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Better monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of the amount, additionality, and persistence of the sequestered soil carbon is needed to understand the best carbon farming practices for different soils and climate conditions, as well as their actual climate benefits or cost efficiency in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. This paper presents our Field Observatory Network (FiON) of researchers, farmers, companies, and other stakeholders developing carbon farming practices. FiON has established a unified methodology towards monitoring and forecasting agricultural carbon sequestration by combining offline and near-real-time field measurements, weather data, satellite imagery, modeling, and computing networks. FiON's first phase consists of two intensive research sites and 20 voluntary pilot farms testing carbon farming practices in Finland. To disseminate the data, FiON built a web-based dashboard called the Field Observatory (v1.0, https://www.fieldobservatory.org/, last access: 3 February 2022). The Field Observatory is designed as an online service for near-real-time model–data synthesis, forecasting, and decision support for the farmers who are able to monitor the effects of carbon farming practices. The most advanced features of the Field Observatory are visible on the Qvidja site, which acts as a prototype for the most recent implementations. Overall, FiON aims to create new knowledge on agricultural soil carbon sequestration and effects of carbon farming practices as well as provide an MRV tool for decision support.

16 pages, 6 figures, 1 table, supplement https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2183-2023-supplement.-- Code and data availability: The code and data used to produce all non-illustrative figures are available from the corresponding authors under reasonable request., The Arctic is a rapidly changing ecosystem, with complex ice–ocean–atmosphere feedbacks. An important process is new particle formation (NPF), from gas-phase precursors, which provides a climate forcing effect. NPF has been studied comprehensively at different sites in the Arctic, ranging from those in the High Arctic and those at Svalbard to those in the continental Arctic, but no harmonised analysis has been performed on all sites simultaneously, with no calculations of key NPF parameters available for some sites. Here, we analyse the formation and growth of new particles from six long-term ground-based stations in the Arctic (Alert, Villum, Tiksi, Zeppelin Mountain, Gruvebadet, and Utqiaġvik). Our analysis of particle formation and growth rates in addition to back-trajectory analysis shows a summertime maxima in the frequency of NPF and particle formation rate at all sites, although the mean frequency and particle formation rates themselves vary greatly between sites, with the highest at Svalbard and lowest in the High Arctic. The summertime growth rate, condensational sinks, and vapour source rates show a slight bias towards the southernmost sites, with vapour source rates varying by around an order of magnitude between the northernmost and southernmost sites. Air masses back-trajectories during NPF at these northernmost sites are associated with large areas of sea ice and snow, whereas events at Svalbard are associated with more sea ice and ocean regions. Events at the southernmost sites are associated with large areas of land and sea ice. These results emphasise how understanding the geographical variation in surface type across the Arctic is key to understanding secondary aerosol sources and providing a harmonised analysis of NPF across the Arctic, This research has been supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grant nos. CTM2017-89117-R, CGL2013-49020-R, and RYC-2012-11922), the Natural Environment Research Council (grant no. NE/S00579X/1), and the National Centre for Atmospheric Science funded by the Natural Environment Research Council. We acknowledge support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI), With the institutional support of the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S)

nonPeerReviewed

The impact of ship emission reductions can be maximised by considering climate, health and environmental effects simultaneously and using solutions fitting into existing marine engines and infrastructure. Several options available enable selecting optimum solutions for different ships, routes and regions. Carbon-neutral fuels, including low-carbon and carbon-negative fuels, from biogenic or non-biogenic origin (biomass, waste, renewable hydrogen) could resemble current marine fuels (diesel-type, methane and methanol). The carbon-neutrality of fuels depends on their Well-to-Wake (WtW) emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide emissions (N2O). Additionally, non-gaseous black carbon (BC) emissions have high global warming potential (GWP). Exhaust emissions which are harmful to health or the environment need to be equally removed using emission control achieved by fuel, engine or exhaust aftertreatment technologies. Harmful emission species include nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulphur oxides (SOx), ammonia (NH3), formaldehyde, particle mass (PM) and number emissions (PN). Particles may carry polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and heavy metals, which cause serious adverse health issues. Carbon-neutral fuels are typically sulphur-free enabling negligible SOx emissions and efficient exhaust aftertreatment technologies, such as particle filtration. The combinations of carbon-neutral drop-in fuels and efficient emission control technologies would enable (near-)zero-emission shipping and these could be adaptable in the short- to mid-term. Substantial savings in external costs on society caused by ship emissions give arguments for regulations, policies and investments needed to support this development. publishedVersion

