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Flooding is one of the most widespread and catastrophic natural disasters. The exposure of cropland to floods is directly related to the quality of cropland and food security, so it is particularly important to map the spatiotemporal evolution of this exposure, with a specific focus on longer time series and higher resolution scales. This study is the first of its kind to analyse the worldwide spatiotemporal variability of Cropland Exposure to Flooding (CEF) with the 30 m resolution of Global Land Analysis & Discovery (GLAD) dataset during 2000-2019. The findings indicate that: (1) the global CEF area increased by a total of 83,429.50 km 2 or 7.75 %, from 2000 to 2019; (2) only North America's CEF showed a downward trend, and the region with the largest increase in CEF was South Asia; (3) the CEF in 23 river basins, including Ganges, Indus, Mississippi, Yangtze, and Danube, accounted for 79.88 % of the global total in 2019P; (4) in 2019P, China had the largest CEF globally, reaching 239,525.07 km 2 . The fastest growing CEF was India, contributing 16.36 % of the global CEF growth. The CEF of United States experienced a reduction trend; (5) two constructed indicators were used in evaluating the CEF of countries worldwide, and a total of 46 countries are considered to be at the highest level of risk, mainly in Europe and Asia. Based on these conclusions, we carried out a cold/hot spot analysis to reveal the spatial heterogeneity and possible driving factors in this phenomenon, and we offer management suggestions to limit the risks to cropland in the floodplains., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Zinc (Zn) is essential to sustain crop production and human health, while it can be toxic when present in excess. In this manuscript, we applied a machine learning model on 21,682 soil samples from the Land Use and Coverage Area frame Survey (LUCAS) topsoil database of 2009/2012 to assess the spatial distribution in Europe of topsoil Zn concentrations measured by aqua regia extraction, and to identify the influence of natural drivers and anthropogenic sources on topsoil Zn concentrations. As a result, a map was produced showing topsoil Zn concentrations in Europe at a resolution of 250 m. The mean predicted Zn concentration in Europe was 41 mg kg -1 , with a root mean squared error of around 40 mg kg -1 calculated for independent soil samples. We identified clay content as the most important factor explaining the overall distribution of soil Zn in Europe, with lower Zn concentrations in coarser soils. Next to texture, low Zn concentrations were found in soils with low pH (e.g. Podzols), as well as in soils with pH above 8 (i.e., Calcisols). The presence of deposits and mining activities mainly explained the occurrence of relatively high Zn concentrations above 167 mg kg -1 (the one percentile highest concentrations) within 10 km from these sites. In addition, the relatively higher Zn levels found in grasslands in regions with high livestock density may point to manure as a significant source of Zn in these soils. The map developed in this study can be used as a reference to assess the eco-toxicological risks associated with soil Zn concentrations in Europe and areas with Zn deficiency. In addition, it can provide a baseline for future policies in the context of pollution, soil health, human health, and crop nutrition., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An improved understanding of global Urban Exposure to Flooding (UEF) is essential for developing risk-reduction strategies for sustainable urban development. This study is the first to assess the long-term historical global UEF at a fine spatial resolution (i.e., 30 m) and annual temporal frequency, with consideration of smaller urban areas in the exposure assessment compared to those using coarse resolution data. We assessed the UEF by investigating the spatially explicit urban expansion in the 100-year floodplain extents. The global UEF increased more than four-fold from 16,443 km 2 in 1985 to 92,233 km 2 in 2018 with accelerated temporal trends. The most notable growth in UEF occurred in Asia (74.1%), followed by Europe (11.6%), Northern America (8.7%), Africa (2.9%), Southern America (2.2%), and Australia (0.5%). Notably, China and US were the two countries with the largest UEF, accounting for about 61.5% of global growth in UEF. In addition, only 1.2% of global floodplains were occupied by urban expansion by 2018, whereas this percentage reached 20% in the basins of Western Europe, Eastern Asia, and Northeastern US. Moreover, although the floodplains only accounted for 5.5% of the global land areas, 12.6% of the urban expansion occurred in the floodplains from 1985 to 2018, with the most rapid increases in the basins in Southeastern and Eastern China. Our findings highlight that the trends of accelerated increasing urban exposure to flooding have been occurring for at least the past three decades., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Emerging evidence in North America and Europe suggests that traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) adversely affects cognition. However, little is known about this relationship in people living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It is also unknown whether indoor air pollution can modify the effect of TRAP. We derived data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a prospective cohort study, including 11,187 individuals of 82.0 years old (53.9% female). We ascertained residential proximity to major roadways based