Contaminants In The Sediments And Biota From The Western Beaufort Sea

Pollution is undesirable state of the natural environment being contaminated with harmful substances as a consequence of human activities so that the environment becomes harmful or unfit for living things; especially applicable to the contamination of soil, water, or the atmosphere by the discharge of harmful substances. In addition to the harm to living beings, both present or future and known or unknown, pollution cleanup and surveillance are enormous financial drains of the economies of the world. This book focuses on issues and developments critical for the field.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), or polyarenes, are one of the largest and most structurally diverse class of organic molecules known. High percentages of polyarenes, representing a wide range of molecular sizes and structural types, are present in coal tars and petroleum residues. The major sources of PAHs are crude oil, coal and oil shale. The fuels produced from these fossil sources constitute the primary source of energy for the industrial nations of the world, and the petrochemicals from these raw materials are the basis of the synthetic fibre and plastics industries. PAHs are however, widespread pollutants and their impact on the environment and human health must be monitored and controlled. This book will review and assess our scientific understanding of the ecological exposure and effects PAHs have in different environments and habitats. It will accomplish this by taking the recipients of the pollution in the environment as starting points and working its way back through pathways to access what is required for our understanding of effects and rationale for control. Although this book will concentrate on ecological exposure of PAHs, the general impacts of PAHs on human populations will be touched upon. It is thought to be the first book to focus on the ecological aspects of PAHs.

Ten years after coming into force of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), a wide range of organic chemicals (industrial formulations, plant protection products, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, etc.) still poses the highest priority environmental hazard. The broadening of knowledge of organic pollutants (OPs) environmental fate and effects, as well as the decontamination techniques, is accompanied by an increase in significance of certain pollution sources (e.g. sewage sludge and dredged sediments application, textile industry), associated with a potential generation of new dangers for humans and natural ecosystems. The present book addresses these aspects, especially in the light of Organic Pollutants risk assessment as well as the practical application of novel analytical methods and techniques for removing OPs from the environment. Providing analytical and environmental update, this contribution can be particularly valuable for engineers and environmental scientists.

This book presents an overview of the chemistry, geology, toxicology and environmental impacts of arsenic, presenting information on relatively common arsenic minerals and their key properties. In addition, it includes discussions on the environmental impacts of the release of arsenic from mining and coal combustion. Although the environmental regulations of different nations vary and change over time, prominent International, North American, and European guidelines and regulations on arsenic will be reviewed. Includes information on recent environmental catastrophes (e.g. Bangladesh and China) A thorough discussion of the arsenic cycle, including the cosmological origin of arsenic Includes Appendices providing extensive glossary and measurement conversion tables

February issue includes Appendix entitled Directory of United States Government periodicals and subscription publications; September issue includes List of depository libraries; June and December issues include semiannual index

The key novelty of this book is first of all in the successful attempt to conduct jointly modeling of environment in terms of physical environment related parameters and measuring similar parameters by means of multispectral remote sensing, primarily by means of passive microwave remote sensing technology. Another new step is in the development and utilization of a multilevel approach which includes remote sensing of the land and water parameters like soil moisture, depth to water table, biomass of vegetation, temperature and salinity of water, in situ measurements of similar parameters and incorporation of GIS and data sets into the models of typical environments. The part of book, which contains remote sensing is focused on multipurpose observations from aircraft obtained in many soil-climatic zones in different countries and is reach of the examples of practical application. Applied mathematicians, geophysics, hydrologists, socio-economists, statesmans and other researchers of environmental changes will find a wealth of information and ideas in this book.