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Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas

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A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Environmental Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 March 2024) | Viewed by 23760

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Prof. Dr. Hong Yang

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Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AB, UK
Interests: education for sustainable development; climate change; environmental pollution; RS applications in environmental and geographical sciences; AI for environmental science
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rapid urbanisation in coastal areas, without proper environmental protection measures, has increased the discharge of wastewater to marine environments and caused worldwide water pollution and ecosystem degradation in coastal areas. Traditionally, researchers have focused on nutrients and heavy metals in coastal environments. In recent decades, however, emerging pollutants, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, hormones, food additives, plasticisers, laundry detergents, disinfectants, surfactants, pesticides, wood preservatives, flame retardants, and other organic compounds, have received increasing attention by the public and scholars. Climate change, mainly due to the increasing emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases, has exacerbated water pollution. The published studies have focused on the impact of climate change on eutrophication and algal blooms, while impacts of climate change on other water pollutants are still largely unknown. Over the last several years, a number of countries, including the USA, UK, and China, have pledged carbon neutrality by 2050 or 2060 to mitigate global climate change. Measures to cut carbon emissions can also reduce other pollutants from fossil fuels, with the potential to reduce water pollution. However, our understanding of the influence of carbon neutrality on water pollution is almost zero.

The goals of this Special Issue are to provide a current overview of water pollution under climate change in coastal environments. This Special Issue invites research and reviews dedicated to all aspects of water pollution and climate change in marine environment. Papers on field studies may focus on but are not limited to eutrophication, algal bloom, seawater acidification, carbon cycle (carbon neutrality), and emerging pollutants in marine environment. Articles on modelling may include but are not limited to developing new models or applying current models to research water pollution and climate change in marine environment. Results from experiments, time-series and space-for-time analysis, meta-analyses, and modelling are all welcome.

Dr. Hong Yang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Water pollution
Eutrophication
Emerging pollutants
Carbon cycle
Carbon neutrality
Climate change

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Published Papers (10 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

20 pages, 5524 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Removal of Dissolved Effluent Organic Matter in Wastewater Using Lignin-Based Biochar Supported Fe–Cu Bimetallic Oxide Catalyst

by Wenpeng Wang, Fanlong Kong, Huazhen Wu, Chunyan Zhai, Yang Li, Sen Wang and Hong Yang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12(1), 183; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12010183 - 19 Jan 2024

Viewed by 1225

Abstract

The effluent discharged from wastewater treatment facilities frequently enters the ocean, posing a considerable threat to the health of marine life and humans. In this paper, an alkali lignin-based biochar-loaded modified Fe–Cu catalyst (FeCu@BC) was prepared to remove soluble microbial products (SMP) from secondary effluent as disinfection by-products precursors at ambient temperature and pressure. The humic acid (HA) was taken as the representative substance of SMP. The results showed that the maximum removal efficiency of HA reached 93.2% when the FeCu@BC dosage, pH, initial HA concentration, and dissolved oxygen concentration were 5.0 g/L, 7, 100 mg/L, and 1.75 mg/L, respectively. After three cycles, the removal efficiency of HA could be maintained at more than 70%. The quenching experiments and electron spin resonance (EPR) results showed that •OH and ¹O₂ were involved in the degradation of HA in the FeCu@BC catalyst reaction system, with ¹O₂ playing a dominant role. Theoretical calculations confirmed that •OH and ¹O₂ were more prone to attack the C=O bond of the side chain of HA. After processing by the FeCu@BC catalyst, the yield of chlorinated disinfection by-products from secondary effluent had decreased in an obvious manner. This study provides a new solution to efficiently solve the problem of chlorinated disinfection by-products from HA. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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19 pages, 3654 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Seamlessly Coupling Hydrological Modelling Systems and GIS through Object-Oriented Programming

by Xiaohua Xiang, Zhijun Pan, Xiaoling Wu and Hong Yang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(11), 2140; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11112140 - 9 Nov 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1129

Abstract

Coupling hydrological modelling systems (HMS) with a geographic information system (GIS) can significantly enhance hydrological research and expand its applications. The calculation for HMS requires geographic information data; however, the current GIS data structure is not equipped to support the object-oriented hydrological modelling. Due to different objectives and design concepts, the differences between HMS and GIS have been profound, especially in their data structures from the perspective of object-oriented programming (OOP). This research introduces a novel approach to extend ArcGIS data structures for HMS, facilitating seamless coupling. This approach employs Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) technology to construct custom data structures that align with hydrological OOP principles. These can then be integrated into ArcGIS through a custom ArcGIS layer as an add-on. As a result, the HMS can leverage the full functionality of ArcGIS without the need for re-coding existing modelling systems. Moreover, HMS can be readily developed by using COM compatible computer languages, enabling the easy adaptation of this coupling approach to other HMS to ensure computational efficiency and to maximise the benefits of ArcGIS features. This new approach has been successfully implemented with the Xin’anjiang model, and the results validate its effectiveness in coastal areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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20 pages, 2510 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Approach for Shipping Emissions Estimation in Ports: The Case of Ro–Ro Vessels in Port of Vigo

by Ana B. Albo-López, Camilo Carrillo and Eloy Díaz-Dorado

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(4), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11040884 - 21 Apr 2023