on self-reports and assessed cognitive function using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). We used cooking fuel type and home ventilation as proxies for indoor air pollution. We examined the associations between major road proximity and cognitive impairment using multivariable logistic regressions, controlling for demographic, lifestyle, socioeconomic status, and chronic conditions. We did subgroup analyses and assessed the potential interaction effect. The prevalence of cognitive impairment was 33.4%. The adjusted odds ratios of cognitive impairment were 1.20 (1.05, 1.35), 1.26 (1.09, 1.46), 0.99 (0.84, 1.17), and 1.05 (0.88, 1.25) for individuals living <50 m, 50-100 m, 101-200 m, and 201-300 m compared to those living >300 m from a major roadway. In dichotomized analyses, the risk (OR) associated with living closer to roadways was greater in participants who did not implement any ventilation during cooking (compared to those using natural or mechanical ventilation, 1.86 [1.31-2.65] vs. 1.16 [1.03-1.26], P for interaction = 0.001) and in solid fuel users (compared to clean fuel users, 1.37 [1.13-1.67] vs. 1.13 [1.04-1.21], P for interaction = 0.028). The associations were robust in a set of sensitivity analyses. The results suggested that living closer to major roadways was associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment in older adults in China, indicating an adverse TRAP effect. Indoor air pollution appeared to enhance the TRAP effect synergistically., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

After the appearance of COVID-19 in China last December 2019, Italy was the first European country to be severely affected by the outbreak. The first diagnosis in Italy was on February 20, 2020, followed by the establishment of a light and a tight lockdown on February 23 and on March 8, 2020, respectively. The virus spread rapidly, particularly in the North of the country in the 'Padan Plain' area, known as one of the most polluted regions in Europe. Air pollution has been recently hypothesized to enhance the clinical severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, acting through adverse effects on immunity, induction of respiratory and other chronic disease, upregulation of viral receptor ACE-2, and possible pathogen transportation as a virus carrier. We investigated the association between air pollution and subsequent COVID-19 mortality rates within two Italian regions (Veneto and Emilia-Romagna). We estimated ground-level nitrogen dioxide through its tropospheric levels using data available from the Sentinel-5P satellites of the European Space Agency Copernicus Earth Observation Programme before the lockdown. We then examined COVID-19 mortality rates in relation to the nitrogen dioxide levels at three 14-day lag points after the lockdown, namely March 8, 22 and April 5, 2020. Using a multivariable negative binomial regression model, we found an association between nitrogen dioxide and COVID-19 mortality. Although ecological data provide only weak evidence, these findings indicate an association between air pollution levels and COVID-19 severity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Climate change is causing extensive alterations to ecosystems globally, with some more vulnerable than others. Alpine ecosystems, characterised by low-temperatures and cryophilic vegetation, provide ecosystems services for billions of people but are considered among the most susceptible to climate change. Therefore, it is timely to review research on climate change on alpine vegetation including assessing trends, topics, themes and gaps. Using a multicomponent bibliometric approach, we extracted bibliometric metadata from 3143 publications identified by searching titles, keywords and abstracts for research on 'climate change' and 'alpine vegetation' from Scopus and Web of Science. While primarily focusing on 'alpine vegetation', some literature that also assessed vegetation below the treeline was captured. There has been an exponential increase in research over 50 years, greater engagement and diversification in who does research, and where it is published and conducted, with increasing focus beyond Europe, particularly in China. Content analysis of titles, keywords and abstracts revealed that most of the research has focused on alpine grasslands but there have been relatively few publications that examine specialist vegetation communities such as snowbeds, subnival vegetation and fellfields. Important themes emerged from analysis of keywords, including treelines and vegetation dynamics, biodiversity, the Tibetan Plateau as well as grasslands and meadows. Traditional ecological monitoring techniques were important early on, but remote sensing has become the primary method for assessment. A key book on alpine plants, the IPCC reports and a few papers in leading journals underpin much of the research. Overall, research on this topic is increasing, with new methods and directions but thematic and geographical gaps remain particularly for research on extreme climatic events, and research in South America, in part due to limited capacity for research on these rare but valuable ecosystems., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Following the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) last December 2019 in China, Italy was the first European country to be severely affected, with the first local case diagnosed on 20 February 2020. The virus spread quickly, particularly in the North of Italy, with three regions (Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna) being