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Biogenic volatile organic compounds and prodution of surface ozone
Zezulová, Tereza ; Bednář, Jan (advisor) ; Hůnová, Iva (referee)
In the middle of the past century, during the industrial revolution, the concentration of air pollutants such as SO2, CO and NOX has rapidly increased. The attention was also given to organic pollutants, for example: monoterpenes and isoprene, in the last twenty years. These compounds are released into the air by natural processes. The most common are isoprene and terpenes that are emited by plants and trees. Concentrations of these biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) are in a range from several ppt to a few ppb. The role of BVOC in plants and trees is still unclear. One of the possible roles of isoprene is controlling the time of blossom, which could be useful for regulativ of pollination. Another role could be in plant toleration of ozone and heat stress. Monoterpenes occur in flower scents and in plant signalization and could function as temptation for insect during pollination. The interaction of BVOC with radicals of OH· and NO3· causes increase of troposferical ozone, a secondary pollutant. Higher concentrations of tropospheric ozone are responsible for fogs above widespread vegetation. Other pollutants made of BVOC are secondary organic aerosols (SOA), that can disperse or absorb the solar radiation. This affects energetic balance on the Earth . This work points to the possibility of...
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Air quality index - a tool for ambient air quality assessment
Stráník, Vojtěch ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Matějíček, Luboš (referee)
7 Abstract Air pollution has a great impact on human health, with acute consequences possibly resulting even in death. It is therefore important to inform the public about up-to-date air quality and its impact on health in a simple and easily undestandable way. Air quality indices seems to be ideal for this purpouse, but there is large variety of them. In this master thesis, the air quality index most suitable for the capital city of Prague has been searched for. A comparison of the following indices has been carried out based on available data: of following indicies based on avaible data (concentration of O3, PM10, NO2, SO2 a CO): Air Quality Index, Aggregate Air Quality Index, Revised Air Quality Index, Common Air Quality Index a Pollution Index and their modifications according to european standards. As a criterion of aptness of a particular index, a degree of correlation between the index itself and corresponding health problems (daily count of deaths, daily count of deaths caused by diseases of the respiratory system, daily count of deaths caused by diseases of circulatory system, daily count of hospitalization caused by diseases of the respiratory system, daily count of hospitalization caused by diseases of circulatory system) of the local population has been chosen. This relationship was verified...
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Approaches to quantification of occult deposition of sulphur and nitrogen from fog and rime
Šrédlová, Kamila ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Hovorka, Jan (referee)
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to summarize available approaches for quantification of occult deposition of sulphur and nitrogen from fog and rime. Atmospheric deposition is a complex of processes by which pollutants are transferred from the air to the earth's surface and therefore it contributes to the atmosphere's self-cleaning. At the same time it represents an input of these pollutants to other components of the environment. Atmospheric deposition consists of dry deposition, which occurs in the absence of precipitation, and wet deposition, which occurs during precipitation. Wet deposition further consists of a vertical component (rain, snow, hail) and an occult component (fog, rime, hoarfrost). The common approach to quantifying total deposition nowadays is simply combining dry plus vertical wet deposition. But when applying this approach and neglecting occult deposition we are likely to substantially underestimate the true total deposition (e.g. Hůnová et al., 2011). This means we don't know the actual amount of pollutants transferred to the environment. The importance of occult deposition rises with increasing altitude (Lange et al., 2003). Occult precipitation also often contains higher concentrations of ions and stays longer in contact with the vegetation than vertical precipitation. There are...
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Assessment of odour annoyance in Štětí
Mikšovská, Petra ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Hovorka, Jan (referee)
This thesis solves the odour issue in the ambient air. Due to the rising of a standard of living, people are no longer tolerant to excessive odours in the environment. Subject of the research is a perception of odour by inhabitants of the town Štětí. Štětí belongs to areas facing odour annoyance of its inhabitants, where the main source is a paper mill Mondi Štětí a.s. The goal of this thesis is to find out if the inhabitants of the town percieve the odour annoyance coming from the paper mill as problematic and explore their opinion of the odour situation in the area with respect to a near past, wish to the future and frequency of annoyance. Next goal is to find out if there exist a relation between immission concentrations of odours typical for a paper mill industry (sulfane, TRS) and subjective assessment of odour intensity by enquired inhabitants, and also what effect have different factors affecting odour perception (age, sex, pregnancy, smoking, personal and family relationship to the paper mill and adaptation to odours) on this relation. Method chosen to get the answers is a repetitive questioning of the inhabitants. In years 2010-2011 there were 16 events on which were made personal interviews with the inhabitants of Štětí near the immission measuring stations in Štětí. Totally 538 people...
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Surface ozone influence on native vegetation: results based on ozone visible symptoms and stomatal flux
Matoušková, Leona ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Albrechtová, Jana (referee) ; Hovorka, Jan (referee)
Regarding the vegetation, the most affected areas by high levels of surface ozone (O3) are the mountain ridges. Our study has been carried out in the Jizerske hory Mts. High O3 levels together with the convenient environmental conditions for stomatal conductance could be a threat for the health of recovering ecosystems in this area. The aims of this study was both to assess the influence of O3 on vegetation in the Czech mountains and to provide recommendations and outlooks for possible future using of relatively new methods (visible symptoms and stomatal O3 flux modelling) used for O3 impact assessment on native vegetation in the field; that means physiologically relevant methods for the determination of O3 influence. During 2006 and 2007, O3-like visible symptoms were assessed on the leaves of seven species at four sites. Symptoms on only two species (Fagus sylvatica L. and Rubus idaeus L.) have been determined as O3-induced. To our knowledge, it is the first study in the Czech Republic in which the O3-like symptoms on native plants have been verified by the Ozone Validation Centre for Central Europe. Our results based on O3-induced symptoms indicate that ambient O3 is likely to have a much lower impact than expected, considering the measured O3 concentrations (measured with passive samplers) and...
