Study Shows Forests Filter and Capture Lead from Polluted Air

Source :
http://www.japanfs.org/en/pages/026963.html

The Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, a quasi-governmental "independent administrative agency" in Japan, has demonstrated how a cedar forest ecosystem functions to filter and collect lead from polluted air and prevent efflux back into the environment, according to its report released on October 23, 2007.

Researchers first measured and analyzed lead levels in Japanese cedar trees and soil in forests in Japan's Kanto region. As a result, in addition to finding direct absorption of lead in the soil, it identified a forest mechanism that prevents lead runoff through a cyclical process in which lead in the air is first washed to the earth by precipitation, taken up by tree roots, accumulates in the leaves and branches, and eventually returns to the surface soil when leaves fall to begin the cycle again.

Even a small amount of lead is harmful to living organisms, and it is retained for a long time once released into the environment. By the late twentieth century, a large amount of lead had been used as a gasoline additive and released into the air through emissions. Although most Japanese assume that the problem of lead-polluted air was solved with the introduction of a lead-free gasoline policy in Japan, various other human activities continue as sources of lead emissions even now.

The institute plans to further assess the impact of lead accumulation on forest plants and animals, as well as track the effects of lead on forest soil surfaces.

http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/e_version/index-e.html

Japanese Institute Launches Website for Tracking East Asia Air Pollution

Japan's National Institute for Environmental Studies announced on February 27, 2009, that it had launched a website to make available online an air pollution map of East Asia, as well as air pollution forecasts and monitoring results, including yellow sand dust events and air pollutant flux from the Asian continent. The site is currently available in Japanese only (see URL below).

Information available on the website includes:
1. Forecasts every three hours for yellow sand events and air pollutants (sulfuric acid aerosol, anthropogenic ultra-fine particles and ozone) on the day and a day after displayed on a concentration distribution map.
2. Forecasts every three hours of yellow sand concentration and distribution at surface and upper air zones (at one, three, and five kilometers in altitude) on the day and day after, and hourly air monitoring data on yellow sand/non-yellow sand events for the past five days, provided by 17 stations in four countries (Japan, China, Korea, and Mongolia).
3. Results of acid rain monitoring at stations of the East Asia Acid Rain Monitoring Network (about 50 stations across 12 countries), which are available as annual mean values from the year 2000 and later.
4. Annual air pollutant emissions (nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and four other pollutants) in Asia since 1980, as well as forecasts up to 2020.

The website provides a variety of air pollution data -- including yellow sand, acid rain, and air pollutants -- which were previously only available separately under each pollution category. By centralizing the information in one place, it provides users with an easy visual method of tracking changes in air pollution across the East Asia region over time, from both the past and present, plus future forecasts.

The East Asia air pollution map is available at:
http://www-gis5.nies.go.jp/eastasia/air_asia_top.html.