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2811

Abstract

Despite most atmospheric emissions being produced by vessels when navigating at sea, they are also important when in port because of their proximity to urban areas and their harmful effects on climate change and health. First, we carried out a bibliographical review of the nine most relevant methods to estimate the emission of ships in ports. These methods have been used to estimate the emissions of the sixteen most representatives Ro–Ro (roll-on–roll-off) ships calling at the Port of Vigo. From the results obtained, a new simplified method for estimation is proposed, which is based on linear regression curves and takes into account the number of ships and the average number of hours they remain in port annually. This simplification could be a useful tool when making preliminary assessments of the emissions from ships in port, which can also be extrapolated to other ports or types of ships. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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18 pages, 6019 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatiotemporal Variation in Extreme Precipitation in Beijiang River Basin, Southern Coastal China, from 1959 to 2018

by Zhanming Liu, Hong Yang, Xinghu Wei and Zhaoxiong Liang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(1), 73; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11010073 - 3 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2083

Abstract

Extreme precipitation events have caused serious impacts on natural ecosystem and human society and have attracted increasing attention in recent years. IPCC AR6 WG I report highlighted a lack of conclusive consensus on the change trend of extreme precipitation in some basins and variation (increase or decrease) between regions. Based on seven precipitation indexes defined by ETCCDI, using daily precipitation data observed by 18 national reference meteorological stations in China during 1959–2018, this study analysed spatiotemporal variation trend of extreme precipitation in the Beijiang River Basin, Southern Coastal China, in recent 60 years, using Mann–Kendall (M-K) trend test, coefficient of variation, and continuous wavelet transformation. M-K test results showed that there were mutations in all seven precipitation indexes, and mutation points were mainly concentrated in two periods (1986–1991 and 2005–2010). The change range of each index after mutation was generally greater than that before mutation. Continuous wavelet transformation showed that each indicator had a significant oscillation period of 2–4 year in most time domains. The southeastern part of the basin (Fogang and Qingyuan) was the center of extremely heavy precipitation, and most precipitation indexes decreased from this area to the surrounding area. As far as the basin as a whole was concerned, consecutive wet days (CWD) declined significantly (passing 0.05 of confidence test), and there was a significantly positive correlation between annual distribution of R95ds and monthly precipitation (p < 0.001). The research results expand our understanding of regional water cycle and extreme climate change, guide the allocation and management of water resources related to regional industrial and agricultural activities, and provide reference for disaster prevention and mitigation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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14 pages, 5159 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effects of Water Masses and Circulation on the Surface Water Partial Pressure of Carbon Dioxide in Summer in Eastern Beibu Gulf, China

by Yu Ma, Tuanjie Li, Huayong Xia, Ruixiang Li, Yonggang Cao, Huaming Shi, Xin Xu, Jinshang Zhang, Weijie Zhang and Xibao Su

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2023, 11(1), 46; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse11010046 - 29 Dec 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2277

Abstract

A gulf is a typical ecological zone where carbon cycle is jointly affected by complex environmental factors and strong human activities, and the Beibu Gulf has complex water masses and circulation structures. In this study, we used underway, continuous observational data of the surface water partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO₂), temperature (SST), salinity (SSS), dissolved oxygen (DO), and chlorophyll α along with vertical profile observations of temperature, salinity, carbonate system parameters and nutrients to determine the spatiotemporal variations and research effects of water masses and circulation on summer pCO₂ in the eastern part of Beibu Gulf. In the summers of 2011 and 2014, the mean pCO₂ in the eastern part of Beibu Gulf was 417 μatm and 405 μatm, respectively, and the mean sea–air CO₂ flux was 3.3 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹ and 1.6 mmol m⁻² d⁻¹, respectively. In the summer of 2011, the northern part of the Beibu Gulf was controlled by a cyclonic circulation, and pCO₂ at the center of the cyclonic circulation increased by more than 15 μatm to a mean value of more than 10 μatm above that of the surrounding waters. The southern part of the Beibu Gulf was affected by an anticyclonic circulation and western coastal water masses, with a high temperature, low salinity, low pCO₂, and downwelling surface waters. In the summer of 2011, the mean pCO₂ was approximately 17 μatm lower than that in the surrounding waters, and no clear downwelling was observed in summer 2014. The eastern part of Beibu Gulf was a source of atmospheric CO₂ in the summer, only the region affected by the northern coastal water in the eastern part of Beibu Gulf was a sink of atmospheric CO₂, and pCO₂ had distinctly different spatiotemporal distributions under the influence of complex water masses and circulation structures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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20 pages, 3945 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Distribution and Bioaccumulation of Essential and Toxic Metals in Tissues of Thaila (Catla catla) from a Natural Lake, Pakistan and Its Possible Health Impact on Consumers

