Application of GIS technology in chemical emergency response

Responding to concerns raised by the Bhopal accident, more and more attention has been paid to local emergency, especially chemical emergency, prevention and planning worldwide, and many chemical emergency response systems for public response personnel have been built. With the successful application of geographical information system (GIS) technology in many fields, GIS can be an efficient tool for effective response to chemical emergencies. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the application of GIS technology in emergency response. Typical GIS technology is simply introduced and some of its existing applications to emergency, mainly natural disaster, response are summarized. Spatial data and spatial analysis requirements for chemical monitoring and emergency response are also discussed in detail. Finally a chemical monitoring and emergency response system under development by combining GIS and expert system for both chemical distribution centers and public response personnel is presented.

Emerging Chemicals of Concern: Preface

On June 29,2015,the Chemical Abstracts Service（CAS）,the world’s authority for chemical information,registered the 100millionth chemical substance in the CAS REGISTRY,the world’s largest database of unique chemical substances（http：//www.cas.org/news/media-releases/100-millionthsubstance）.There are different estimates of the number of chemicals in commercial use.Depending on the source,that number could range from around 8,000（counting only those

Chemicals of Emerging Arctic Concern:Preface

1.Preface The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme(AMAP)was established as an international program for monitoring and assessing Arctic pollution in 1991,under the Arctic Environmental Protection Strategy[1].AMAP is now aWorking Group of the Arctic Council(http://www.arctic-council.org)responsible for monitoring and assessing a range of pollution-and climate change-related issues in the Arctic in order to“provide reliable and sufficient information on the status of,and threats to,the Arctic environment,and scientific advice on actions to be taken in order to support Arctic governments in their efforts to take remedial and preventive actions relating to contaminants and adverse effects of climate change”(see Ref.[2]).

‘New’unintentionally produced PCBs in the Arctic

Contamination of the Arctic by legacy polychlorinated biphenyls(PCB)is well documented,but the more recent discovery of unintentionally produced(UP)PCBs in the Arctic is a cause for concern.Legacy PCBs are covered by existing international conventions and regular monitoring,and the UP congeners are covered by the Stockholm Convention and the U.S.Toxic Substances Control Act,but systematic monitoring and regulatory enforcement of UP-PCBs are lacking.Sources of UP-PCB are by-products of manufacturing(e.g.pigments)and from thermal sources(e.g.incinerators).Estimates of PCB emissions in China now show UP-PCB eclipsing emissions of legacy PCB.Here we discuss the 209 PCB-congener results from surface snow samples from Lomonosovfonna in 2010 and 2014,a glacial site on Svalbard which,in 2014,shows presence of PCB5,PCB11,and an unusually high amount of PCB52.While PCB5 and PCB11 may not be found in legacy PCB mixtures,PCB52 is in many PCB mixtures,yet dominates none of them as in the 2014 snow sample.Is it possible that these congeners are from UP-PCB processes?A search of the literature shows that PCB5,PCB11 and PCB52 are co-synthesis products of pigment production and that PCB5 and PCB11 are found in flue gas and ash from hazardous waste incineration.Of these,PCB11 has received greater attention in the literature.It has recently been consistently detected in the air,snow,soil and biota in the Arctic,evidence that PCB11 and possibly other UP-PCB congeners are global contaminants.Ice core measurements dating from 1957 to 2009 of PCBs in Svalbard reveal PCB11 presence throughout that period,indicating historic presence in the Arctic before being a focus of research elsewhere.Other UP-PCB need to be more fully investigated,especially from thermal sources.