Measurement of air pollution in a sea route on a tall ship Fryderyk Chopin Team: Bartosz Kawecki Naglis Kazakevičius Pauline Plötz Helena Sałasinska Dariia Zakharchenko Michelle Zuischko Supervisor Dr inż. Kinga Skalska
Introduction: The term air pollution is a widely discussed topic nowadays and one of the 6 group work topics during the Sail Trip because it is one of the most important problems with especially reference to health of human beings and climate change all over the world. It is so important to discuss because the degradation of air quality is too fast. This is due to the numerous chemicals which are exist in the air like particulate matter [PM], nitrogen oxides [NO x ], carbon dioxide [CO 2 ], carbon monoxide [CO], sulphur dioxide [SO 2 ], benzo[a]pyrene [B(a)P] and ozone [O 3 ]. As a big influence on air quality, the ship traffic must be also named. Nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides and particulate matter are the main pollutants emitted by ships. After [Lack and Corbett, 212] it is estimated that about 3.3% of global CO 2 emissions and about 2% of global black carbon emissions are produced by shipping. For this reason, during the BUP SAIL program, a group of 6 multidisciplinary students, for a short time crewmembers on board of the STS Fryderyk Chopin, were working for 2 weeks in order to get knowledge about air pollution on Baltic and North Sea, gathering data with a special device and analyze them based on parameters: weather, wind (speed, direction), temperature and traffic nearby the tall ship. The main objective of this project was to gather real data concerning levels of particles in the surrounding air in the closest environment of the ship, but also to find out people s opinions and knowledge of this topic. Particulate matter can be divided into three categories PM 1, PM 2.5 and PM 1. The indexes refer to the size of particles, therefore the PM 1 refers to particles with the diameter smaller than 1 m. PM 1 is called due to the low speed of sedimentation in the air suspended dust, PM 2.5 is called due to the ease of absorption into the lungs respirable dust and PM 1 are the soot, the smallest and therefore the most dangerous particles in the air. For comparison a human hair measured a diameter of 7 μm. Possible components of particulate matters could be carbon (soot), organic carbon, ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, crustal, metals and other stuff like for example sea salt. Methodology: To analyze the air pollution on the way from Szczecin to Edinburgh, the device OPC-N2 Optical Particle Counter was used. Inside the device there is a laser and a special sensor. The laser beam is aimed towards to the sensor. Basing on the difference of the image of the laser beam received by the sensor and mathematical operations, the device can recognize the range of the particles diameter. The data were collected daily to be able to compare the pollution on different locations along the route. After some discussion and trials in the group, it was clear that the device had to be placed every day on the same place -to make the data comparable- and the first platform of the main mast was chosen as the main point of measurement because the emissions from the ship itself - including smoking of the crew and kitchen fumes were assumed to have the least influence on the measurements here. In addition to the data from the device, data like GPS position, wind direction and speed, weather, temperature and number and kinds of surrounding ships are needed to determine a probable source of the pollutions and were tried to note hourly from the surroundings. Therefore, the group worked together with the permanent crew and the officers during their Watches to get as much information as possible from the Logbook from the ship to be able to find all connections between the data from the device end the environment. Fig. 1 STS Fryderyk Chopin route
Concentration (ug/m³) Concentration (μg/m³) Results: 9 measurements were taken during the SAIL for Students 217 on the route presented at Fig. 1 (the measurements locations are depicted with numbers). Four measurements were taken in three different harbors Świnoujście (Poland), Visby (Sweden) - twice and Aberdeen (United Kingdom). Remaining five measurements were taken during crossing a Baltic Sea region. Unfortunately, due to weather conditions and unit malfunction no data were collected at North Sea. We have presented just few of the taken measurements. The first the measurement was taken in Świnoujście harbor. The city has a population of approximately 4 people. The harbor is relatively small and ships could only be docking on the east side of the port. The weather conditions were sunny and without clouds. 1 Świnoujście, Harbor 8 6 4 2 PM 1 5 1 15 2 25 3 35 4 45 5 Fig. 2 Świnoujście (Location - 1) The variation of the values of the particulate matter are regular over the whole time of measure and relative high. Except a moment after 27 minutes. An irregular high value (showed by a red arrow) of PM 1 with 98,85 μg/m³ is visible, whereas and PM 1 did not change. A reason for the peak is probably another ship leaving the port. The constant high values over the whole time are interesting and will be cleared and compared in the end of the measurements. After two days the ship arrived in Gotland, Sweden. That s why the second measurement was taken in Visby Harbor (Fig. 3). Visby is a city with around 24 inhabitants and placed southern of Stockholm. The weather conditions were cloudy with no rain. 3 Visby, Harbor 25 2 15 1 5 PM 1 PM 1 5 1 15 2 25 3 35 4 45 5 Fig. 3 Visby (Location -2) There were two notable peaks measured, one after around 12 minutes and the second, the higher one, after around 38 minutes with a maximum concentration of PM 1 during the whole
