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April 17, 2020 , , , , , , , , , , , ,
‘Largest scale experiment ever’ shows what is possible as satellite images reveal marked fall in global nitrogen dioxide levels

 Pollution levels in China in 2019, left, and 2020. Photograph: Guardian Visuals / ESA satellite data
The coronavirus pandemic is shutting down industrial activity and temporarily slashing air pollution levels around the world, satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows.
One expert said the sudden shift represented the “largest scale experiment ever” in terms of the reduction of industrial emissions.
Readings from ESA’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that over the past six weeks, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) over cities and industrial clusters in Asia and Europe were markedly lower than in the same period last year.

CHINA

Nitrogen dioxide is produced from car engines, power plants and other industrial processes and is thought to exacerbate respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
While not a greenhouse gas itself, the pollutant originates from the same activities and industrial sectors that are responsible for a large share of the world’s carbon emissions and that drive global heating.
Paul Monks, professor of air pollution at the University of Leicester, predicted there will be important lessons to learn. “We are now, inadvertently, conducting the largest-scale experiment ever seen,” he said. “Are we looking at what we might see in the future if we can move to a low-carbon economy? Not to denigrate the loss of life, but this might give us some hope from something terrible. To see what can be achieved.”
Monks, the former chair of the UK government’s science advisory committee on air quality, said that a reduction in air pollution could bring some health benefits, though they were unlikely to offset loss of life from the disease.
“It seems entirely probable that a reduction in air pollution will be beneficial to people in susceptible categories, for example some asthma sufferers,” he said. “It could reduce the spread of disease. A high level of air pollution exacerbates viral uptake because it inflames and lowers immunity.” Agriculture could also get a boost because pollution stunts plant growth, he added.
The World Health Organization describes NO2 as “a toxic gas which causes significant inflammation of the airways” at concentrations above 200 micro grams per cubic metre. Pollution particles may also be a vector for pathogens, as well as exacerbating existing health problems. The WHO is now investigating whether airborne pollution particles may be a vector that spreads Covid-19 and makes it more virulent.
One of the largest drops in pollution levels could be seen over the city of Wuhan, in central China, which was put under a strict lock down in late January. The city of 11 million people serves as a major transportation hub and is home to hundreds of factories supplying car parts and other hardware to global supply chains. According to NASA, nitrogen dioxide levels across eastern and central China have been 10-30% lower than normal.

SOUTH KOREA

NO2 levels also dropped in South Korea, which has long struggled with high emissions from its large fleet of coal-fired power plants but also from nearby industrial facilities in China.
The country has avoided putting entire regions under lock down but is meticulously tracing and isolating suspected coronavirus cases.

ITALY

The changes over northern Italy are particularly striking because smoke from a dense cluster of factories tends to get trapped against the Alps at the end of the Po Valley, making this one of western Europe’s pollution hotspots.
Since the country went into lock down on 9 March, NO2 levels in Milan and other parts of northern Italy have fallen by about 40%. “It’s quite unprecedented,” said Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Service. “In the past, we have seen big variations for a day or so because of weather. But no signal on emissions that has lasted so long.”
The source is not yet clear. One possibility is a slowdown of activity in Italy’s industrial heartland. Another factor is likely to be a reduction in road traffic, which accounts for the biggest share of nitrogen dioxide emissions in Europe.
Peuch said satellites were now starting to pick up similar signals in other European cities that are entering into lock downs, though the data needs to studied over over a longer period to confirm this is a pattern.

UK

Although the UK is more than a week behind Italy in terms of the spread of the disease and the government’s response, roadside monitors already show significantly reduced levels of pollution at hotspots such as Marylebone in London.
Road traffic accounts for about 80% of nitrogen oxide emissions in the UK, according to Monk. For the average diesel car, each kilometer not driven avoids 52 milligrammes of the pollutant entering the air.
“What I think will come out of this is a realization - because we are forced to - that there is considerable potential to change working practices and lifestyles. This challenges us in the future to think, do we really need to drive our car there or burn fuel for that,” said Monk.

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April 14, 2020 , , , , , , , , ,
Researchers say the economic costs of a deadly pathogen affecting olive trees in Europe could run to over €20 billion.
They've modelled the future worst impacts of the Xylella fastidiosa pathogen which has killed swathes of trees in Italy.
Spread by insects, the bacterium now poses a potential threat to olive plantations in Spain and Greece.
The disease could increase the costs of olive oil for consumers.
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Xylella is considered to be one of the most dangerous pathogens for plants anywhere in the world. At present there is no cure for the infection.
It can infect cherry, almond and plum trees as well as olives.
It has become closely associated with olives after a strain was discovered in trees in Puglia in Italy in 2013.
The organism is transmitted by sap-sucking insects such as spittlebugs.
The infection limits the tree's ability to move water and nutrients and over time it withers and dies.
In Italy, the consequences of the spread of the disease have been devastating, with an estimated 60% decline in crop yields since the first discovery in 2013.
"The damage to the olives also causes a depreciation of the value of the land, and to the touristic attractiveness of this region," said Dr Maria Saponari, from the CNR Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection in Italy.
"It's had a severe impact on the local economy and jobs connected with agriculture."
As well as in Italy, the Xylella bacterium has now been found in Spain, France and Portugal.
Tackling it at present involves removing infected trees and trying to clamp down on the movement of plant material and the insects that spread the disease.
But if these measures fail, what will be the financial impact of the infection?
In this new study, researchers modelled different scenarios including what would happen if all growing ceased due to tree death.
They also compared this worst case with a scenario where replanting with resistant varieties occurred.
The team made projections for Italy, Spain and Greece, which between them account for 95% of European olive oil production.
IIn Spain, if the infection expanded and the majority of trees became infected and died, the costs could run to €17 billion over the next 50 years.
A similar scenario in Italy would amount to over five billion, while in Greece, the losses would be under two billion.
If the rate of infection is slowed down, or resistant varieties are planted instead, then these costs would be significantly reduced.
However, the authors believe, whatever happens, there will likely be a knock-on impact on consumers.
"The expected effect could be that there would be a shortage of supply," said lead author Kevin Schneider from Wageningen University in the Netherlands.
"And I would expect that if prices go up, consumers will be worse off."
The authors say that while their analysis looks at economics, there are also potentially large touristic and cultural losses caused by the bacterium that can't be ignored.
"You really hear devastating stories of infected orchards that were inherited over generations," said Dr Schneider.
"It's the same orchard that their grandparents were once working on. So how do you put an economic number on the loss of something like this. The cultural heritage value would be far larger than we could compute."
There are a growing number of scientific initiatives to try and take the fight to the bacterium, including using insect repelling clays, vegetative barriers and genetic analysis to determine why some plants are more susceptible to the infection than others.
Ultimately, the researchers believe that beating the pathogen will require trees that are resistant to the disease.
"Seeking resistant cultivars or immune species is one of the most promising, and environmentally sustainable, long-term control strategies to which the European scientific community is devoting relevant research efforts," said Dr Saponari,
"Sustainable strategies to reduce the population of the insects is the other pillar for the control of the vector-borne disease, in this regard, mechanical intervention to remove weeds in spring is one of the most efficacious applications to reduce the populations of the insect, indeed several other strategies are also being studied to implement the control of the insects," she added.
While two varieties of olive tree have been found to have some resistance, the authors are calling for research in this area to be significantly boosted.
The study has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Source: By Matt McGrath 
Environment correspondent (BBC NEWS)
Date: 13th April, 2020

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