A tighter integration of modeling frameworks for climate and air quality is urgently needed to assess the impacts of clean air policies on future Arctic and global climate. We combined a new model emulator and comprehensive emissions scenarios for air pollutants and greenhouse gases to assess climate and human health co-benefits of emissions reductions. Fossil fuel use is projected to rapidly decline in an increasingly sustainable world, resulting in far-reaching air quality benefits. Despite human health benefits, reductions in sulfur emissions in a more sustainable world could enhance Arctic warming by 0.8 degrees C in 2050 relative to the 1995-2014, thereby offsetting climate benefits of greenhouse gas reductions. Targeted and technically feasible emissions reduction opportunities exist for achieving simultaneous climate and human health co-benefits. It would be particularly beneficial to unlock a newly identified mitigation potential for carbon particulate matter, yielding Arctic climate benefits equivalent to those from carbon dioxide reductions by 2050. Reduction in key air pollutants, especially particulate carbon, can help mitigate Arctic warming with associated benefits for global climate and human health, according to Earth system model simulations under future emissions scenarios.

For short-lived climate forcers such as black carbon (BC), the atmospheric concentrations, radiative forcing (RF), and, ultimately, the subsequent effects on climate, depend on the location and timing of the emissions. Here, we employ the NorESM1-Happi version of the Norwegian Earth System Model to systematically study how the RF associated with BC emissions depends on the latitude, longitude, and seasonality of the emissions. The model aerosol scheme is run in an offline mode to allow for an essentially noise-free evaluation of the RF associated with even minor changes in emissions. A total of 960 experiments were run to evaluate the BC direct RF (dirRF) and the RF associated with BC in snow/ice (snowRF) for emissions in 192 latitude–longitude boxes covering the globe, both for seasonally uniform emissions and for emissions in each of the four seasons separately. We also calculate a rough estimate of the global temperature response to regional emissions and provide a Fortran-based tool to facilitate the further use of our results. Overall, the results demonstrate that the BC RFs strongly depend on the latitude, longitude, and season of the emissions. In particular, the global mean dirRF normalized by emissions (direct specific forcing; dirSF) depends much more strongly on the emission location than suggested by previous studies that have considered emissions from continental-/subcontinental-scale regions. Even for seasonally uniform emissions, dirSF varies by more than a factor of 10, depending on the emission location. These variations correlate strongly with BC lifetime, which varies from less than 2 to 11 d. BC dirSF is largest for emissions in tropical convective regions and in subtropical and midlatitude continents in summer, both due to the abundant solar radiation and strong convective transport, which increases BC lifetime and the amount of BC above clouds. The dirSF is also relatively large for emissions in high-albedo, high-latitude regions such as Antarctica and Greenland. The dependence of snow specific forcing (snowSF) on the emission location is even larger. While BC emissions originating from most low-latitude regions result in negligible snowSF, the maxima of snowSF for emissions in polar regions greatly exceed the largest values of dirSF for low-latitude emissions. The large magnitude of snowSF for high-latitude BC emissions suggests that, for a given mass of BC emitted, the climate impacts are also largest for high-latitude emissions. The additivity of the RFs resulting from BC emissions in different regions and seasons is also investigated. It is found that dirRF is almost additive for current-day emissions, so that summing the RFs computed for individual regions/seasons without considering BC emissions from elsewhere overestimates dirRF by less than 10 %. For snowRF, the overestimate is somewhat larger, at ∼ 20 %.

