Air pollution mitigation can reduce the brightness of the night sky in and near cities.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Kocifaj M
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8285390 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Photoelectric observations of night sky brightness (NSB) at different zenith distances and azimuths, covering all the sky, at the Egyptian Kottamia Astronomical observatory (KAO) site of coordinates ϕ = 29° 55.9' N and λ = 31° 49.5' E, were done using a fully automated photoelectric photometer (FAPP). The Bessel wide range system (UBVRI) is used for the first time to observe NSB for three consecutive nights (1-3 August, 2022) under good seeing conditions after the moon sets. The deduced results were taken in photons and converted into mag/arcsec2. The average zenith sky brightness for U, B, V, R and I filters are found to be 20.49, 20.38, 19.41, 18.60 and 17.94 mag/arcsec2 respectively. The average color indices (U-B), (B-V), (V-R) and (R-I), at the zenith are detected to be 0.11, 0.98, 0.81 and 0.66, respectively. We plotted the isophotes of the sky brightness at KAO in U, B, V, R and I colors (filters) and determined both the average atmospheric extinction and sky transparency through these UBVRI filters. The atmospheric and other meteorological conditions were taken into our consideration during the observational nights. The results of the current study illustrate the main impact of the new cities built around KAO on the sky glow over it, and which astronomical observations are affected.
| S-EPMC10556021 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Artificial lights raise night sky luminance, creating the most visible effect of light pollution-artificial skyglow. Despite the increasing interest among scientists in fields such as ecology, astronomy, health care, and land-use planning, light pollution lacks a current quantification of its magnitude on a global scale. To overcome this, we present the world atlas of artificial sky luminance, computed with our light pollution propagation software using new high-resolution satellite data and new precision sky brightness measurements. This atlas shows that more than 80% of the world and more than 99% of the U.S. and European populations live under light-polluted skies. The Milky Way is hidden from more than one-third of humanity, including 60% of Europeans and nearly 80% of North Americans. Moreover, 23% of the world's land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S, 88% of Europe, and almost half of the United States experience light-polluted nights.
| S-EPMC4928945 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Celestial tourism, also known as astrotourism, astronomical tourism or, less frequently, star tourism, refers to people's interest in visiting places where celestial phenomena can be clearly observed. Stars, skygazing, meteor showers or comets, among other phenomena, arouse people's interest, however, good night sky conditions are required to observe such phenomena. From an environmental point of view, several organisations have surfaced in defence of the protection of dark night skies against light pollution, while from an economic point of view; the idea also opens new possibilities for development in associated areas. The quality of dark skies for celestial tourism can be measured by night sky brightness (NSB), which is used to quantify the visual perception of the sky, including several light sources at a specific point on earth. The aim of this research is to model the nocturnal sky brightness by training and testing a probabilistic model using real NSB data. ARIMA and artificial neural network models have been applied to open NSB data provided by the Globe at Night international programme, with the results of this first model approach being promising and opening up new possibilities for astrotourism. To the best of the authors' knowledge, probabilistic models have not been applied to NSB forecasting.
| S-EPMC6651810 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The city emission function (CEF), describing the angular emission from an entire city as a light source, is one of the key elements in night-sky radiance models. The CEF describes the rate at which skyglow depends on distance and is indispensable in any prediction of light-pollution propagation into nocturnal environments. Nevertheless, the CEF remains virtually unexplored because appropriate retrieval tools have been unavailable until very recently. A CEF has now been obtained from ground-based night-sky observations and establishes an experiment successfully conducted in the field to retrieve the angular emission function for an urban area. The field campaign was conducted near the city of Los Mochis, Mexico, which is well isolated from other cities and thus dominates all light emissions in its vicinity. The experiment has proven that radiometry of a night sky can provide information on the light output pattern of a distant city and allows for systematic, full-area, and cost-efficient CEF monitoring worldwide. A database of CEFs could initiate a completely new phase in light-pollution research, with significant economy and advanced accuracy of night-sky brightness predictions. The experiment and its interpretation represent unique progress in the field and contribute to our fundamental understanding of the mechanism by which direct and reflected uplight interact while forming the CEF.