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Heat wave effect on mortality in summer 2003 and 2006 in Prague
Knobová, Veronika ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Bartoňová, Alena (referee)
Background: During August 2003 and July 2006 there were observed records of high temperature and high concentrations of pollutants across Europe. The effect of heat waves led to significant increases in total mortality, respiratory mortality and cardiovascular mortality. This study evaluates the association between exposure to the heat waves and daily non- accidental mortality, respiratory mortality and cardiovascular mortality in Prague, the Czech Republic. Methods: The effect of heat waves in summer 2003 and 2006 on mortality was investigated using the negative binomial regression (type of the Poisson model). Counts of death were regressed on temperature, long-term trends, season, day of week and concentrations of pollutants (O3 levels, PM10 levels, NO2 levels, SO2 levels, CO levels). We used one day lag. Results: We found an association between the heat waves in summer 2003 and 2006 and daily mortality and mortality on respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. No statistically significant association was detected. The effect of the heat wave was more significant in women. Conclusions: The effect of the heat wave in August 2003 and July 2006 caused adverse effect on the mortality in Prague, though lower as compared to many other cities in Europe. Keywords: heat wave, mortality, temperature, ozone,...
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Temporal and spatial analysis of ozone in the Jizerske hory Mts.
Stoklasová, Petra ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Matoušková, Leona (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to analyze and evaluate temporal and spatial patterns of concentrations of ambient ozone in the CHKO Jizerské hory. The Jizerské hory Mts. are an area where one of the highest concentrations of ambient ozone are measured every year and, therefore, our attention was focused on this area. The measurements were carried out between 2006 and 2010 at 13 sites (714-1000 m n. m.) in the CHKO Jizerské hory. From the input data, which were fortnightly average nitrate concentrations created on the filters of Ogawa passive samplers, fortnightly average concentrations of ambient ozone were computed using the empirical flow. Ambient ozone concentrations ranged from 13,8 ppb (year 2007) to 72,1 ppb (year 2006). From the five-year period under study defy the year 2006, when the highest concentrations of ambient ozone were measured. The lowest concentrations occurred in 2009. In all years, the concentrations of ambient ozone increased with increasing elevation and this gradient ranged from 2,7 to 4,6 ppb on 100 meters altitude. The accuracy and precision of measurement was very good (accuracy: R2 = 82 %; precision: R2 = 98 %). By multiple linear regression it was found, that ambient ozone concentration are influenced, in addition to the altitude, by ozone concentrations from previous...
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Assessment of ambient ozone pollution in the Šumava Mts.
Fišer, Michal ; Hůnová, Iva (advisor) ; Matějíček, Luboš (referee)
This diploma thesis is focused on a comprehensive assessment of ambient ozone concentrations in the Šumava Mts. Meteorological station Churáňov showed spring and summer maxima. The highest values were recorded between April and June each year. Second maximum appears in August. Minimal values were recorded during autumn and winter months, the lowest values appeared between November and January. Data from the 15-year period 1995 - 2009 were compared. The annual averaged concentration of ozone was 79,4 µg.m-3 . The highest AOT40F values within the entire measuring period were recorded in 2006 (34,9 ppm.h) and 2003 (32,9 ppm.h), the critical level for forest is 5 ppm.h. In this thesis the dependence of surface ozone at selected meteorological factors (temperature, rainfall, humidity, wind speed and solar radiation) and polution factors (NOx and NO2) such regression. The non-parametric Mann-Kendall test has been developed for detecting and estimating monotonic trends in the time series and applied in our study at annual values: mean, 98th percentile and median. Trend in the annual value ozone 98th percentile was determined as statistically significant at Churáňov site during the 1995-2009 period. Trends in the annual ozone mean and median were determinated as statistically not significant. The thesis...
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Analysis of air quality in Ostrava on the basis of long term time trends
Pěčka, Petr ; Braniš, Martin (advisor) ; Hůnová, Iva (referee)
Air pollution is one of the major environmental problems. It can result in adverse health impacts such as morbidity, mortality, cancer and carcinogenic effects. High population density in cities contributes to the importance of the problem in urbanized areas.. The third biggest city of the Czech Republic, Ostrava, which is the subject of this thesis, is one of the most polluted areas in the country. The main air pollutants of concern are suspended particles and poly aromatic hydrocarbons. Ostrava is also one of the most polluted areas from the European perspective. It is an industrial city, where significant portion of the national heavy industry is concentrated. Local heating and traffic are other sources of air pollution. There is also a potential influence from a near-by industrial area in Poland. This thesis deals with long term time series, including air pollutants (PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO), meteorological variables (temperature, rainfall, duration of sunshine) and socio-economic factors (e.g. unemployment rate, number of registered vehicles, investments into environment, fuel consumption in industry, e.t.c.). This study also looks at the close down effect of industrial operations in Ostrava within last 35 years. Both concentration of pollutants and emissions showed significantly decreasing trend since...
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