Based on the Baltic Earth Assessment Reports of this thematic issue in Earth System Dynamics and recent peer-reviewed literature, current knowledge of the effects of global warming on past and future changes in climate of the Baltic Sea region is summarised and assessed. The study is an update of the Second Assessment of Climate Change (BACC II) published in 2015 and focuses on the atmosphere, land, cryosphere, ocean, sediments, and the terrestrial and marine biosphere. Based on the summaries of the recent knowledge gained in palaeo-, historical, and future regional climate research, we find that the main conclusions from earlier assessments still remain valid. However, new long-term, homogenous observational records, for example, for Scandinavian glacier inventories, sea-level-driven saltwater inflows, so-called Major Baltic Inflows, and phytoplankton species distribution, and new scenario simulations with improved models, for example, for glaciers, lake ice, and marine food web, have become available. In many cases, uncertainties can now be better estimated than before because more models were included in the ensembles, especially for the Baltic Sea. With the help of coupled models, feedbacks between several components of the Earth system have been studied, and multiple driver studies were performed, e.g. projections of the food web that include fisheries, eutrophication, and climate change. New datasets and projections have led to a revised understanding of changes in some variables such as salinity. Furthermore, it has become evident that natural variability, in particular for the ocean on multidecadal timescales, is greater than previously estimated, challenging our ability to detect observed and projected changes in climate. In this context, the first palaeoclimate simulations regionalised for the Baltic Sea region are instructive. Hence, estimated uncertainties for the projections of many variables increased. In addition to the well-known influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation, it was found that also other low-frequency modes of internal variability, such as the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability, have profound effects on the climate of the Baltic Sea region. Challenges were also identified, such as the systematic discrepancy between future cloudiness trends in global and regional models and the difficulty of confidently attributing large observed changes in marine ecosystems to climate change. Finally, we compare our results with other coastal sea assessments, such as the North Sea Region Climate Change Assessment (NOSCCA), and find that the effects of climate change on the Baltic Sea differ from those on the North Sea, since Baltic Sea oceanography and ecosystems are very different from other coastal seas such as the North Sea. While the North Sea dynamics are dominated by tides, the Baltic Sea is characterised by brackish water, a perennial vertical stratification in the southern subbasins, and a seasonal sea ice cover in the northern subbasins.

Ilmastonmuutoksesta on tullut aikamme merkittävin haaste niin nykyisten kuin tulevienkin sukupolvien näkökulmasta. Ilmastonmuutoksella tarkoitetaan tilannetta, jossa haitallisten kasvihuonekaasujen kohonnut määrä ilmakehässä aiheuttaa ilmaston lämpenemistä, joka aiheuttaa globaalisti erilaisia ympäristölle ja eläinkunnalle haitallisia vaikutuksia. Ympäristön säilyminen elinkelpoisena on todettu olevan edellytyksenä myös muiden perus- ja ihmisoikeuksien toteutumiselle. Ilmastonmuutosta koskevassa keskustelussa on myös tunnistettu, että vaikutukset kohdistuvat etenkin nykyisiin lapsiin ja nuoriin sekä tuleviin sukupolviin. Tämä pro gradu -tutkielma tarkastelee, kuinka julkisen vallan ohjausinstrumentteja voitaisiin kehittää voimassa olevan oikeuden mukaan, jotta ne turvaisivat yksilön ympäristöön kohdistuvien oikeuksien toteutumista. Keskeiset ympäristöön kohdistuvat oikeudet ovat oikeus terveelliseen ympäristöön ja omaan elinympäristöön kohdistuvat vaikuttamismahdollisuudet. Tutkielmassa systematisoidaan voimassa olevaa oikeutta ja tutkielman apukysymysten avulla selvitetään, mitkä ovat ilmastovaikutusten arvioinnin normatiiviset perusteet osana säädösvalmistelua ja kunnallista päätöksentekoa ja miten ilmastonmuutokseen liittyvää lainsäädäntöä voitaisiin kansallisesti kehittää. Asetettua tutkimuskysymystä lähestytään kahdella eri tavalla. Ensiksi selvitetään, minkälainen ilmastoa ja ympäristöä koskeva sääntely Suomea kansallisesti ja kansainvälisesti velvoittaa. Sen jälkeen tarkastellaan, minkälaisia yhteiskunnallisia ohjauskeinojen julkisella vallalla on ja kuinka niitä voitaisiin kehittää vastaamaan paremmin ympäristöön liittyvien oikeuksien toteutumista. Julkinen valta ei kuitenkaan yksin voi saavuttaa asetettuja tavoitteita ja näin ollen korostuvat myös yksilöiden ja muiden toimijoiden vaikuttamis- ja osallistumismahdollisuudet. Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan ilmastovaikutusten arviointia osana säädösvalmistelua ja kunnallista päätöksentekoa, joilla voitaisiin edistää ympäristöön liittyvien prosessuaalisten oikeuksien toteutumista nykyistä paremmin. Ilmastovaikutusten arviointi tarkastellaan myös työkaluna asetettujen ilmastotavoitteiden saavuttamisessa. Tutkielman tulosten mukaan kansallista lainsäädäntöä tulee päivittää, jotta ympäristöön liittyvien oikeuksien toteutuminen voidaan turvata myös tulevaisuudessa. Etenkin oikeus terveelliseen ympäristöön vaatii nykyistä vahvempia toimia, jotta perus- ja ihmisoikeuksien toteutuminen voidaan turvata nykyisten sukupolvien lisäksi myös tuleville sukupolville. Ilmastovaikutusten arviointi osana säädösvalmistelua ja kunnallista päätöksentekoa edistäisivät ympäristöön kohdistuvien oikeuksien toteutumista, mutta edellyttäisivät lainsäädännöllisiä päivitystarpeita.

