Civil and Environmental Engineering

An improved corer and associated equipment for obtaining continuous samples of frozen peat are described. We developed the system through laboratory and field trials-on Bathurst Island, Nunavut, Canada in 2000 and Nordvestø, Carey Islands, Greenland, in 2001-as part of efforts to collect continuous samples of Arctic peat cores for an environmental archive of heavy metal and persistent organic pollutants. A new system for precise slicing of frozen peat cores and accurate volumetric sub-sampling of slices is also described and illustrated, since pre-analytical preparation of the cores is important for accurate trace analyses, as well as for determination of net accumulation rates. The coring system is portable, weighing 26 kg with no fuel, motor, or samples. The system is designed for Arctic use. It recovers continuous cores up to 10 m below surface in sections 70 cm long and 9.7 cm in diameter, with a cutting head robust enough to penetrate slightly below the organics to probe the substrate. It takes a two-man team approximately 15 minutes per section for sampling and packing. The coring system costs about US $8000 in parts and labor, plus the cost of the motor. Its adaptability will make it useful for recovering a broad range of Quaternary materials frozen in the Arctic.

Mercury concentrations are clearly elevated in the surface and sub-surface layers of peat cores collected from a minerotrophic ("groundwater-fed") fen in southern Greenland (GL) and an ombrotrophic ("rainwater-fed") bog in Denmark (DK). Using 14 C to precisely date samples since ca. AD 1950 using the "atmospheric bomb pulse," the chronology of Hg accumulation in GL is remarkably similar to the bog in DK where Hg was supplied only by atmospheric deposition: this suggests not only that Hg has been supplied to the surface layers of the minerotrophic core (GL) primarily by atmospheric inputs, but also that the peat cores have preserved a consistent record of the changing rates of atmospheric Hg accumulation. The lowest Hg fluxes in the GL core (0.3 to 0.5 g/m 2 /yr) were found in peats dating from AD 550 to AD 975, compared to the maximum of 164 g/m 2 /yr in AD 1953. Atmospheric Hg accumulation rates have since declined, with the value for 1995 (14 g/m 2 /yr) comparable to the value for 1995 obtained by published studies of atmospheric transport modelling (12 g/m 2 /yr).

During springtime in the polar regions, unique photochemistry converts inert halide salt ions (e.g. Br −) into reactive halogen species (e.g. Br atoms and BrO) that deplete ozone in the boundary layer to near zero levels. Since their discovery in the late 1980s, research on ozone depletion events (ODEs) has made great advances; however many key processes remain poorly understood. In this article we review the history, chemistry, dependence on environmental conditions, and impacts of ODEs. This research has shown the central role of bromine photochemistry, but how salts are transported from the ocean and are oxidized to become reactive halogen species in the air is still not fully understood. Halogens other than bromine (chlorine and iodine) are also activated through incompletely understood mechanisms that are probably coupled to bromine chemistry. The main consequence of halogen activation is chemical destruction of ozone, which removes the primary precursor of atmospheric oxidation, and generation of reactive halogen atoms/oxides that become the primary oxidizing species. The different re

Environmental context. Optimisation of allocated resources, improved quality, and better understanding of processes – these are the main advantages of applying integrated monitoring (IM). The paper describes IM as a combination of air pollution measuring and modelling, and describes how it is implemented in air-quality management in Denmark. However, the IM concept may also be applied to follow air-quality levels in other countries that currently do not have a corresponding system. It may also be applied to the environmental monitoring of other compartments. . Integrated air-quality monitoring (IM) is here defined as monitoring based on the combination of results of atmospheric measurements from usually fixed site stations, and results obtained from calculations with air-quality models. This paper outlines experience from the use of IM at the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI) within the two nationwide air-quality monitoring programmes for the Danish urban and rural en...

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The Kyoto Protocol, of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), is the key international instrument for dealing with climate change. According to the initial commitment period from 2008 to 2012, industrialized countries were collectively to reach emission reduction targets of at least 5% below 1990 emission levels. The second commitment period, from 2013 to 2020, is based on the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol. Under the Protocol, countries are to ''meet their targets primarily through national measures'' (UNFCCC, n.d.-a).

Gaseous elemental mercury (Hg 0) is a globally distributed air toxin with a long atmospheric residence time. Any process that reduces its atmospheric lifetime increases its potential accumulation in the biosphere. Our data from Barrow, AK, at 71°N show that rapid, photochemically driven oxidation of boundary-layer Hg 0 after polar sunrise, probably by reactive halogens, creates a rapidly depositing species of oxidized gaseous mercury in the remote Arctic troposphere at concentrations in excess of 900 pg m-3. This mercury accumulates in the snowpack during polar spring at an accelerated rate in a form that is bioavailable to bacteria and is released with snowmelt during the summer emergence of the Arctic ecosystem. Evidence suggests that this is a recent phenomenon that may be occurring throughout the earth's polar regions.

During the last decades numerous environmental problems have been exacerbated, and in some cases created. Traditionally, such problems have been addressed through environmentally sound technologies. The diffusion of such technologies has, however, been slow, where the focus has primarily been on highpolluting sectors. This paper explores the environmental actions of a relatively low-polluting sector, the insurer industry, in regards to environmentally sound technologies, by schematizing the concept of environmentally sound technologies as it is defined in Agenda 21. The Agenda 21 definition is critical when discussing environmentally sound technologies, as typologies of academic scholars are defined from the perspective of manufacturers ignoring the role of relatively low-polluting sectors when dealing with environmental issues. Five focus points from a climate change statement issued by the Nordic insurance industry are then integrated into the schematic framework. Case study examples from 16 Nordic insurance companies and secondary data of insurers' activities are used to illustrate insurers' role in enhancing development and utilization of environmentally sound technologies. Although the insurance industry offers many examples of its role in the development and utilization of environmentally sound technologies, this paper highlights the following points (1) there are still areas for improvements, (2) there is a large capacity that could be utilized, and (3) business opportunities are expected to increase once climate change consequences become more apparent. Due to the slow uptake of environmentally sound technologies, it is important to strengthen the focus on the role and obligation of low-polluting sectors as a part of the supporting infrastructure dealing with environmental sustainability issues. This paper shows the potential of opportunities arising from the synergies between environmentally sound technologies and finance and service providers to address such issues.

