise from natural sources, such as bursting bubbles on the ocean surface, strong odours from trees and high winds whipping up sandstorms in the desert.

Pinning these sources down is tough but we also have to understand how they evolve in the atmosphere from their birth, their growth during their adolescent years and ultimately their adult years, where they can influence our climate and health. At some point, they are removed from the atmosphere where they become an ex-aerosol. Understanding these different changes is necessary if we are going to be able to understand their impact both in the past, present and future.

Baby steps

One of the major routes for an aerosol to be born is via ‘nucleation’ where the particles form tiny clusters, which are around 100,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. These clusters form due to the combination of different gas phase molecules, which given the right cocktail and conditions, can condense to form these initial tiny particles. I’ve previously written about these early steps here.

There was work presented here at the EGU by Jasmin Tröstl from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland showing that chemical species known as oxidised organics take part in this initial process. The abstract for the work is available here.

For a long time, sulphuric acid was thought to be the vital ingredient for this nucleation process but recent work at a laboratory at CERN (known as the cleanest box in the world) has illustrated the importance of several other species. You can read more about two studies in Nature that were published in the past few years on these here and here. Oxidised organic species are abundant in the atmosphere, so it isn’t a huge surprise that they are important but it has only been through the development of the new laboratory at CERN and sophisticated new instrumentation that the importance of this key ingredient has been demonstrated.

The difficult years

The same study also illustrated that these oxidised organic species were vital for the growth of these nucleated particles. This is the key stage for such particles as they essentially either grow or suffer an early death. When they start out, they are too small to become cloud particles, which is their main route to impacting our climate. So without growing they will never know the wet embrace of a cloud droplet.

Not only did the oxidised organics strongly increase the growth of these particles but their addition was enough to reconcile the laboratory measurements with observations of the real world. This is an enlightening step as it has previously proven difficult to mix up the right cocktail to represent what really goes on in the atmosphere, which suggests a deficit in our knowledge of this important process.

All grown up

Once they reach adulthood, these particles become important from a human health and climate perspective. They can build-up in the atmosphere over a matter of hours or days and influence our lives.

Rongrong Shen from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany, presented measurements of spring time pollution in Beijing during 2012, focusing on the chemical makeup of the pollution. Her abstract is available here. Beijing is well known as a hotspot for pollution, with over 20 million people living in the city and over 5 million vehicles on the road frequently creating a heavy chemical soup. The average concentration for PM2.5 (aerosol particles with a diameter less than 2.5µm) was 89µg/m³, which is far in excess of what is considered healthy. Even the ‘clear’ days in terms of visibility saw average concentrations of around 45µg/m³. The World Health Organisation guidelines recommend the daily average values should remain below 25µg/m³, while annual values should be 10µg/m³ or lower.

Haze over Beijing and surrounding region from 22 March 2007. Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory

More severe pollution episodes were typically driven by species such as sulphate and nitrate, which are known as ‘secondary’ species. This means that they start out as a gas and then condense onto pre-existing aerosol, such as nucleated particles or direct emissions from car exhausts and other forms of combustion. The results also indicated that such episodes were not solely driven by emissions within the city; the wider region played a role, including industrial sources and other Chinese cities. This is a common feature of pollution episodes in Western Europe also, which I wrote about recently here and here.

This is an ex-aerosol

Urs Baltensperger from the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland gave the Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal Lecture and included a discussion of the fate of aerosols in the atmosphere. His abstract is available here. Aerosols are typically removed from the atmosphere via crashing into something, such as the ground, or by forming cloud droplets. These cloud droplets either evaporate, leaving an aerosol particle behind or they can grow to form rain, which removes the aerosol from the atmosphere. The rainfall can also washout other aerosols by catching them on the way down.

He referred to several previous studies, including measurements very early in the aerosol life cycle in an urban environment (Paris) and more mature aerosol at a high altitude site in the Swiss Alps at the Jungfraujoch.

The urban study illustrated that aerosol particles are quite diverse in this environment, which affects how readily they would form cloud droplets. Black carbon is known to be a poor candidate for making a cloud droplet, which the study showed. However, the results also illustrated that adding some other chemical components to the mix can vastly increase the likelihood of the particle joining the cloud droplet gang. This is important as the removal of black carbon from the atmosphere is poorly understood and can have significant implications when trying to predict its climate impact.

