Search

Study region: The study region was the Sakura River, a tributary of Lake Kasumigaura, Japan. Study focus: We asked whether particulate organic phosphorus (POP) contributed to the P cycle in rivers. Previous studies have focused on the interaction between PO43– and particulate inorganic P (PIP), but our study focused on whether POP could also be the source of PO43–. New hydrological insights for the region: After rain events during irrigation, concentrations of suspended particles and particulate P (PP) increased. POP accounted for 42.4 % of PP concentrations. The PIP and POP concentrations were both positively correlated with suspended particle concentrations. The PO43– concentrations were significantly higher during decomposition experiments when suspended particles were present in the water. Decomposition experiments revealed that the P composition changed and the proportion of organic P decreased as DNA-P disappeared from the PP. The fact that the DOP concentration was significantly lower in the treatment with suspended particles than without suspended particles suggested that DOP mineralization rates were increased by the presence of suspended particles. In addition to mineral-sorbed P, the POP derived from the irrigation of paddy fields may also be bioavailable.

Complex pollution with high aerosol and ozone concentrations has recently been occurring in several densely populated cities in China, raising concerns about the influence of meteorological factors, including synoptic circulation and local conditions. In this study, comprehensive analyses on the associations between PM2.5, PM10, and O3 and meteorological conditions were conducted based on observations from radar wind profiler, microwave radiometer, automatic weather station, and air quality monitoring sites in Beijing during the spring of 2019. The results showed that the boundary layer height and temperature inversion were negatively (positively) correlated with PM (O3) concentrations, modulating the degree of air pollution. Five identified synoptic patterns were derived using geopotential height data of the ERA5 reanalysis, among which Type 1, characterised by south-westerly prevailing winds with high pressure to the south, was considered to be associated with severe PM and O3 contamination. This indicates that air pollutants originating from southern regions exert a major influence on Beijing through the transportation effect. In addition, high temperature, relative humidity, and low wind velocity exacerbate pollution. Overall, this study provides significant information for understanding the vital roles played by meteorological elements at both the regional and local scales in regulating air contamination during spring in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies indicated that boreal spring North Atlantic horseshoe-like (NAH) sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly pattern has a significant impact on the surface air temperature (SAT) variation over the mid-high latitudes of Eurasia via an atmospheric wave train. This study investigates the connection of springtime NAH SST anomaly and the Eurasian SAT variation in thirty-two coupled climate models that participated in the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). Most of the CMIP5 models simulate well the spatial pattern of SST anomalies in the North Atlantic related to the spring NAH SST, but overestimate the spatial standard deviation. There exists large spreads in the connection of the spring NAH SST anomaly pattern and the Eurasian SAT variation among the CMIP5 models. The models that capture the observed spring NAH SST-Eurasian SAT connection can well reproduce the observed atmospheric wave train, in particular, with a marked anticyclonic anomaly over north Europe and a cyclonic anomaly over central Eurasia. This wave train results in above-normal SAT over west Europe and eastern Eurasia and below-normal SAT over central Eurasia. By contrast, the models that fail to reproduce the spring NAH SST-related Eurasian SAT anomalies show limitations in simulating the atmospheric wave train. Further analysis suggests that the models with larger climatological westerly winds over the mid-latitude North Atlantic and high-latitude Eurasia as well as lower climatological SST in the tropical northern Atlantic have a better ability in simulating the observed atmospheric wave train over the North Atlantic and Eurasia and thus perform better in simulating the spring NAH SST-Eurasian SAT connection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physicochemistry was measured weekly from 2014-2017 at sites PD1, PD2, and PD3 in Lake Paldang, Korea. The effects of temperature and nutrients on the growth of the freshwater diatoms Stephanodiscus and Synedra were determined. PD2 had higher water temperature, dissolved oxygen, and conductivity than PD3. Total phosphorus and nitrogen at PD2 were the highest (0.038 mg/L and 2.181 mg/L, respectively). However, PD3 had more silicon (1.396 mg/L) than PD2 (1.027 mg/L). Stephanodiscus and Synedra bloomed mainly between March and May. At all three sites, Stephanodiscus was detected at 1.2-22.7°C and its density was the highest at 6.7°C. Synedra was detected at 1.2-32.8°C and its density was the highest at 13-15°C. Stephanodiscus and Synedra proliferated when TP was = 0.020 mg/L and = 0.020 mg/L, respectively, and Si was = 0.4 mg/L and = 0.4 mg/L, respectively. Therefore, temperature, phosphorus and silicon significantly influenced diatom growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical and chemical properties of the atmosphere at 0-8 km were measured during the Tropospheric Ozone Production about the Spring Equinox (TOPSE) experiments from February to May 2000 at mid (40°-60°N) and high latitudes (60°-80°N). The observations were analyzed using a diet steady state box model to examine HOx and O3 photochemistry