by Muhammad Saleem, Javed Iqbal, Zongbo Shi, Scott H. Garrett and Munir H. Shah

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(7), 933; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10070933 - 7 Jul 2022

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2895

Abstract

Although fish are often recommended as a component of a healthy diet, the environmental accumulation of heavy metals in many fish species has been of considerable concern for those weighing the nutritional health benefits against adverse toxic outcome of excess intake of toxic metals. This study aimed to determine the concentration of essential and toxic metals in the tissues of Catla catla in Mangla Lake and to assess the possible risk to the consumers. Fifty samples of Catla catla were collected from Mangla Lake, Mirpur, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan and analyzed for eighteen metals including essential and trace metals. The measured range concentrations (µg/g, wet weight) in muscle tissues, in decreasing order, were: K (955–1632), Ca (550–2081), Na (449–896), Mg (129–312), Zn (61.2–215), Fe (11.6–26.8), Sr (2.60–9.27), Pb (1.72–7.81), Se (1.55–3.55), Co (0.12–4.08), Mn (1.04–4.33), Ni (0.69–3.06), Cu (0.88–2.78), Cr (0.45–1.88), As (0.67–1.58), Cd (0.28–0.56), Hg (0.17–0.57) and Li (0.12–0.38). The metal concentrations found in this study were comparatively higher than those reported in literature. A majority of the metals exhibited higher accumulation in gills compared with those in scales and muscles. Mean levels of Pb, As, Co, Mn, Cd, Cr and Zn in Catla catla muscle were found to be exceeding the international permissible limits for the safe human consumption. The condition factor (K), as an indicator of fish health status, indicated that Catla catla of Mangla Lake are in good health condition. The metal pollution index (MPI) of gills (27.9), scales (12.5) and muscle (7.57) indicated low contamination. Moreover, human health risk was evaluated using estimated weekly intake (EWI) and daily intake (EDI), target hazard quotient (THQ), hazard index (HI) and target cancer risk (TCR). Estimated weekly and daily intake values for As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni and Pb were higher than provisional permissible tolerable weekly intake and permissible tolerable daily intake while THQ for As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, Se and Zn was higher than 1. The THQ for As, Hg and Pb was several folds higher than 1, indicative of lifetime non-carcinogenic health risks to the consumers. The hazard index indicated cumulative risk, which greatly increased with increasing fish consumption. Target cancer risk indicated that the people eating the Catla catla from Mangla Lake were exposed to As, Cd, Cr, Ni and Pb with a significant lifetime carcinogenic risk. In summary, consumption of Catla catla from this lake was found to be associated with an increased lifetime risk to the general health of the consumers. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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11 pages, 1446 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Leaching Remediation of Dredged Marine Sediments Contaminated with Heavy Metals

by Zhaowei Wang, Bo Li, Yuanshu Sun and Wenchao Yang

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 636; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050636 - 7 May 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2303

Abstract

There are more than 150 ports in China and a considerable proportion of dredged sediments in ports and waterways are contaminated with heavy metals as the typical contaminants. It is mandatory to remediate the contaminated dredged sediments prior to further resource utilization. The over-arching objective of this study was to use natural organic acids (oxalic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid, and malic acid) as leaching agents to remove heavy metals (Cu, Cd, and Pb) from contaminated dredged sediments. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the factors governing the removal rate of heavy metals and leaching kinetics. Citric acid had the best leaching effect on heavy metals Cu, Cd, and Pb with an optimal leaching concentration of 20 mmol/L and a solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:20. The average removal rates of Cu, Cd, and Pb were 85%, 73%, 56%, and 35% for citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid, and oxalic acid, respectively. The leaching kinetics showed that the removal of heavy metals increased rapidly with time and then gradually reached the maximum value which was best described by the Elovich equation model. The outcomes of this study suggest that citric acid is an effective and environmentally friendly leaching agent for removing heavy metals from marine dredged sediments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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18 pages, 4668 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Dissolved Gaseous Mercury (DGM) in the Gulf of Trieste, Northern Adriatic Sea

by Jože Kotnik, Dušan Žagar, Gorazd Novak, Matjaž Ličer and Milena Horvat

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(5), 587; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10050587 - 26 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2176