Ilmastokriisissä rakennusten ympäristövaikutuksia aletaan säädellä tarkemmin. Rakennushankkeilta ja myös laajoilta korjaushankkeilta aletaan velvoittaa hiilijalanjälkilaskelmaa, jolla osoitetaan rakennuksen elinkaarenaikaiset ilmastovaikutukset. Korjaamisen hiilijalanjälkilaskenta poikkeaa uudisrakentamisen laskennasta siten, että ympäristövaikutuksia ei lasketa koko rakennuksen koko elinkaaren ajalle vaan hankkeessa muutettaville ja lisättäville rakennusosille tarkastelujakson ajaksi. Korjaushankkeelle arvioidaan erillinen elinkaarensa rakennuksen pääelinkaaren ohelle. Korjaushankkeen hiilijalanjälkilaskennassa huomioidaan elinkaaren tuotevaihe (A1–A3), rakentamisvaihe (A4–A5), käyttövaihe (B1–B7), purkuvaihe (C1-C4) ja elinkaaren ulkopuoliset vaikutukset (D). Korjaamisen yhteydessä purettavien rakennusosien vaikutukset on myös huomioitava. Vuonna 1891 käyttöön otettuun Säätytaloon suunniteltavista korjauksista on valittu diplomityön hiilijalanjälkitarkasteluun puulattiat, julkisivurappaus ja mediatilamuutos. Kaikkiin liittyy merkittäviä rakennussuojeluarvoja ja ne tulee huomioida hiilijalanjäljen rinnalla. Vertailtaviksi otettiin erityisesti korjauksen laajuus ja materiaalivalinnat. Arvioitavia tapauksia on yhteensä 16. Puulattiatapauksissa suuri merkitys on säilytettävien ja uusittavien lautojen määrällä ja välipohjatäytemateriaalin valinnalla. Julkisivurappauksen kunnostuksessa laajuudella on hiilijalanjäljen kannalta suuri vaikutus. Rappauslaastin valintaa oleellisempaa on rappauksen kestävyys, jonka arviointi on vaikea sisällyttää hiilijalanjälkilaskentaan. Rappauksen paikkakorjaustapauksessa pintakäsittely ja suojaaminen muodostavat merkittävän osan vaikutuksista. Säätytaloon suunnitellun mediatilakokonaisuuden rakentamisen osista uusi esteetön sisäänkäynti ja porraskäytävä ovat ilmastovaikutuksiltaan suurimmat. Uusi sisäänkäynti parantaisi myös rakennuksen esteettömyyttä ja siten käytettävyysnäkökulma nousee ratkaisevaksi tekijäksi. Restauroivan tai säilyttävän korjauksen ja hiilijalanjälkilaskelman näkökulmat yhtenevät monelta osin. Vanhojen osien säilyttäminen ja niukka uuden materiaalin käyttö tukevat molempien näkökulmien tavoitteita. Restaurointihanketta tulee tarkastella monesta eri suunnasta ja ympäristö on yksi niistä. Vanhan rakennuksen säilyttäminen ja kunnossapitäminen on itsessään myönteinen teko, kun vaihtoehtona pidetään uudisrakentamista. Ilmastokriisin aikana kannattaa suosia toimenpiteitä, jotka tuottavat hyötynsä heti, sillä seuraavina vuosikymmeninä luvattujen hyötyjen realisoituminen on epävarmaa ja ilmaston kannalta liian myöhäistä. Korjaaminen uudisrakentamisen sijaan pienentää rakentamishetken suurta hiilipiikkiä.