At the high altitude site at ‘the top of Europe’, the aerosol properties are more uniform. This makes it somewhat easier to predict how many particles will form a cloud droplet. This is an important result for models of aerosol impacts, as such a situation is more reflective of the scales that atmospheric models work in, particularly for climate change studies. This result is not true everywhere though, so as aerosol scientists we need to work towards understanding the differences across the globe, so that we can understand the ultimate fate of aerosol particles.

Image of the Swiss Alps during a research flight on the FAAM BAe-146 research aircraft. Photo credit: Will Morgan

That concludes this diary in the life of an aerosol particle; they have a hard and complex life, which often lasts just a few days or maybe weeks.

I’ll be back with more later this week.

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Edit 03/05/14: Urs Baltensperger was originally spelt incorrectly.

What is the Daily Air Quality Index?

Will Morgan April 10, 2014

The recent air pollution episode in the UK brought a previously obscure air quality metric into the public consciousness, with the Daily Air Quality Index (DAQI) appearing in weather forecasts and the media. The index describes the severity of pollution in different areas using a ten-point scale, with a score of ten being the worst score.

The question is what is the index based on?

The scale itself is based on a 2011 report by the Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants (COMEAP), who published a review of the previous system with updates based on the latest scientific research. The report is available here. COMEAP summarise the purpose of the index as follows:

The index is used to communicate information on short-term elevated levels of air pollution to the public, to allow potentially susceptible people – such as those with pre-existing heart or lung conditions – to take appropriate action to avoid adverse effects on their health.

The index is based on four pollutants; nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone and particulate matter (also known as aerosol particles for regular readers). Nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide are gaseous pollutants usually associated with vehicle emissions and power plants respectively. The other major source of sulphur dioxide in the UK is from ships. Ozone is another gaseous pollutant and similarly to particulate matter, it usually arises from a complex cocktail of different emissions from power plants, industry, vehicles, agriculture and even trees!

If any of these pollutants exceed certain thresholds, then the DAQI level is raised, with health advice adjusting accordingly. The Met Office have a page on their website that explains the bandings, along with the associated health advice. The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) report the index on their website based on both measurements and forecast pollution levels.

The recent pollution episode saw the East Midlands, the South East (excludes Greater London) and Yorkshire & Humberside reach level ten on the index, which corresponds to ‘very high’. Very high corresponds to “levels of air pollution where even healthy individuals may experience adverse effects of short-term exposure”. Several other regions saw ‘high’ pollution levels, which equates to a score from seven to nine and represents significant risks to susceptible people.

Since 2009, there have been 40 instances of very high levels, with a further 236 occurrences rating as high. Greater London has the highest number of incidences of high and moderate pollution of the 15 regions that DEFRA provide data for over that period. Unsurprisingly, Greater London also has the fewest number of days with low pollution.

Particulate matter

For particulate matter, the index takes into account two classes of these particles in relation to their size, splitting them into particles of 2.5µm or less (PM2.5) and 10µm or less (PM10). For comparison, a µm is one-millionth of a metre in size or around 70 times smaller than the width of a human hair. Basically very small!

The index level is based on whichever pollutant category is greatest i.e. if ozone is rated at level 4 (moderate) and nitrogen dioxide is rated at level 3 (low), then the overall index level is moderate. Therefore, if a PM10 threshold is breached, then the PM2.5 level is breached also. From a health standpoint, PM2.5 is likely the more relevant metric as the size of these particles means they can penetrate deeper into our lungs and potentially enter our blood stream; unpleasant stuff.

Aerosol mass concentration expressed as particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5µm (PM2.5) from the air quality monitoring station in North Kensington, London from January 2009 to 3 April 2014. The colours represent the PM2.5 pollution threshold for the DAQI. Data source: UK-Air.

To illustrate the variation in PM2.5, I’ve plotted the above graph of their daily average concentrations from a background urban site in North Kensington in London since 2009 to last weekend. I’ve also included the DAQI bandings based on their quoted PM2.5 thresholds. We can see that PM2.5 levels at this site regularly exceed the ‘low’ banding, with several days rated ‘high’.

Moderate PM2.5 levels or greater occur approximately 20 times per year at this site based on the DAQI scale. Of these, there have been 19 instances of ‘high’ PM2.5 levels (4-5 times per year), which equates to an approximately 1.2% increase in premature deaths over a short period. ‘Very high’ has occurred twice in that period, which corresponds to a 2.5% increase in premature deaths.

These episodic periods of increased risk to susceptible members of the public occur due to a multitude of reasons, with roots at home and abroad. They are not particularly unusual.