| S-EPMC6475415 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Severe and persistent haze pollution involving fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations reaching unprecedentedly high levels across many cities in China poses a serious threat to human health. Although mandatory temporary cessation of most urban and surrounding emission sources is an effective, but costly, short-term measure to abate air pollution, development of long-term crisis response measures remains a challenge, especially for curbing severe urban haze events on a regular basis. Here we introduce and evaluate a novel precision air pollution control approach (PAPCA) to mitigate severe urban haze events. The approach involves combining predictions of high PM2.5 concentrations, with a hybrid trajectory-receptor model and a comprehensive 3-D atmospheric model, to pinpoint the origins of emissions leading to such events and to optimize emission controls. Results of the PAPCA application to five severe haze episodes in major urban areas in China suggest that this strategy has the potential to significantly mitigate severe urban haze by decreasing PM2.5 peak concentrations by more than 60% from above 300 μg m-3 to below 100 μg m-3, while requiring ~30% to 70% less emission controls as compared to complete emission reductions. The PAPCA strategy has the potential to tackle effectively severe urban haze pollution events with economic efficiency.
| S-EPMC5970218 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe systematic evaluation of the results of time-series studies of air pollution is challenged by differences in model specification and publication bias.MethodsWe evaluated the associations of inhalable particulate matter (PM) with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 ?m or less (PM10) and fine PM with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 ?m or less (PM2.5) with daily all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality across multiple countries or regions. Daily data on mortality and air pollution were collected from 652 cities in 24 countries or regions. We used overdispersed generalized additive models with random-effects meta-analysis to investigate the associations. Two-pollutant models were fitted to test the robustness of the associations. Concentration-response curves from each city were pooled to allow global estimates to be derived.ResultsOn average, an increase of 10 ?g per cubic meter in the 2-day moving average of PM10 concentration, which represents the average over the current and previous day, was associated with increases of 0.44% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.39 to 0.50) in daily all-cause mortality, 0.36% (95% CI, 0.30 to 0.43) in daily cardiovascular mortality, and 0.47% (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.58) in daily respiratory mortality. The corresponding increases in daily mortality for the same change in PM2.5 concentration were 0.68% (95% CI, 0.59 to 0.77), 0.55% (95% CI, 0.45 to 0.66), and 0.74% (95% CI, 0.53 to 0.95). These associations remained significant after adjustment for gaseous pollutants. Associations were stronger in locations with lower annual mean PM concentrations and higher annual mean temperatures. The pooled concentration-response curves showed a consistent increase in daily mortality with increasing PM concentration, with steeper slopes at lower PM concentrations.ConclusionsOur data show independent associations between short-term exposure to PM10 and PM2.5 and daily all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality in more than 600 cities across the globe. These data reinforce the evidence of a link between mortality and PM concentration established in regional and local studies. (Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and others.).
| S-EPMC7891185 | biostudies-literature
Project description:To curb the staggering health burden attributed to air pollution, the sustainable solution for India would be to reduce emissions in future. Here we project ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure in India for the year 2030 under two contrasting air pollution emission pathways for two different climate scenarios based on Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). All-India average PM2.5 is expected to increase from 41.4 ± 26.5 μg m-3 in 2010 to 61.1 ± 40.8 and 58.2 ± 37.5 μg m-3 in 2030 under RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 scenarios, respectively if India follows the current legislation (baseline) emission pathway. In contrast, ambient PM2.5 in 2030 would be 40.2 ± 27.5 (for RCP8.5) and 39.2 ± 25.4 (for RCP4.5) μg m-3 following the short-lived climate pollutant (SLCP) mitigation emission pathway. We find that the lower PM2.5 in the mitigation pathway (34.2% and 32.6%, respectively for RCP8.5 and RCP4.5 relative to the baseline emission pathway) would come at a cost of 0.3-0.5 °C additional warming due to the direct impact of aerosols. The premature mortality burden attributable to ambient PM2.5 exposure is expected to rise from 2010 to 2030, but 381,790 (5-95% confidence interval, CI 275,620-514,600) deaths can be averted following the mitigation emission pathway relative to the baseline emission pathway. Therefore, we conclude that given the expected large health benefit, the mitigation emission pathway is a reasonable tradeoff for India despite the meteorological response. However, India needs to act more aggressively as the World Health Organization (WHO) annual air quality guideline (10 µg m-3) would remain far off.