Abstract

Continuous dissolved gaseous mercury (DGM) measurements were performed during the summer months (May to September 2019) in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea), a well-studied contaminated site due to releases of mercury from the former mercury mine Idrija in Slovenia. Continuous DGM data were regularly checked by the discrete manual method to assure traceability and comparability of the results and used for the calculation of the upward flux of Hg(0) between the water and the air compartment, using the gas exchange model applied in previous studies in the Mediterranean Sea. DGM concentrations measured by continuous and discrete methods showed good agreement, 68.7 and 73.5 ng·m⁻³, respectively. The diurnal DGM variability examined by sorting the DGM concentrations in 24 1-h intervals was extremely low (68.3–69.2 ng·m⁻³). Various environmental parameters measured at oceanographic buoy Vida, and the nearby stations were used to determine the relationship between DGM and the individual environmental parameters. The correlation with the oxygen saturation was pronounced during the July high DGM event (R² = 0.70, p < 0.05), and the gradient between the bottom and surface temperature was correlated with both DGM peaks in June and July (R² = 0.42 and R² = 0.43, p < 0.05). Transport from the more polluted northern part of the Gulf was determined as the most probable source of both high DGM events. The computed average annual Hg(0) flux across the water–air interface (5.13 ng·m⁻²·h⁻¹) was lower than those reported in recent studies. We assume that for an appropriate assessment of the Hg evasion flux and of the temporal DGM variability in such heterogeneously polluted coastal areas, both spatial and temporal coverage are required. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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12 pages, 4418 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Simplified Approach to Modeling the Dispersion of Mercury from Precipitation to Surface Waters—The Bay of Kaštela Case Study

by Igor Živković, Jan Gačnik, Slaven Jozić, Jože Kotnik, Mladen Šolić and Milena Horvat

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(4), 539; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10040539 - 14 Apr 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2012

Abstract

Wet deposition is the main source of mercury (Hg) from the atmosphere to the Earth’s surface. However, the processes that govern the dispersion of deposited Hg in seawater are currently not well understood. To address this issue, total mercury (THg) concentrations in surface seawaters and precipitation were determined on a monthly basis in the Bay of Kaštela (Central Adriatic Sea). Following the assumption that deposited THg is diluted in the seawater bulk due to mixing processes, an exponential decay-like model was developed and the wet deposition of THg was normalized based on periods between precipitation events and seawater sampling. Normalized wet deposition of THg showed significant correlation with the THg gradient in surface seawater after removal of an outlier. To explain the observed outlier, further data normalization included wind data to account for enhanced seawater mixing due to strong winds. Wind-normalized THg deposition of all datapoints showed significant correlation with the THg gradient in surface seawater. The correlation showed that the THg gradient in surface seawater of 0.378 pg L⁻¹ m⁻¹ corresponds to THg wet deposition of 1 ng m⁻² after including the influence of wind speed on seawater mixing. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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Review

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20 pages, 3448 KiB

Open AccessReview

Review of Top-Down Method to Determine Atmospheric Emissions in Port. Case of Study: Port of Veracruz, Mexico

by Gilberto Fuentes García, Rodolfo Sosa Echeverría, José María Baldasano Recio, Jonathan D. W. Kahl and Rafael Esteban Antonio Durán

J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2022, 10(1), 96; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse10010096 - 11 Jan 2022

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2815

Abstract

Indicators of environmental policies in force in Mexico, fossil fuels will continue to be used in industrial sectors, especially marine fuels, such as marine diesel oil, in port systems for some time. Considering this, we have evaluated several methods corresponding to a top-down system for determining fuel consumption and sulfur dioxide atmospheric emissions for the port of Veracruz in 2020 by type of ship on a daily resolution, considering a sulfur content of 0.5% mass by mass in marine fuel. After analyzing seven methods for determining sulfur dioxide atmospheric emission levels, Goldsworthy’s method was found to be the best option to characterize this port. The port system has two maritime zones, one of which is in expansion, which represented 55.66% of fuel consumption and 23.05% of atmospheric emissions according to the typology of vessels. We found that higher fuel consumption corresponded to container vessels, and tanker vessels represented higher atmospheric emission levels in the berthing position. The main differences that we found in the analysis of the seven methods of the top-down system corresponded to the load factor parameter, main and auxiliary engine power, and estimation of fuel consumption by type of vessel. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Water Pollution under Climate Change in Coastal Areas)

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