during the spring transition period. The radical chemistry is driven primarily by photolysis of O3 and the subsequent reaction of O(1D) and H2O, the rate of which increases rapidly during spring. Unlike in other tropospheric experiments, observed H2O2 concentrations are a factor of 2-10 lower than those simulated by the model. The required scavenging timescale to reconcile the model overestimates shows a rapid seasonal decrease down to 0.5-1 day in May, which cannot be explained by known mechanisms. This loss of H2O2 implies a large loss of HOx resulting in decreases in O3 production (10-20%) and OH concentrations (20-30%). Photolysis of CH2O, either transported into the region or produced by unknown chemical pathways, appears to provide a significant HOx source at 6-8 km at high latitudes. The rapid increase of in situ O3 production in spring is fueled by concurrent increases of the primary HOx production and NO concentrations. Long-lived reactive nitrogen species continue to accumulate at mid and high latitudes in spring. There is a net loss of NOx to HNO3 and PAN throughout the spring, suggesting that these long-term NOx reservoirs do not provide a net source for NOx in the region. In Situ O3 chemical loss is dominated by the reaction of O3 and HO2, and not that of O(1D) and H2O. At midlatitudes, there is net in situ chemical production Of O3 from February to May. The lower free troposphere (1-4 km) is a region of significant net O3 production. The net production peaks in April coinciding with the observed peak of column O3 (0-8 km). The net in situ O3 production at midlatitudes can explain much of the observed column O3 increase, although it alone cannot explain the observed April maximum. In contrast, there is a net in situ O3 loss from February to April at high latitudes. Only in May is the in situ O3 production larger than loss. The observed continuous increase of column O3 at high latitudes throughout the spring is due to transport from other tropospheric regions or the stratosphere not in situ photochemistry.

We present first observations of OH and (HO2 + RO2) carried out in Antarctica outside the summer season. Measurements were made over 23 days in spring at the coastal Antarctic station Halley. Increases in concentrations were evident during the measurement period due to rapidly increasing solar irradiance, and clear diurnal cycles were present throughout. There were also notable differences in air mass composition depending on wind direction. Air masses that had traversed the sea ice zone had both higher concentrations of OH and a larger OH:(HO2 + RO2) ratio. We use steady state kinetic arguments and a 0‐D box model to probe the chemical drivers. We find that differences in bromine chemistry, previously measured at Halley, are sufficient to account for the observed differences in OH concentration as well as the ratio. There is some evidence also that chlorine chemistry is influencing concentrations of RO2. Plain Language Summary: The chemistry that goes on in the air is very sensitive to the presence of reactive trace gases, known as OH and the sum of HO2 + RO2. We have made the first measurements of these gases during the Antarctic spring, at the British Antarctic Survey station, Halley, in coastal Antarctica. We show that their concentrations vary regularly over the course of a day but generally increase over the 23 days of measurements as the Sun rises after the Antarctic winter. We also show that the concentrations of OH varied considerably from one day to the next, depending on the prevailing wind direction. At Halley, the wind tends to arrive at the station either after it has traveled over the continental snowpack (to the east of the station) or from over the sea ice zone (to the west/southwest of the station). When air has traveled over the sea ice zone, we know that it carries higher concentrations of halogen gases. We show that the higher concentrations of OH in air that has traversed the sea ice zone can be accounted for by the presence of bromine chemistry. Key Points: First measurements of OH and HO2 + RO2 made in Antarctica outside of summer show dependence (concentration and ratio) on sea ice contactUsing a 0‐D model, we are able to reproduce OH concentrations and HOx partitioning by including bromine chemistryThis influence of sea ice‐derived halogens is another factor to be accounted for when considering impacts of changing polar sea ice [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The springtime dust events in Northeast Asia pose many economic, social, and health-related risks. Statistical models in the forecasting of seasonal dust events do not fully account for environmental variations in dust sources due to climate change. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) recently developed the GloSea5-ADAM, a numerically based seasonal dust forecasting model, by incorporating the Asian Dust and Aerosol Model (ADAM)’s emission algorithm into Global Seasonal Forecasting Model version 5 (GloSea5). The performance of GloSea5 and GloSea5-ADAM in forecasting seasonal Asian dust events in source (China) and leeward (South Korea) regions was compared. The GloSea5-ADAM solved the limitations of GloSea5, which were mainly attributable to GloSea5′s low bare-soil fraction, and successfully simulated 2017 springtime dust emissions over Northeast Asia. The results show that GloSea5-ADAM’s 2017 and 2018 forecasts were consistent with surface PM10 mass concentrations observed in China and South Korea, while there was a large gap in 2019. This study shows that the geographical distribution and physical properties of soil in dust source regions are important. The GloSea5-ADAM model is only a temporary solution and is limited in its applicability to Northeast Asia; therefore, a globally applicable dust emission algorithm that considers a wide variety of soil properties must be developed.

