ENVIRONMENT
COUNTS .org
An independent source of information on environmental matters, based on the best available evidence.
We do not advocate any particular position.

Environment Counts | Canadian oil sands found to be major source of anthropogenic organic aerosols :

Published by on Tuesday, January 24th, 2017

Published
by geoff
on 2016-05-28

Worldwide heavy oil and bitumen deposits amount to 9 trillion barrels of oil. 1.7 trillion barrels of these deposits are located in Canada. A recent study which conducted airborne measurements over the Canadian oil sands reports that the evaporation and atmospheric oxidation of low-volatility organic vapours from the mined oil sands material is directly responsible for the majority of the observed secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass. The production rates of 45–84 tonnes of SOAs per day make the oil sands one of the largest sources of anthropogenic SOAs in North America. Our findings suggest that the production of heavy oils could be a large source of SOAs in many production and refining regions worldwide. Oil sands operations as a large source of secondary organic aerosols, John Liggio, Shao-Meng Li et al, Nature (2016) doi:10.1038/nature17646

What's New

Environment Counts | WHO links 23% of global deaths to the environment :

Published by geoff on 2016-03-15 The World Health Organization (WHO) has released statistics linking 23% of global deaths or roughly 12.6 million deaths a year to the environment. Deaths linked to the environment The most common causes of death linked to the environment are stroke, ischaemic heart disease, unintentional injuries (accidents and natural disasters), cancers, […]

Read More

Environment Counts | Change in plankton responsible for rapidly increasing nutrient production in North Pacific since 1850 :

Published by geoff on 2013-12-21 The North Pacific subtropical gyre (NPSG) is a major source of carbon and other nutrients to the deep ocean. Primary production in the NPSG has increased in recent decades due to a shift in the dominant forms of plankton to nitrogen-fixing. As a proxy for nitrogen-supported nutrient production in the […]

Read More

Environment Counts |

A source of independent, understandable andevidence-based information and insights on a range ofcurrent environmental matters, assisiting people to maketheir own judgments. We do not advocate particular positions.

Read More
See a complete list of What's New

-