Trans-Boundary Pollution in North-East Asia

$230.00

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Series: Environmental Research Advances
BISAC: SCI026000

In East Asia, the economics and industrial outputs of Japan, China, Korea and Russia have developed rapidly in recent decades. Together, these countries account for more than a quarter of the world’s energy consumption. The primary energy consumption of China has especially increased drastically. The main energy sources in these countries are oil in Japan and Korea, coal in China and natural gas in Russia (additionally, coal is harvested in Far Eastern Russia).

The burning of these fuels and biomass releases many kinds of pollutants including gases and particulates into the atmosphere. From 1970-1980, “acid rain/snow” was a typical trans-boundary form of environmental pollution not only in Eastern Europe and North America, but also in North East Asia. Acid rain/snow was observed on the Sea of Japan coastline of the Japanese islands during the winter. It was caused by sulfur dioxide emitted from the combustion of a large amount of coal in China. “Yellow sand” is also observed in various parts of Japan during the spring. It is caused by dust storms generated in deserts such as the Takramakan in China and transported at long ranges to Japan via microorganisms.

Recently, a high concentration of PM2.5 in the urban atmosphere has become a large problem in China. PM2.5 as an originated form of fossil fuel combustion and biomass combustion contains many polycyslic aromatic hydrocarbons, which exhibit carcinogenic and/or mutagenic, endocrine disrupting and reactive oxygen species producing activities. A part of PM2.5 emitted in China has been transported at long ranges to Japan. These pollutans cause respiratory and circulatory diseases. On the other hand, in 1997, enormous amounts of oil spilled from an old Russian tanker which caused a serious pollution problem in the Sea of Japan. Backbone bending in fish was reported in several marine areas polluted with the spilled oil. From these view points, trans-boundary pollution attracts much attention from environmental and health science fields. This book will focus on the trans-boundary pollutants observed in North East Asia with recent research results.

 

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Acid Rain and Clouds on the Sea of Japan Coast
(Hideharu Honoki and Koichi Watanabe, Toyama Science Museum, Toyama, Japan, and others)

Chapter 2. Long-Range Transport of Asian Dust in East Asia: Chemical and Physical Processing of Mineral Particles and Potential Environmental Impacts
(Atsushi Matsuki, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Japan)

Chapter 3. The Long Range Transport of Bioaerosols over East Asia
(Teruya Maki, College of Science and Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa)

Chapter 4. The Sources and Long Range Transport of PAHs and NPAHs Contained on PM2.5: A Study of East Asia
(Ning Tang, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa)

Chapter 5. Secondary Formation of Toxic Nitropolycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Promoted on Mineral Dust Aerosols
(Takayuki Kameda, Graduate School of Energy Science, Kyoto University, Yoshida-Honmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan)

Chapter 6. Model Simulation of Atmospheric Aerosols
(Mizuo Kajino, Atmospheric Environment and Applied Meteorology Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan)

Chapter 7. Model Simulation of PAHs in North East Asia
(Yayoi Inomata, Institute for Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan)

Chapter 8. Oil Spills and Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
(Kazuichi Hayakawa, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa, Japan)

Chapter 9. Observation of Persistent Organic Pollutants Using Voluntary Observation Ships in the Sea of Japan and Adjacent Waters
(Masayuki Kunugi and Takafumi Aramaki, General Foundation of Environmental Innovation and Communication, Kandahigashimatsushita Chiyoda, Tokyo, and others)

Chapter 10. Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in the Marine Environment
(Kazuichi Hayakawa, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma, Kanazawa, Japan)

Chapter 11. Surface Distributions of 228Ra in and around the Sea of Japan: Implications for Water Migration and Delivery of Soluble Contaminants
(Mutsuo Inoue, Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan)

Conclusion

Index

Reviews

“Remarkable economic and industrial development over the last two centuries has been largely driven by combustion of fossil fuels and biomass on a massive scale. This has resulted in release of pollutants into the atmosphere, rivers and marine environments and across international boundaries. The problem has been particularly acute in the highly populated Pan-Japan Sea region which includes China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and Far-Eastern Russia. This book adopts a novel trans-boundary view to present scientific evidence for the magnitude of this problem. The chapters span a remarkable range of issues concerning diverse pollutants including acid rain, bio-aerosols, desert dust, organic pollutants and radionuclides. The book will be a valuable text for students of environmental pollution as well as researchers and policy-makers seeking to better understand the science underlying pollution in the region.” – Stephen B. Pointing, Professor of Environmental Studies and Director of Science, Yale-NUS College, Singapore

“During the last 50 years, human population on the earth has grown 2.4 times while total economic activities symbolized by the gross world product (GWP) has been boosted to 50 times. The intensified human activities on the earth supported by both the large amount of consumption of fossil fuels and the massive exploitation of natural resources on the earth have brought about variety of negative impacts on natural ecosystems and anthropogenic spheres. Emissions from the industrial and domestic activities include acidic nitric/sulfuric gases, persistent organic pollutants, such as perchlorobenzenes and agrochemicals, and particulates from coal burning and/or land degradation, etc. once emitted, most of these substances are transported and dispersed far beyond administrative boundaries through atmospheric and hydrospheric path ways. This book collects chapters related to fates of these hazardous substances focusing on the Northwest Pacific region, which is one of the densely populated areas on the globe. Environmental researchers as well as policy makers will become interested in useful and comprehensive findings introduced throughout this book.” – Motoyuki Suzuki, Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Former Chairman of the Central Environment Council, Japan

Additional Information

Keywords: Trans-Boundary Pollution; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon; Persistent Organic Pollutant; Atmosphere; Marine, North-East Asia; Japan Sea

The book will be a valuable text for students of environmental pollution as well as researchers and policy-makers.

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