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Reineccius J, Waniek JJ. First long-term evidence of microplastic pollution in the deep subtropical Northeast Atlantic. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2022; 305:119302. [PMID: 35443203 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2022.119302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2022] [Revised: 04/06/2022] [Accepted: 04/10/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
No anthropogenic pollutant is more widespread in the aquatic and terrestrial environment than microplastic; however, there are large knowledge gaps regarding its origin, fate, or temporal variations in the oceans. In this study, we analyzed sediment trap material from the deep subtropical Northeast Atlantic (2000 m) in a long-term record (2003-2015) to assess the role of the deep ocean as a potential sink of microplastics. Microplastic particles were identified in all 110 analyzed samples with flux rates of 1.13-3146.81 items d-1 m-2. Calculated microplastic mass fluxes ranged between 0.10 and 1977.96 μg d-1 m-2, representing up to 8% of the particle flux. Between years, the composition of the different polymers changed significantly, dominated by polyethylene, whose amount was correlated with the lithogenic input. The correlation between polyethylene and the lithogenic fraction was attributed to an air transport pathway from northeast Africa and surrounding regions. The second most abundant polymer detected in our study was polyvinyl chloride, which is not correlated with lithogenic or biogenic particle flux fractions. Instead, we observed seasonality for polyvinyl chloride with recurring high fluxes in winter before the plankton bloom and significantly lower amounts in summer. Other polymers identified were polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, and lower numbers of polystyrene and polymethyl methacrylate. The average microplastic particle size for all samples and polymers was 88.44 ± 113.46 μm, with polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride having the highest proportion of small particles (<100 μm). Our findings provide first insights into temporal variations of sinking microplastics, which are crucial for understanding the fate of plastic in the oceans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Janika Reineccius
- Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde, Seestraße 15, 18119, Rostock, Germany.
| | - Joanna J Waniek
- Leibniz Institute of Baltic Sea Research, Warnemünde, Seestraße 15, 18119, Rostock, Germany
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2
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Skonieczny C, McGee D, Winckler G, Bory A, Bradtmiller LI, Kinsley CW, Polissar PJ, De Pol-Holz R, Rossignol L, Malaizé B. Monsoon-driven Saharan dust variability over the past 240,000 years. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaav1887. [PMID: 30613782 PMCID: PMC6314818 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav1887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/21/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Reconstructions of past Saharan dust deposition in marine sediments provide foundational records of North African climate over time scales of 103 to 106 years. Previous dust records show primarily glacial-interglacial variability in the Pleistocene, in contrast to other monsoon records showing strong precessional variability. Here, we present the first Saharan dust record spanning multiple glacial cycles obtained using 230Th normalization, an improved method of calculating fluxes. Contrary to previous data, our record from the West African margin demonstrates high correlation with summer insolation and limited glacial-interglacial changes, indicating coherent variability in the African monsoon belt throughout the late Pleistocene. Our results demonstrate that low-latitude Saharan dust emissions do not vary synchronously with high- and mid-latitude dust emissions, and they call into question the use of existing Plio-Pleistocene dust records to investigate links between climate and hominid evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. Skonieczny
- Laboratoire Géosciences Paris-Sud, UMR CNRS 8148, Université de Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - D. McGee
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - G. Winckler
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - A. Bory
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY, USA
- Université de Lille, CNRS, Université Littoral Cote d’Opale, UMR 8187, LOG, Laboratoire d’Océanologie et de Géosciences, Lille, France
| | - L. I. Bradtmiller
- Department of Environmental Studies, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN, USA
| | - C. W. Kinsley
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - P. J. Polissar
- Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
| | - R. De Pol-Holz
- GAIA-Antártica, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile
| | - L. Rossignol
- Laboratoire Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR CNRS 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
| | - B. Malaizé
- Laboratoire Environnements et Paléoenvironnements Océaniques et Continentaux, UMR CNRS 5805, Université de Bordeaux, Pessac, France
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Naidja L, Ali-Khodja H, Khardi S. Sources and levels of particulate matter in North African and Sub-Saharan cities: a literature review. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH INTERNATIONAL 2018; 25:12303-12328. [PMID: 29557037 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-018-1715-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2017] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
In order to assess the significance of PM in ambient air, it is necessary to evaluate their physical and chemical characteristics as well as identify their major emission sources. On a global scale, particulate matter in the atmosphere arises mainly from the combustion process of motorized vehicles, but natural sources are still considered as the major contributors. In Africa, PM emissions differ from those in developed countries; human activities such as biomass burning in households, poor household waste management, and the high number of diesel-powered vehicles are the predominant anthropogenic sources. Natural contributions are also observed. Saharan dust and savanna fires are the most common atmospheric natural sources of particulate matter. The present literature review gives an overview of the status of air quality in African cities and highlights the various sources of particulate matter emissions and local human activities specific to each African region. This could likely serve as a reference to evaluate the current air quality in this region and will be a useful tool in the future to develop pollution mitigation strategies at the source. Recommendations are proposed in the conclusion in order to reduce emissions from their sources, taking into account the low-income African countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lamri Naidja
- Laboratoire de Pollution et Traitement des Eaux, Université Frères Mentouri, Route de Aïn El Bey, 25017, Constantine, Algeria.