Management of natural resources and infrastructure systems for sustainability is complicated by uncertainties in the human and natural environment. Moreover, decisions are further complicated by contradictory views, values, and concerns that are rarely made explicit. Scenario analysis can play a major role in addressing the challenges of sustainability management, especially the core question of how to scan the future in a structured, integrated, participatory, and policy-relevant manner. In a context of systems engineering, scenario analysis can provide an integrated and timely understanding of emergent conditions and help to avoid regret and belated action. The purpose of this paper is to present several case studies in natural resources and infrastructure systems management where scenario analysis has been used to aide decision making under uncertainty. The case studies include several resource and infrastructure systems: (1) water resources (2) land-use corridors (3) energy infrastructure, and (4) coastal climate change adaptation. The case studies emphasize a participatory approach, where scenario analysis becomes a means of incorporating diverse stakeholder concerns and experience. This approach to scenario analysis provides insight into both high-performing and robust initiatives/policies, and, perhaps more importantly, influential scenarios. Identifying the scenarios that are most influential to policy making helps to direct further investigative analysis, modeling, and datacollection efforts to support the learning process that is emphasized in adaptive management. Keywords Scenario analysis Á Risk analysis Á Decision analysis Á Sustainability Á Adaptive management Á Water resource management Á Energy infrastructure Á Infrastructure corridors Á Climate change 1 Motivation Adaptive management is based on a learning process to improve management outcomes over the long run (Holling 1978). Adaptive management acknowledges that managed resources will always change as a result of human intervention, that surprises are inevitable, and new uncertainties will emerge (Gunderson 1999). It recognizes that policies must be made now that are based on current knowledge, predicted conditions, and social objectives, but must be flexible for adaption to future conditions; thus, it promotes a continual learning process. As population growth, urbanization, and climate change place ever-increasing demands on finite natural resources and vulnerable infrastructure

Environmental archives of atmospheric Hg deposition in the Arctic are reviewed. ► These are compared against those predicted by three atmospheric models. ► The models provided good agreement with atmospheric [Hg 0 (g) ] and trends. ► Some environmental archives did not exhibit good agreement with model predictions. ► Recommendations for further research are presented.

Sustainability is an important and difficult consideration for the stakeholders/decision-makers when planning a biofuel supply network. In this paper, a Mixed-Integer Non-linear Programming (MINLP) model was developed with the aim to help the stakeholders/decision-maker to select the most sustainable design. In the proposed model, the emergy sustainability index of the whole biodiesel supply networks in a life cycle perspective is employed as the measure of the sustainability, and multiple feedstocks, multiple transport modes, multiple regions for biodiesel production and multiple distribution centers can be considered. After describing the process and mathematic framework of the model, an illustrative case was studied and demonstrated that the proposed methodology is feasible for finding the most sustainable design and planning of biodiesel supply chains.

In a global context, the outlook for the Nordic region is relatively favourable, given its relatively stronger resiliency to climate change impacts in comparison to many other geo-political regions of the world. Overall, the projected climatic changes include increases in mean temperatures and in precipitation, although regional variations can be significant. The countries' robust institutions and economies give them a strong capacity to adapt to these changes. Still, the need for adaptation to the changing climate has been and still is substantial, and in most of the region, there has been progress on the issue. This paper explores the potential for Nordic cooperation on adaptation; specifically, for the development of a regional adaptation strategy. In particular, it addresses two questions (1) What is the current state of adaptation in the Nordic countries? and (2) What are the potential benefits and weaknesses of a Nordic strategy for adaptation? In order to answer these two questions, this paper examines reviews the current national adaptation policies of each Nordic country and discusses the challenges facing a Nordic strategy and finally assesses the potential for common Nordic adaptation policy and further cooperation.

The aim of this work was to develop a model for optimizing the life cycle cost of biofuel supply chain under uncertainties. Multiple agriculture zones, multiple transportation modes for the transport of grain and biofuel, multiple biofuel plants, and multiple market centers were considered in this model, and the price of the resources, the yield of grain and the market demands were regarded as interval numbers instead of constants. An interval linear programming was developed, and a method for solving interval linear programming was presented. An illustrative case was studied by the proposed model, and the results showed that the proposed model is feasible for designing biofuel supply chain under uncertainties.

Shale gas, as an emerging unconventional resource in China, has been regarded as a promising option for diversifying away from traditional fossil fuels and enhancing national security of energy supply. This study analyzed the barriers affecting the sustainable shale gas revolution in China and prioritized the feasible strategic measures by employing the methods of fuzzy Analytic Network Process and Interpretative Structural Modeling. The aim is to help the stakeholders and administrators to better comprehend the relative importance of the barriers and adopt suitable measures. The results demonstrated that the lack of governmental support and guidelines, lack of regulations and standards, and lack of core technologies are the most important barriers hindering the energy transition to shale gas in China. The refinement of subsidies, advanced research, and harmonized standards could in large overcome many of these barriers.