We present a new approach to advance methods of climate change impact and adaptation assessment within a risk framework. Specifically, our research seeks to test the feasibility of applying impact models across sectors within a standard analytical framework for representing three aspects of potential relevance for policy: (i) sensitivity—examining the sensitivity of the sectors to changing climate for readily observable indicators; (ii) urgency—estimating risks of approaching or exceeding critical thresholds of impact under alternative scenarios as a basis for determining urgency of response; and (iii) response—determining the effectiveness of potential adaptation and mitigation responses. By working with observable indicators, the approach is also amenable to long-term monitoring as well as evaluation of the success of adaptation, where this too can be simulated. The approach focuses on impacts in climate-sensitive sectors, such as water resources, forestry, agriculture or human health. It involves the construction of impact response surfaces (IRSs) based on impact model simulations, using sectoral impact models that are also capable of simulating some adaptation measures. We illustrate the types of analyses to be undertaken and their potential outputs using two examples: risks of crop yield shortfall in Finland and impact risks for water management in the Vale do Gaio reservoir, Portugal. Based on previous analyses such as these, we have identified three challenges requiring special attention in this new modelling exercise: (a) ensuring the salience and credibility of the impact modelling conducted and outputs obtained, through engagement with relevant stakeholders, (b) co-exploration of the capabilities of current impact models and the need for improved representation of adaptation and (c) co-identification of critical thresholds for key impact indicators and effective representation of uncertainties. The approach is currently being tested for five sectors in Finland.

nonPeerReviewed

Cover crops (CCs) have aroused a great deal of interest as a multifunctional measure to improve the sustainability of agriculture. Understanding farmers’ views are important for future farm-scale implementation. A farmer survey was carried out in Finland in 2021 with the aims to gather farmers’ views on agronomic performance of CCs, their environmental impacts and contribution to climate smart agriculture, and understand how farmers’ views on CCs differed depending on farm/farmer characteristics. The farmers’ sample was conventional and organic farms that had selected CCs as a registered measure in 2020. 6493 farmers were invited to answer a questionnaire with 18 statements (a Likert scale, 5 answer choices), and 1130 responded (17.4%). A Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test was used to measure the strength of the association between ten characteristics of the respondents and 18 statements. Farmers considered CCs to have wide-ranging benefits for soil conditions. Only 21% of farmers agreed that CCs increase the need for nitrogen fertilizer use. 49% of farmers agreed that CCs reduce weed problems. Farmers mostly agreed (ca. 80%) that CCs reduce nutrient leaching and erosion. They were in general more uncertain about CCs’ contribution to climate change mitigation (53% agreed), adaptation (51%), and resilience (58%). In agri-environmental schemes subsidies for use of CCs should aim large-scale implementation with two important target groups: younger farmers (≤50 years) as they were slightly more skeptical than older ones and farmers with less diverse land use as they were more doubtful of benefits provided by CCs.