Con centration (ug/m³) Concentration (ug/m³) measurement of 28.41 μg/m³. The measurement was taken in the beginning of the night. So, these two peaks are probable caused by incoming or outgoing ships during our stay. The rest of the data are in general much lower than the data from Świnoujście harbor but the maximum peak in Visby Harbor is much higher than the maximum peak in Świnoujście. This might be connected with the size of the vessels entering Visby port. The first measurement on the Baltic sea (Fig. 4) was performed on the route from Gotland to Skagerrak. The position of the ship was 15 km distant from Visby in the direction south-west. The weather conditions were mostly clear, partly cloudy and no rain. The ship was still next to Sweden and the values aren t very different to the data from Visby Harbor. Even the value of the highest peak is almost the same like in the measurement the day before. Baltic Sea Region 1 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 1 2 3 4 Fig. 4 Baltic sea region (Location 3) PM 1 PM 1 In the beginning of the measurement 3 ships were spotted on the horizon and the land on the starboard side of the ship was not in view because the distance was around 5 km. When the device was taken down there was one ship close to STS Fryderyk Chopin and one far away. Between the island Gotland and Sweden there is a frequently shipping of ferries for the inhabitants and tourists. These ships were also visible for the group and the seven higher peaks in the diagram from the data from the device could be correlated to the named ships. Baltic Sea Region 165 145 125 15 85 65 45 25 5-15 2 4 6 8 1 12 14 PM2.5 Fig. 5 Baltic Sea Region (Location 7)
Concentration (ug/m 3 ) Concentration (ug/m³) The next presented measurement was done at location 7 (Fig. 5) that was close to Copenhagen and Malmo. About weather conditions, the sky was cloudy, sometimes it was light rain and the wind came from the southwest with a speed of 22 kn in the beginning. Two big ships were passing on both sides of the ship. In the end of the measurement the ship s position was around Copenhagen. 3 Skagerrak 25 2 15 1 5 5 1 15 2 25 3 35 Fig. 6 Skagerrak (Location 8) During the measurement taken in Skagerrak (Fig.6) sky was partly cloudy, without rain and with some sun in the beginning. At the beginning there were 3 ships, mostly portside, in the surrounding of the ship. The weather at the end was quite sunny, some clouds, but in general the sky was quite clear. The speed of wind was 3 kn at the beginning and 8 kn at the end. Three areas with high values of can be observed. An explanation could be the wind speed. The ship in this period were very slow. This may cause the switch on of the main engine after around 3 minutes. Also, due to the 3 ships in the surrounding of STS Fryderyk Chopin the values of the particulate matter changed. Aberdeen Harbor 12 1 8 6 4 2 5 1 15 2 25 3 35 PM 1 PM 2.5 PM 1 Fig. 7 Aberdeen (Location 9) The last measurement was taken in Aberdeen harbor, United Kingdom. The City has around 2 inhabitants and the harbour was placed next to a busy street. The first high peak might be connected with the industrial ship quite near to Fryderyk Chopin that has at that time started the engine and a big cloud of smoke could be observed. We felt and smelled it because the wind carried the pollutants directly in the direction of the BUP Sailing ship. But still, the value is unusual high and is not even approximately comparable to the other data.
Concentration ( g/m 3 ) Concentration ( g/m 3 ) Summary Based on all the measurements the average concentrations were calculated and showed in Fig. 8 and 9. 3 2 1 4 5 6 Location 7 8 PM2.5 Fig. 8 Comparison average PM concentrations at sea locations Figure 8 presents comparison of the average PM concentrations at all the sea locations. These results show that the air was the cleanest along the route from Visby to Aberdeen in the Baltic Sea region. The average value of PM 1 is constantly low. In location 7 the ship passed the Baltic sea very close to Sweden in the north- east and Denmark in the north- west and Germany and Poland in the south which could explain this high value. The other reason might be an increased ship traffic and air traffic above Copenhagen airport. Second highest values were obtained for Skagerrak, where the values of PM 1 were higher than the average from the other days on the sea. However on this day, there was no wind and the ship moved by using the main engine that could have increase the PM 1 values measured. 3 2 1 PM2.5 Świnoujście Location Visby Aberdeen Fig. 9 Comparison average PM concentrations at harbor locations The three harbours and the two Baltic sea regions but were compared to each other. The three investigated cities Swinoujscie (Poland), Visby(Sweden) and Aberdeen (United Kingdom) with the harbours contemplated, Visby had the minimum pollution. The values of PM 1 were constantly very low. The most dangerous size particulate matters PM 1 and 2.5 were almost not included but e very high peak was noticed. Aberdeen harbor would be the most polluted harbour on the sailing route. But this high average was caused by the unbelievable high peak in the beginning of the measurement. In general, though, the Aberdeen harbour had a quit nice air quality. Świnoujście had constantly the highest average values of the concentration of PM 1 and therefore the lowest air quality. The summaries data of all the measurements were gathered in table 1.
Świnoujście Visby Visby Baltic Sea Baltic Sea Baltic Sea Baltic Sea Skagerrak Aberdeen Position of STS Harbour Harbour Harbour On sea On sea On sea On sea On sea Harbour Fryderyk Chopin GPS Wind direction / / / From northeast From west From southwest / / Wind speed / / / /t 18 12.6 22 3 to 8 4 (km/h) Weather conditions sunny Cloudy/ no rain Partly cloudy Mostly clear cloudy Rainy, cloudy Cloudy, light rainy Partly cloudy Cloudy, partly rainy Temperature ( o C) 17 14 16 18 14 18 13 17 14 Number of Min. 2,, Some, 3 / some 4 3 portside A lot surrounding ships cityscape cityscape cityscap Kind of surrounding ships / / / ferries, fishingship / container ships, touristic ships / different kinds plattform ships, container ships Time of 5 48 58 45 6 24 14 35 374 measurement (min) Main engine off off off off off off off / off PM 1 ( gm -3 ) 3.53.72 2.3 2.5 2.7 2.1 1.48 1.96 2.16 PM 2.5 ( gm -3 ) 4.66 1.14 3.1 2.77 2.76 2.75 17.92 3.3 3.55 PM 1 ( gm -3 ) 11.9 3.81 5.1 4.55 4.17 4.48 24.62 11.82 29.33 PM 1max ( gm -3 ) 98.85 28.41 9.326 91.41 82.959 187.25 161.978 281.772 11 958