| S-EPMC7481194 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Studying weekend-weekday variation in ground-level ozone (O3) allows one to better understand O3 formation conditions, with a potential for developing effective strategies for O3 control. Reducing inappropriately the O3 precursors emissions can either produce no reduction or increase surface O3 concentrations. This paper analyzes the weekend-weekday differences of O3 at 300 rural and 808 urban background stations worldwide from 2005 to 2014, in order to investigate the O3 weekend effect over time and assess the effectiveness of the precursors emissions control policies for reducing O3 levels. Data were analyzed with the non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Theil-Sen estimator. Rural sites typically did not experience a weekend-weekday effect. In all urban stations, the mean O3 concentration on the weekend was 12% higher than on weekdays. Between 2005 and 2014, the annual mean of daily O3 concentrations increased at 74% of urban sites worldwide (+ 0.41 ppb year-1) and decreased in the United Kingdom (- 0.18 ppb year-1). Over this time period, emissions of O3 precursors declined significantly. However, a greater decline in nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions caused an increase in Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to NOx ratios leading to O3 formation. In France, South Korea and the United Kingdom, most urban stations showed a significant upward trend (+ 1.15% per year) for O3 weekend effect. Conversely, in Canada, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States, the O3 weekend effect showed a significant downward trend (- 0.26% per year). Further or inappropriate control of anthropogenic emissions in Canada, Southern Europe, Japan, South Korea and the United States might result in increased daily O3 levels in urban areas.
| S-EPMC7483290 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Recent studies have identified inequality in the distribution of air pollution attributable health impacts, but to our knowledge this has not been examined in Canadian cities. We evaluated the extent and sources of inequality in air pollution attributable mortality at the census tract (CT) level in seven of Canada's largest cities. We first regressed fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) attributable mortality against the neighborhood (CT) level prevalence of age 65 and older, low income, low educational attainment, and identification as an Indigenous (First Nations, Métis, Inuit) or Black person, accounting for spatial autocorrelation. We next examined the distribution of baseline mortality rates, PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations, and attributable mortality by neighborhood (CT) level prevalence of these characteristics, calculating the concentration index, Atkinson index, and Gini coefficient. Finally, we conducted a counterfactual analysis of the impact of reducing baseline mortality rates and air pollution concentrations on inequality in air pollution attributable mortality. Regression results indicated that CTs with a higher prevalence of low income and Indigenous identity had significantly higher air pollution attributable mortality. Concentration index, Atkinson index, and Gini coefficient values revealed different degrees of inequality among the cities. Counterfactual analysis indicated that inequality in air pollution attributable mortality tended to be driven more by baseline mortality inequalities than exposure inequalities. Reducing inequality in air pollution attributable mortality requires reducing disparities in both baseline mortality and air pollution exposure.
| S-EPMC10465848 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although air pollution has become a significant global environmental problem posing many negative impacts on human health and society, there has been a little known about how people think and respond to it, especially in developing and emerging countries. This article presents a dataset on how the suburbanites perceived and reacted with air pollution in Vietnam, an emerging country in Southeast Asia. A stratified random sampling technique and a face-to-face interview method were employed to survey 302 inhabitants living within Hanoi suburban, during November and December 2019. The constructed data contains three groups of information: (1) perspectives on air quality, causes, and impacts of polluted air, (2) respondent's preventative measures to air pollution, and suggested solutions to improve air quality, and (3) demographic information of interviewees. The dataset could be useful for many scholars who want to conduct a further in-depth study and or environmentalists, policymakers who want to keep society informed about the air pollution-related progression, which could help design a desirable policy for mitigating and or controlling air pollution in Vietnam and beyond.
| S-EPMC7593514 | biostudies-literature