Epidemiologic studies have suggested that particulate matter (PM)-associated adverse health effects are related to particle composition. To study the toxicological characteristics of dust storm, airborne PM was collected at two sites in Beijing from March to May 2012. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), quantified by dithiothreitol (DTT), was used to measure the PM-induced oxidative potential. Two dust storm (DS) samples were monitored during the sampling period: one happened on March 28th (DS1) and the other one was on April 28th (DS2). The backward trajectory results showed that both events originated from Inner Mongolia and Mongolia, respectively. The increased trends of ROS activities during the dust storm episode in PM were observed for all the dust storms owing to a higher concentration of water-soluble components for all the PM samples compared to nondust storm ones. Interestingly, the correlations between DTT consumption with water-soluble species yield interesting results about the spatial variability of redox activity between sites. In particular, a tracer of soil suspension, namely Fe, contributed the most fraction to ROS variability in the urban background site. Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) made the highest contribution to ROS variability, suggesting that vehicle emission might be important driving factors of the PM-induced oxidative stress in the urban site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungal spores are widespread and common in the atmosphere. In this study, we use a metagenomic approach to study the fungal diversity in six total air samples collected from April to May 2012 in Seoul, Korea. This springtime period is important in Korea because of the peak in fungal spore concentration and Asian dust storms, although the year of this study (2012) was unique in that were no major Asian dust events. Clustering sequences for operational taxonomic unit (OTU) identification recovered 1,266 unique OTUs in the combined dataset, with between 223᾿96 OTUs present in individual samples. OTUs from three fungal phyla were identified. For Ascomycota, Davidiella (anamorph: Cladosporium) was the most common genus in all samples, often accounting for more than 50% of all sequences in a sample. Other common Ascomycota genera identified were Alternaria, Didymella, Khuskia, Geosmitha, Penicillium, and Aspergillus. While several Basidiomycota genera were observed, Chytridiomycota OTUs were only present in one sample. Consistency was observed within sampling days, but there was a large shift in species composition from Ascomycota dominant to Basidiomycota dominant in the middle of the sampling period. This marked change may have been caused by meteorological events. A potential set of 40 allergyinducing genera were identified, accounting for a large proportion of the diversity present (22.5᾿7.2%). Our study identifies high fungal diversity and potentially high levels of fungal allergens in springtime air of Korea, and provides a good baseline for future comparisons with Asian dust storms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The springtime dust events in Northeast Asia pose many economic, social, and health-related risks. Statistical models in the forecasting of seasonal dust events do not fully account for environmental variations in dust sources due to climate change. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) recently developed the GloSea5-ADAM, a numerically based seasonal dust forecasting model, by incorporating the Asian Dust and Aerosol Model (ADAM)'s emission algorithm into Global Seasonal Forecasting Model version 5 (GloSea5). The performance of GloSea5 and GloSea5-ADAM in forecasting seasonal Asian dust events in source (China) and leeward (South Korea) regions was compared. The GloSea5-ADAM solved the limitations of GloSea5, which were mainly attributable to GloSea5′s low bare-soil fraction, and successfully simulated 2017 springtime dust emissions over Northeast Asia. The results show that GloSea5-ADAM's 2017 and 2018 forecasts were consistent with surface PM10 mass concentrations observed in China and South Korea, while there was a large gap in 2019. This study shows that the geographical distribution and physical properties of soil in dust source regions are important. The GloSea5-ADAM model is only a temporary solution and is limited in its applicability to Northeast Asia; therefore, a globally applicable dust emission algorithm that considers a wide variety of soil properties must be developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]