the most severely affected. These three regions accounted for >80% of SARS-CoV-2 positive cases when the tight lockdown was established (March 8). These regions include one of Europe's areas of heaviest air pollution, the Po valley. Air pollution has been recently proposed as a possible risk factor of SARS-CoV-2 infection, due to its adverse effect on immunity and to the possibility that polluted air may even carry the virus. We investigated the association between air pollution and subsequent spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection within these regions. We collected NO 2 tropospheric levels using satellite data available at the European Space Agency before the lockdown. Using a multivariable restricted cubic spline regression model, we compared NO 2 levels with SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence rate at different time points after the lockdown, namely March 8, 22 and April 5, in the 28 provinces of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna. We found little association of NO 2 levels with SARS-CoV-2 prevalence up to about 130 μmol/m 2 , while a positive association was evident at higher levels at each time point. Notwithstanding the limitations of the use of aggregated data, these findings lend some support to the hypothesis that high levels of air pollution may favor the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is a highly pathogenic, transmittable and invasive pneumococcal disease caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in December 2019 and January 2020 in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China and fast spread later on the middle of February 2020 in the Northern part of Italy and Europe. This study investigates the correlation between the degree of accelerated diffusion and lethality of COVID-19 and the surface air pollution in Milan metropolitan area, Lombardy region, Italy. Daily average concentrations of inhalable particulate matter (PM) in two size fractions PM2.5, PM10 and maxima PM10 ground level atmospheric pollutants together air quality and climate variables (daily average temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, atmospheric pressure field and Planetary Boundary Layer-PBL height) collected during 1 January-30 April 2020 were analyzed. In spite of being considered primarily transmitted by indoor bioaerosols droplets and infected surfaces, or direct human-to-human personal contacts, it seems that high levels of urban air pollution, weather and specific climate conditions have a significant impact on the increased rates of confirmed COVID-19 Total number, Daily New and Total Deaths cases, possible attributed not only to indoor but also to outdoor airborne bioaerosols distribution. Our analysis demonstrates the strong influence of daily averaged ground levels of particulate matter concentrations, positively associated with average surface air temperature and inversely related to air relative humidity on COVID-19 cases outbreak in Milan. Being a novel pandemic coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) version, COVID-19 might be ongoing during summer conditions associated with higher temperatures and low humidity levels. Presently is not clear if this protein "spike" of the new coronavirus COVID-19 is involved through attachment mechanisms on indoor or outdoor airborne aerosols in the infectious agent transmission from a reservoir to a susceptible host in some agglomerated urban areas like Milan is., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 National Institute of R&D for Optoelectronics INOE 2000. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Europe's largest copper ore tailings impoundment has been considered a potential source of risk for human health, thus leading to the elimination of agricultural production in the surrounding area and its subsequent afforestation. The aim of this study was to analyse the level, spatial distribution and temporal changes in soil and edible plant contamination with trace elements around the impoundment, taking into account the local soil properties. The mean concentrations of Zn, Pb and As (31.5, 19.3 and 3.9 mg kg -1 , respectively) were found to be higher than median values in soils of Poland, but they do not indicate soil pollution or enrichment when assessed using the relative geochemical index (I geo ) and enrichment factor (EF). The Cu concentration (mean 25.6 mg kg -1 ) was significantly higher than the median value for Polish soils, indicating moderate to high pollution/enrichment. A relationship between Cu concentration in topsoil and distance to the impoundment, in particular in its eastern forefield, indicates that this landfill site may be considered the source of soil contamination with Cu. However, both the mean and maximum concentrations of all elements under study, including Cu, were below the legal intervention levels. Long-term topsoil monitoring, although high data variability on permanent plots, has documented stable concentration or slow decrease of element concentration over a period 1995-2016. Cu and Zn concentrations in vegetables from home gardens do not differ from typical values in commercially available products, whereas higher than typical concentrations of Pb and As may result from other local sources of contamination. Low level and stable soil and plant contamination with trace metals justifies continuation of crop production and no need for the further conversion of arable lands into forests. The relatively little negative impact of the tailings impoundment, despite its large dimensions, results probably from