Eco-safety and methods of environmental monitoring.
Eco-safety and methods of environmental monitoring
Environmental safety of the city
A resident of almost any modern city has at least once thought: «How acceptable is the state of the environment for life?» For many, looking for an answer to this question is simply scary, since we all suspect that it will be pessimistic. However, the question of environmental safety of the cityexists not only in our minds, — specialists are quite actively working on this problem. The main problem for a modern city remains air pollution with harmful emissions from stationary sources of pollution — industrial enterprises, domestic boiler houses, combined heat and power plants, etc. Also, a significant contribution to the pollution of the urban atmosphere is made by transport, or rather, the process of its operation.
The environmental situation is assessed by the indicator of the total emission of pollutants per unit area (t/km2/year). This indicator differs in different areas, depending on the degree of proximity to hazardous objects — sources of pollution.
In order to combat the problem, specialists are developing new ways and methods of fighting for the environmental safety of the city. In order to maintain the purity of the atmosphere, standards are established according to which enterprises that pose a danger to the environment must operate. In addition, since the end of the 20th century, Days of Protection from Environmental Hazards have been held all over the planet. Thus, everyone can feel their involvement in the cause of environmental protection. The most common environmental actions that take place around the world as part of the Days of Protection, for example: «World Water Day», «International Bird Day», «World Earth Day», «March of Parks». Days of Protection are held with the participation of public organizations whose activities are aimed at increasing the level of responsibility for the environment among the population.
Methods of environmental monitoring
It is equally important to do everything possible to prevent environmental safety. This is precisely why special methods of environmental monitoring have been developed, the most famous of which are: aerospace; aviation; remote, which include sea-based and land-based methods. Let's consider some methods in more detail. Aerospace methods also belong to the remote group, imply observation using aircraft, balloons, satellites and satellite systems, as well as a system for processing remote sensing data. For the purposes of aerospace monitoring, foreign satellites of the NOAA, Landsat and SPOT series are used. The high-resolution radiometer takes pictures of the Earth's surface in five spectral ranges. Space photography is carried out with a spatial resolution of 1100 m and provides a swath width of 2700 km.
The domestic satellites include the Resource series of satellites. These satellites provide multi-zone high- and medium-resolution space information using two scanners in the visible and near infrared ranges. Using the system of devices, images of clouds and the underlying surface are compiled twice a day in the visible and infrared ranges, as well as data on air temperature and humidity, sea surface temperature and clouds.
Physical methods of environmental monitoring include: quantitative methods, such as:
gravimetric method (determination of the mass and percentage content of any element, ion or chemical compound found in the test sample);
titrimetric method (weighing is replaced by measuring the volumes of both the substance being determined and the reagent used in this determination); colorimetric method (change in the color shades of the test solution depending on the concentration).