This Synthesis and Assessment Product (SAP) critically reviews current knowledge about global distributions and properties of atmospheric aerosols, as they relate to aerosol impacts on climate. It assesses possible next steps aimed at substantially reducing uncertainties in aerosol radiative forcing estimates. Current measurement techniques and modeling approaches are summarized, providing context. The objectives of this report are: (1) to promote a consensus about the knowledge base for climate change decision support; and (2) to provide a synthesis and integration of the current knowledge of the climate-relevant impacts of anthropogenic aerosols. Illustrations.
In this book, experts in atmospheric sciences, human health, economics, social and political sciences contribute to an integrated assessment of the complex elements needed to structure air quality policy in the 21st century. The analysis is developed through a case study of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area - one of the world's largest megacities in which air pollution grew unchecked for decades. The international research team is led by Luisa T. and Mario J. Molina, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry. Improvements in Mexico City's air quality in the last decade testifies to the power of determined and enlightened policy making, and throws into relief the tough problems that remain to be solved. The volume's first six chapters, including the contributions of over 50 distinguished scholars from Mexico and the US, outline the fundamental areas of knowledge policy makers must accommodate. The message is that only good science and well-chosen technologies can direct the way to corrective regulatory measures; but without strong commitment from government, no amount of science or technology can help.
Particulate Matter Science for Policy Makers: A NARSTO Assessment was commissioned by NARSTO, a cooperative public-private sector organization of Canada, Mexico and the United States. It is a concise and comprehensive discussion of the current understanding by atmospheric scientists of airborne particulate matter (PM). Its goal is to provide policy makers who implement air-quality standards with this relevant and needed scientific information. The primary audience for this volume will be regulators, scientists, and members of industry, all of whom have a stake in effective PM management. It will also inform exposure and health scientists, who investigate causal hypotheses of health impacts, characterize exposure, and conduct epidemiological and toxicological studies.
An introduction to the microbiology of bioaerosols and their impact on the world in which we live The microbiology of aerosols is an emerging field of research that lies at the interface of a variety of scientific and health-related disciplines. This eye-opening book synthesizes the current knowledge about microorganisms—bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses—that are aloft in the atmosphere. The book is written collaboratively by an interdisciplinary and international panel of experts and carefully edited to provide a high-level overview of the emerging field of aerobiology. Four sections within Microbiology of Aerosols present the classical and online methods used for sampling and characterizing airborne microorganisms, their emission sources and short- to long-distance dispersal, their influence on atmospheric processes and clouds, and their consequences for human health and agro-ecosystems. Practical considerations are also discussed, including sampling techniques, an overview of the quantification and characterization of bioaerosols, transport of bioaerosols, and a summary of ongoing research opportunities in the field. Comprehensive in scope, the book: Explores this new field that is applicable to many disparate disciplines Covers the emission of bioaerosols to their deposit, covering both quantitative and qualitative aspects Provides insights into social and environmental effects of the presence of bioaerosols in the atmosphere Details the impact of bioaerosols on human health, animal and plant health, and on physical and chemical atmospheric processes Written by authors internationally recognized for their work on biological aerosols and originating from a variety of scientific fields collaborated on, Microbiology of Aerosols is an excellent resource for researchers and graduate or PhD students interested in atmospheric sciences or microbiology.
This book highlights new cross-disciplinary advances in aerosol chemistry that involve more than one phase, for example, unique chemical processes occurring on gas-solid and liquid-solid interfaces.
Urban aerosols have been identified as important species of concern due to their potential health and environmental impacts. This symposium series book will describe the basic chemistry and physics determining the impacts of aerosol species and will highlight the research results from the measurements that were taken following the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) on 9/11/01. The WTC tragedy led to the release of millions of pounds of debris aside from the structural steel, part of which was widely dissipated as aerosols and particulates in the debris cloud over lower Manhattan. Additionally, continuing fires under the debris led to the release of fine combustion related aerosols for a considerable time period in this urban environment. Held during the week of the second anniversary of the WTC tragedy in NYC, the symposium book will describe various aspects of the event, aerosol and gas exposures, and the related impacts of these aerosols. The book contributions will highlight efforts work from atmospheric chemists, meteorologists, health workers, and biologists for a timely compilation of what is known and not known about the composition and transport of tropospheric aerosols in urban environs, particularly those from the WTC collapse. Particular interest is in the acute and chronic environmental effects of these aerosols as they impact human health. Chapters included in the book will also address aerosol lifetimes, aerosol transport and removal processes, acute and chronic health effects to fine aerosol and particulate exposures, and the environmental impacts of aerosols.
Atmospheric Aerosols is a vital problem in current environmental research due to its importance in atmospheric optics, energetics, radiative transfer studies, chemistry, climate, biology and public health. Aerosols can influence the energy balance of the terrestrial atmosphere, the hydrological cycle, atmospheric dynamics and monsoon circulations. Because of the heterogeneous aerosol field with large spatial and temporal variability and reduction in uncertainties in aerosol quantification is a challenging task in atmospheric sciences. Keeping this in view the present study aims to assess the impact of aerosols on coastal Indian station Visakhapatnam and the adjoining Bay of Bengal. An aerosol is a colloid of fine solid particles or liquid droplets, in air or another gas. Aerosols can be natural or not. Examples of natural aerosols are fog, forest exudates and geyser steam.
Provides comprehensive coverage of laser-induced ionization processes for mass spectrometry analysis Drawing on the expertise of the leading academic and industrial research groups involved in the development of photoionization methods for mass spectrometry, this reference for analytical scientists covers both the theory and current applications of photo-induced ionization processes. It places widely used techniques such as MALDI side by side with more specialist approaches such as REMPI and RIMS, and discusses leading edge developments in ultrashort laser pulse desorption, to give readers a complete picture of the state of the technology. Photoionization and Photo-Induced Processes in Mass Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Applications starts with a complete overview of the fundamentals of the technique, covering the basics of the gas phase ionization as well as those of laser desorption and ablation, pulse photoionization, and single particle ionization. Numerous application examples from different analytical fields are described that showcase the power and the wide scope of photo ionization in mass spectrometry. -The first general reference book on photoionization techniques for mass spectrometry -Examines technologies and applications of gas phase resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization mass spectrometry (REMPI-MS) and gas phase resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS) -Provides complete coverage of popular techniques like MALDI -Discusses the current and potential applications of each technology, focusing on process and environmental analysis Photoionization and Photo-Induced Processes in Mass Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Applications is an excellent book for spectroscopists, analytical chemists, photochemists, physical chemists, and laser specialists.
The polemics Pablo Neruda was involved in from the 1930s on are legendary, but not even the ferocity of those attacks would lead one to believe that today, a half a century after his death, he would still be on trial. In this consistent and emphatic book, the great Nerudian critic Hernan Loyola addresses Neruda's sins: the machista, the fableteller, the rapist, the bad husband, the bad father, the plagiarist, the insolent one, the abandoner, the Stalinist and the bourgeois. Loyola's objective is to review and discuss with the greatest amount of intellectual honesty that he can humanly muster as an admiring literary critic and with deep sympathy for his unforgettable friend the most tenacious and disseminated accusations attributed to Pablo Neruda. All told, this book is an impressive biographical and poetic interpretation of the most salient aspects of the Nobel Laureate's life.