Transboundary Air Pollution Problems

Question 1

How much air is there ?

Answer 1

The earth’s atmosphere is primarily made of app.80% nitrogen and 20% oxygen. With the remains if gases being forums in really small quantities.

Question 2

What is a boundary layer ?

Answer 2

The boundary layer is a part of the the atmosphere that is closest to ground and is directly influenced by what happens at the surface of the earth.

Here air is constantly mixed with that of the ground’s surface (turbulent mixing)

Question 3

What is the difference between boundary layer and the free troposphere?

Answer 3

The boundary layer is much closer to the ground and heavily affected by the earth’s surface while the free troposphere is at higher altitudes and has small influence from the ground surface

Question 4

Turbulent mixing is key concept in understanding air pollution what is all about ?

Answer 4

Turbulent mixing refers to how the air on the surface of the earth is always in constant motion. This motion is characterized by swirling patterns called Eddies. The turbulence intensity or the frequencies and size of Eddie’s are all determine by the earth’s surface. If the earth is flat(eg, lake or a water body) there is much less turbulence where as if the surface is rough with building ps , forests etc there is much more turbulence.

The vertical transfer of molecules or particles are dependent on turbulence. Pollutants from cars, factories etc, are carried up by Eddie’s and carried away from the source

Question 5

What is a source receptor relationship ?

Answer 5

This is the connect b/n the changes in emissions from the source and the resulting concentration of the pollutant deposited at another location the receptor

Question 6

What is the source receptor relationship dependent on?

Answer 6

1. Strength of emissions from the source
2. The transport or pathway of the pollutants from the source
3. The transformation or loss of the pollutants: as the pollutant travels from one spot to the other it can. Undergo chemical reaction s , be deposited ( wet or dry ) which can either cause it to be reduced or increased in concentration.

Question 7

Definition of long range in air pollution.

Answer 7

Long range pollution mostly refers to pollution across countries , continents but not across the globe because while pollution can spread nearby and far away there are some factors that hinder it from spreading all over the globe .

Question 8

True or false : intercontinental transport from west to east follows the course of mid latitude cyclone tracks

Answer 8

True

Question 9

What is the hardley circulation?

Answer 9

This is the large scale atmospheric circulation that plays a big part of moving air masses from the tropic to the higher latitudes.

Question 10

What are the geographical range of air pollution problems

Answer 10

Life time of the pollutant ( longer life time=larger geographical impact ).
Air mass transport , transformation during transport and surface exchanges .
Distribution of emission sources

Question 11

Why is regional pollution a northern hemisphere issue?

Answer 11

This is because : nether north has a high population density ( mor cars factories etc)
The northern hemisphere has most of the industrial activity.
The meteorological conditions (wind patterns) etc trap pollutants in the area.

Question 12

Air pollution the problem of reactive nitrogen.

Answer 12

Reactive nitrogen encompasses all forms of nitrogen except for N2.
Human activities and innovation intensified the use of nitrogen in agriculture and forest management which led to a leakage .(spurten 1 of reaktive nitrogen emissions)

Question 13

What is Natural input Nitrogen into forest systems?

Answer 13

1 -2kg/ha/yr

Question 14

Whist World be spurten 2 of reaktive nitrogen emissions ”

Answer 14

Combustion is another source of reaktive nitrogen emissions .theses emissions include both oxidized nitrogen(NOx) from thermal processes and substrate emissions emissions from nitrogen contains fuels. This compound is very hard to get rid of.

Question 15

What are Europes main sources of reactive Nitrogen ?

Answer 15

Through combustion NOx and fertilizers NHx(reduced nitrogen)

Question 16

Who is polluting Europe with oxidized nitrogen ?

Answer 16

A study conducted in 2018 revealed that the main polluters were Germany, France , Poland , Italy and Great Britain.
With 10% of the emissions coming from outside of Europe

Question 17

Who is polluting Europe with reduced nitrogen ?

Answer 17

The main polluters are Germany, France,Poland,Italy and Great Britain. The difference here is that there are no emissions from other countries

Question 18

True or false : there has been declining reactive nitrogen emissions in Europe

Answer 18

True.

Question 19

What factors are contributing to this reeducation?

Answer 19

Technological advancements
Better agricultural practices
Policy implementation

Question 20

What is the meaning of through fall?

Answer 20

This is the precipitation that passes through the forest canopies .

Question 21

How is atmospheric nitrogen deposited into ecosystems.

Answer 21

Through ;
Wet deposition: rainfall mediation
Dry deposition: the adsorption of gases and particles to surfaces .
Through through fall.

Question 22

The concept of critical loads

Answer 22

This is used to determine the threshold after which nitrogen pollution will begin to have effects on the ecosystems.(the maximum amount of nitrogen pollution an ecosystem can tolerate without long-term damage)
These load are land use specific and is used within Europe to mitigate nitrogen impacts on ecosystems.
They are also very specific to the pollutants

Question 23

True or false : the critical load for the protection of forest is exceeded in the southern parts of Sweden .

Answer 23

True

Question 24

True or false : as faced in Europe there are also critical nitrogen deposition in Northern America.

Answer 24

True

Question 25

True or false: there are high NO2 concentrations in the air in China.particularly in the winter along with deposition

Answer 25

True

Question 26

What are some impacts of nitrogen deposition on forest?

Answer 26

Deposition of nitrogen below 30kg/ha/yr enhances forest growth
Nitrogen deposition above 30kg/ha/yr may reduce forest growth( because it can disrupt competitive balance among species ,acidify soiletc., have direct effects on leaves )

Question 27

Why is too much deposit of nitrogen bad for forests and why are they bad in general ?

Answer 27

It can reduce the growth of fine roots ( which can cause issues in the absorption of other nutrients ).
Even moderate levels of N can reduce fungi iomassomas ( which can impact nutrient uptake and over all soil health).

General
GHG emissions of NOx
Eutrophication of soils and water bodies
Impacts on human health( formation of particles of NH4 NO3)

In conclusion hi nitrogen deposition can impact forest vitality, biodiversity and stress tolerance.

Question 28

What are some agronomist measures to reduce mitigation of Nitrogen emissions?

Answer 28

Implementation of cover crops to restore fertility and reduce the use of fertilizers.
Consider carefully managing nitrogen inputs and outputs at farm level.

Avoiding excessive tilling/plowing to leave soil in disturbed to improve organic matter .
Low nitrogen feed to livestock.
Cover manure storages to prevent Monica volatilization and low emission spreading techniques such as injecting it into the soils.
Use manure and farm residues to feed biogas plants to convert to biogas( a renewable energy source )

Question 29

The troposphere can be dived into two layers . What are they?

Answer 29

Boundary layer and the free troposphere