implemented effective anti-emission measures., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The effect of lockdown due to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on air pollution in four Southern European cities (Nice, Rome, Valencia and Turin) and Wuhan (China) was quantified, with a focus on ozone (O 3 ). Compared to the same period in 2017-2019, the daily O 3 mean concentrations increased at urban stations by 24% in Nice, 14% in Rome, 27% in Turin, 2.4% in Valencia and 36% in Wuhan during the lockdown in 2020. This increase in O 3 concentrations is mainly explained by an unprecedented reduction in NO x emissions leading to a lower O 3 titration by NO. Strong reductions in NO 2 mean concentrations were observed in all European cities, ~53% at urban stations, comparable to Wuhan (57%), and ~65% at traffic stations. NO declined even further, ~63% at urban stations and ~78% at traffic stations in Europe. Reductions in PM 2.5 and PM 10 at urban stations were overall much smaller both in magnitude and relative change in Europe (~8%) than in Wuhan (~42%). The PM reductions due to limiting transportation and fuel combustion in institutional and commercial buildings were partly offset by increases of PM emissions from the activities at home in some of the cities. The NO x concentrations during the lockdown were on average 49% lower than those at weekends of the previous years in all cities. The lockdown effect on O 3 production was ~10% higher than the weekend effect in Southern Europe and 38% higher in Wuhan, while for PM the lockdown had the same effect as weekends in Southern Europe (~6% of difference). This study highlights the challenge of reducing the formation of secondary pollutants such as O 3 even with strict measures to control primary pollutant emissions. These results are relevant for designing abatement policies of urban pollution., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Sea urchins serve as an essential niche for benthic ecosystems and are valuable seafood for humans. However, little is known about the microplastics (MPs) accumulation in sea urchins. Here, we investigated the abundances and characteristics of MPs in specific tissues of wild sea urchins for 12 sites across 2, 900 km of coastlines in northern China. Sea urchins from all sites were detected to have MPs, with a total detection rate of 89.52%. The MPs abundance in sea urchins from all sites ranged from 2.20 ± 1.50 to 10.04 ± 8.46 items/individual or 0.16 ± 0.09 to 2.25 ± 1.68 items/g wet weight. The samples from Dalian were found to have the highest value by individual, and samples from Lianyungang had the highest value by gram. Furthermore, MPs were found in different tissues of sea urchins, i.e., gut, coelomic fluid and gonads. The highest abundance of MPs was found in the gut of sea urchins, followed by coelomic fluid and gonads. The size of MPs ranged from 27 to 4742 μm, and the mean size found in gut was bigger than coelomic fluid and gonads. More interestingly, the MPs abundance increased with the decrease of anus size, shell diameter and gonad index (the wet weight ratio of gonad to total soft tissues). The MPs were dominated by fiber in shape, blue-green in colour and cellophane in composition. The high MPs abundance in sea urchins indicates the potential risks to human as they are consumed in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia and Europe., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Coal production and utilization are recognized as two principal sources of potentially toxic elements in the environment. Here the published literature (2008-2018) was searched to collect data on As, Ni, Cd, Cu, Cr, Hg, Pb and Zn concentrations in soils near different types of coal industrial areas such as coal mines, thermal power plants, coal chemical plants, coal mining cities and coal waster piles. The contamination levels of soils and associated health risks were assessed using global reference materials and multiple contamination indices. The results revealed that average concentrations of potentially toxic elements varied widely, yet most of them exceeded global averages in background soils and upper continental crust concentrations. Spatial distribution analysis suggested the concentrations of potentially toxic elements varied according to coalification and combustion conditions. Higher concentrations were found in Southeast Asia, South Europe, and North Africa compared with other regions. Assessment of the geoaccumulation index revealed that contamination levels of Cd and Hg were higher than those of other elements. In particular, Ni, Cd, Zn, and Hg were most likely to accumulate in soils near coal mining areas, while Cd and Hg tended to accumulate near coal chemical plants. Regarding non-carcinogenic risks, oral ingestion was the major pathway of exposure to potentially toxic elements in coal industry-associated soils, followed by dermal contact and inhalation. Tolerable non-carcinogenic risk of potentially toxic elements and relatively high carcinogenic risks of As were observed. Children were most vulnerable to non-carcinogenic risks, while the carcinogenic risks estimated for adult and children populations were similar. Accordingly, As should be designated as top candidates for priority control to protect human health in the vicinity of coal industry-associated areas. This study provides timely information for developing control and management strategies to reduce soil contamination by potentially toxic elements in different types of coal industrial areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)