- Centre de Recherche Scientifique et Technique en Analyses Physico-Chimiques, BP 384, Siège ex-Pasna Zone Industrielle, CP 42004, Bou-Ismail, Tipaza, Algeria.
| | - Hocine Ali-Khodja
- Laboratoire de Pollution et Traitement des Eaux, Université Frères Mentouri, Route de Aïn El Bey, 25017, Constantine, Algeria
| | - Salah Khardi
- Claude Bernard University- IFSTTAR LTE, 25, avenue François Mitterrand, Case 24 Cité des mobilités, F-69675, Bron Cedex, France
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Sorribas M, Adame JA, Andrews E, Yela M. An anomalous African dust event and its impact on aerosol radiative forcing on the Southwest Atlantic coast of Europe in February 2016. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2017; 583:269-279. [PMID: 28109664 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2016] [Revised: 01/09/2017] [Accepted: 01/11/2017] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
A desert dust (DD) event that had its origin in North Africa occurred on the 20th-23rd of February 2016. The dust transport phenomenon was exceptional because of its unusual intensity during the coldest season. A historical dataset (2006-2015) of February meteorological scenarios using ECMWF fields, meteorological parameters, aerosol optical properties, surface O3 and AOD retrieved from MODIS at the El Arenosillo observatory (southwestern Spain) were analysed and compared with the levels during the DD event to highlight its exceptionality. Associated with a low-pressure system in western North Africa, flows transported air from the Sahel to Algeria and consequently increased temperatures from the surface to 700hPa by up to 7-9°C relative to the last decade. These conditions favoured the formation of a Saharan air layer. Dust was transported to the north and reached the Western Mediterranean Basin and the Iberian Peninsula. The arrival of the DD event at El Arenosillo did not affect the surface weather conditions or ozone but did impact the aerosol radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere (RFTOA). Aerosol radiative properties did not change relative to historical; however, the particle size and the amount of the aerosol were significantly higher. The DD event caused an increase (in absolute terms) of the mean aerosol RFTOA to a value of -8.1Wm-2 (long-term climatological value ~-1.5Wm-2). The aerosol RFTOA was not very large relative other DD episodes; however, our analysis of the historical data concluded that the importance of this DD event lay in the month of occurrence. European phenological datasets related to extreme atmospheric events predominantly reflect changes that are probably associated with climate change. This work is an example of this phenomenon, showing an event that occurred in a hotspot, the Saharan desert, and its impact two thousand km away.
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Affiliation(s)
- M Sorribas
- Atmospheric Sounding Station - El Arenosillo, Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, INTA, Mazagón, Huelva 21130, Spain.
| | - J A Adame
- Atmospheric Sounding Station - El Arenosillo, Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, INTA, Mazagón, Huelva 21130, Spain
| | - E Andrews
- University of Colorado, CIRES, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
| | - M Yela
- Atmospheric Sounding Station - El Arenosillo, Atmospheric Research and Instrumentation Branch, INTA, Mazagón, Huelva 21130, Spain
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Evan AT, Flamant C, Gaetani M, Guichard F. The past, present and future of African dust. Nature 2016; 531:493-5. [PMID: 27008968 DOI: 10.1038/nature17149] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/05/2015] [Accepted: 01/11/2016] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
African dust emission and transport exhibits variability on diurnal to decadal timescales and is known to influence processes such as Amazon productivity, Atlantic climate modes, regional atmospheric composition and radiative balance and precipitation in the Sahel. To elucidate the role of African dust in the climate system, it is necessary to understand the factors governing its emission and transport. However, African dust is correlated with seemingly disparate atmospheric phenomena, including the El Niño/Southern Oscillation, the North Atlantic Oscillation, the meridional position of the intertropical convergence zone, Sahelian rainfall and surface temperatures over the Sahara Desert, all of which obfuscate the connection between dust and climate. Here we show that the surface wind field responsible for most of the variability in North African dust emission reflects the topography of the Sahara, owing to orographic acceleration of the surface flow. As such, the correlations between dust and various climate phenomena probably arise from the projection of the winds associated with these phenomena onto an orographically controlled pattern of wind variability. A 161-year time series of dust from 1851 to 2011, created by projecting this wind field pattern onto surface winds from a historical reanalysis, suggests that the highest concentrations of dust occurred from the 1910s to the 1940s and the 1970s to the 1980s, and that there have been three periods of persistent anomalously low dust concentrations--in the 1860s, 1950s and 2000s. Projections of the wind pattern onto climate models give a statistically significant downward trend in African dust emission and transport as greenhouse gas concentrations increase over the twenty-first century, potentially associated with a slow-down of the tropical circulation. Such a dust feedback, which is not represented in climate models, may be of benefit to human and ecosystem health in West Africa via improved air quality and increased rainfall. This feedback may also enhance warming of the tropical North Atlantic, which would make the basin more suitable for hurricane formation and growth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amato T Evan
- Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.,Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)/IPSL, UPMC Université Paris 06, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Cyrille Flamant
- Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)/IPSL, UPMC Université Paris 06, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS, Paris, France
| | - Marco Gaetani
- Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS)/IPSL, UPMC Université Paris 06, Sorbonne Université, UVSQ, CNRS, Paris, France
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