Straw is an interesting renewable feedstock for various high-value products, such as textile fibers. However, straw encompass to soils maintains a good soil structure, fertility, and carbon storage. Despite the availability of previous research on this topic, uncertainties remain regarding the climate and soil impacts of straw collection. This study aims to show the carbon footprint (CF) of straw collection compared with that of soil encompass. The goal is to demonstrate uncertainties related to initial data and methodological assumptions on whether straw is regarded as a waste or a coproduct and illustrate where more measured data is needed. Life cycle assessment method was used to conduct this study and the data therein were gotten from literature. The results show that straw removal can lead to reduced greenhouse gas emissions in comparison to soil encompass because of reduced nitrogen fertilizing needs and subsequent N2O emissions. However, there is high uncertainty related to soil organic carbon (SOC) and N2O emission changes because of straw removal. It is also possible that greenhouse gas emissions increase due to straw removal. Straw seems to have a relatively low CF, especially when it is regarded as a waste. Coproduct interpretation significantly increases the emissions allocated for straw. Straw also stores carbon, and its total CF can be negative. The life cycle length of the straw-based end products determines how long carbon can be stored before it is released back into the atmosphere. Total greenhouse gas emission balance at a system level can be defined only when also straw refining and manufacturing of replaced final products are considered. Additional information is needed, especially on soil emissions (N2O and CH4) and impacts on SOC storage, to ensure the sustainability of straw-based products.

Sedentary lifestyles and the lack of physical activity (PA) are a major concern among all age groups, and current generations tend to be less fit than the previous ones in the Western World. At the same time, there is an urgent need to cut transport-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Major gains can be foreseen if current car-centred lifestyles and sedentary behaviour are addressed from an integrated perspective. In this study, we explore future scenarios in the intersections of PA and active lifestyles as well as related environmental and health benefits in Finland. We used a disaggregative Delphi approach to examine the topic. Although frequently used in health-related research, Delphi has rarely been used in exploring alternative futures or non-consensus. The study design was based on a mixed-methods approach where we combined both qualitative and quantitative data analysis. Building on the experts’ perceptions on alternative futures, we formulated four scenarios for PA up to 2030, which we named Mismatch, Empowerment, Fatigue and Balance. The scenarios may be utilised as guides in developing future policies and decision-making, and to build better futures. Our scenarios demonstrate that alternatives do exist, and actions can be realigned with the positive scenarios of Empowerment and Balance. The physically inactive scenarios of Mismatch and Fatigue represent avoidable scenarios. Highlights • We explored future scenarios in the intersections of physical activity and active lifestyles. • We utilised a mixed-methods approach where we combined both qualitative and quantitative data analysis. • We formulated four scenarios: Empowerment, Balance, Mismatch and Fatigue . • Lifestyle changes of individuals are not enough - community building and active societal support are needed.

Particle size distribution is a major factor in the health and climate effects of ambient aerosols, and it shows a large variation depending on the prevailing atmospheric emission sources. In this work, the particle number size distributions of ambient air were investigated at a suburban detached housing area in northern Helsinki, Finland, during a half-year period from winter to summer of 2020. The measurements were conducted with a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) with a particle size range of 16–698 nm (mobility diameter), and the events with a dominant particle source were identified systematically from the data based on the time of the day and different particle physical and chemical properties. During the measurement period, four different types of events with a dominant contribution from either wood-burning (WB), traffic (TRA), secondary biogenic (BIO), or long-range transported (LRT) aerosol were observed. The particle size was the largest for the LRT events followed by BIO, WB, and TRA events with the geometric mean diameters of 72, 62, 57, and 41 nm, respectively. BIO and LRT produced the largest particle mode sizes followed by WB, and TRA with the modes of 69, 69, 46, and 25 nm, respectively. Each event type had also a noticeably different shape of the average number size distribution (NSD). In addition to the evaluation of NSDs representing different particle sources, also the effects of COVID-19 lockdown on specific aerosol properties were studied as during the measurement period the COVID-19 restrictions took place greatly reducing the traffic volumes in the Helsinki area in the spring of 2020. These restrictions had a significant contribution to reducing the concentrations of NOx and black carbon originating from fossil fuel combustion concentration, but insignificant effects on other studied variables such as number concentration and size distribution or particle mass concentrations (PM1, PM2.5, or PM10). publishedVersion