Invisible threat

It is important to note that short-term exposure isn’t the only concern with air quality, as long-term exposure has been shown to have significant health implications. The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Air Quality Guideline for annual average PM2.5 is 10µg/m³. This is based on their 2005 report, which is available here. For every 10µg/m³ increase above this recommended annual average, the WHO suggest that the risk of premature death increases by 6% [with an uncertainty range of 2-11%].

As well as increased mortality rates, there are also further adverse health effects due to long-term exposure; poor air quality tends to worsen pre-existing health conditions, further reducing quality of life for those affected. The North Kensington site used in the above graph has exceeded the WHO annual average in each of the last 5 years, with PM2.5 concentrations ranging from 11-14µg/m³. Several other sites in London and other parts of the UK also exceed this recommended limit.

Such concentrations are below what we would usually be able to see ourselves and they garner very little coverage in the media. This longer-term risk is associated with heart disease, strokes, chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer; the WHO estimate that 3.7 million deaths in 2012 were attributable to outdoor air pollution. The WHO estimate that 88% of such premature deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries (particularly in the Western Pacific and South-East Asia).

Higher-income countries in Europe saw a lower number of attributable deaths per capita (44 per 100,000) compared to the global average (53 per 100,000) but the figures illustrates that this is not a resolved matter in countries like the UK.

Complacency on this issue is not going to improve matters.

Air quality data acknowledgement

UK Air Pollution: March/April 2014

Will Morgan April 2, 2014

Air pollution over the UK has been high on the agenda today with the media covering the widespread build up of aerosol pollution since the end of last week. This has led to health concerns, particularly for vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly and people with pre-existing heart and lung conditions. This follows the recent event in mid-March, which I covered here and saw Paris take measures to reduce local traffic pollution within the city by banning some cars from the road.

Over the past weekend, pollution levels were broadly similar to the previous event in March, although perhaps it is currently more widespread and it has lasted longer (unfortunately the Defra website appears to be struggling at the moment so I can’t be more specific).

What appears to have captured attention is the association of this event with a Saharan dust outbreak, which the Met Office explained here along with some nice images and videos from a satellite.

Below is the forecast for today (Wednesday 2nd April 2014) from Defra (provided by the Met Office) showing their “Daily Air Quality Index“, which is a measure of pollution levels categorised into different bands reflecting the severity of the pollution. I’ve included Defra’s actions and advise table below also, as the website has been unresponsive at times today. The Met Office also have a page on their website, which includes a more expansive explanation of the bandings.

Daily Air Quality Index forecast valid for Wednesday 2nd April 2014 provided by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) and the Met Office. Source: Defra

The forecast predicts that pollution levels will be high or very high over many regions of England, with moderate pollution levels expected over Wales.

So the question is what is causing this event?

Much of the media coverage has played on the role of the Saharan dust and this is the most visible aspect of the current event, as the size and shape of the dust helps to create especially vivid sunsets and people have had to sweep dust off their cars as rain sweeps it out of the air. However, the pollution event is being driven by a mixture of the dust and pollution from continental Europe and more local/regional sources within the UK itself.

On the forecast above, we can see very high levels of pollution over continental Europe, in particular over Belgium and the Netherlands. Pollution over these regions is typically a result of a cocktail of emissions from industry and traffic emissions, with a key ingredient often being from agricultural emissions. Your very own home-grown pollution detector (your nose) may have picked up the scent of such emissions from agriculture should you live in rural areas near farmland, as manure is applied as a fertiliser at this time of year. I wrote about the emissions situation in Europe here, using data from the EU Environment Agency.

These emissions mix together, forming various types of aerosol species that are then blown over the UK. This can combine with similar emissions within the UK and if the winds are light and rainfall is low, you have the perfect conditions for a pollution event.

This isn’t a particularly unusual event; the two main differences are that Saharan dust has joined the fold and the media have been paying much more attention than usual. The major issue is that it has been a relatively prolonged event, likely to last about a week. Pollution events such as the ongoing one over the UK tend to represent acute risks for vulnerable groups, while the general population might notice relatively minor symptoms such as itching eyes or a cough.

Air pollution is a pernicious problem, with even low levels having health implications over prolonged periods. The World Health Organisation recently declared that air pollution is the world’s largest single environmental health risk and was linked with 7 million deaths in 2012 alone. Air pollution is still an unresolved issue in the UK, with significant implications.