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Manual Reference Potential impact of wash water effluents from scrubbers on water acidification in the southern North Sea
Sulphur Oxides (SOx) in atmospheric ship emissions resulting from the burning of fuel with high sulphur content are known to be harmful to human and ecosystem health. Since January 1st 2020, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) lowered the previous limit for sulphur content in ship fuel from 3.5% m/m (mass by mass) to 0.50%. In the emission control areas (SECAs), the limit for the sulphur content had been set to 1.0% in 2010 and is kept below 0.1% since 2015. To comply with these limits, ship operators and owners can switch to fuel oil with lower sulphur content (LSFO). Alternatively, they can continue to burn fuel with high sulphur content by using technical means such as exhaust gas cleaning systems (or scrubbers) that reduce the atmospheric SOx emissions to a level equivalent to the required fuel oil sulphur limit. Scrubbers use sea water as cleaning media to remove SOx from the air emissions. There are three main categories of scrubbers: (1) the open-loop scrubbers that continuously discharge their wash water effluent, (2) the closed-loop scrubbers that treat the wash water before it is discharged, and (3) the hybrid scrubbers that can switch from open to closed modes. Scrubbers transform the air pollution into direct marine discharge. As hybrid scrubbers are more likely to discharge their sulphur waste into sea water rather than using land infrastructures, they are hereafter taken as open-loop ones. The effect of SOx contribution from ship on sea water pH is assessed for the English Channel and the southern North Sea by means of a marine biogeochemical model that includes a detailed description of the carbonate chemistry. This model allows testing different scenarios of SOx contribution resulting from the maritime traffic. To this end, realistic scenarios with ship traffic density estimated for the years 2019, 2020 and 2030, assuming a year-to-year ship traffic increase of 3.5% and several SOx pollution reduction strategies have been tested. An additional model simulation with null SOx contribution from the shipping sector is used as a reference level to comparatively assess the impact of each scenario on the sea water pH. Model results show a pH decrease of 0.004 units over the whole domain in case of a 2019-like ship traffic density with 15% of the fleet (in Gross Tonnage) using open-loop and hybrid scrubber systems. For future scenarios, assuming that 35% of the fleet is equipped with open-loop and hybrid scrubbers, the pH is estimated to decrease by 0.008 to 0.010 units in average over the whole domain. The magnitude of pH changes is not evenly distributed through space. According to the model results, the largest pH changes would occur in areas of high traffic density, such as along the Belgian and Dutch coasts and in the vicinity of large harbours such as Rotterdam. Ocean acidification rate attributed to climate change is estimated at 0.0017-0.0027 pH units per year. In comparison, the total pH decrease owing to the use of open-loop scrubbers would be equivalent to 2 to 4 years of climate change acidification on average over the whole domain, and to 10 to 50 years, in more local areas. The cumulative impact of ocean acidification due to climate change and to maritime traffic should therefore be considered in ecosystem assessment studies.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Predicting the evolution of the Lassa virus endemic area and population at risk over the next decades
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Prediction of the distribution of shrimp species found in southern Benin through the lake Nokoué-Ocean complex
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022
Inbook Reference Predictive modelling of seafloor surficial gravel distribution within the Princess Elisabeth offshore wind farm zone (Belgium).
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2023
Unpublished Reference Preliminary report on weathering
This is a list of several parametrizations related to the weathering of oil. This is mainly a work document with references.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Premier signalement en Belgique de Phloeotribus liminaris (Harris, 1852), un scolyte nord-américain introduit en Europe (Coleoptera, Curculionidae, Scolytinae)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021
Inproceedings Reference Présence d'un gecko dans l'Eocène basal de Dormaal (Belgique): un élément thermophile du PETM ?
Si le registre fossile des lézards est assez bon pour l’Eocène moyen et supérieur en Europe, il n’en va pas de même pour l’Eocène inférieur. Seule la localité de Dormaal, datant de l’Eocène basal (niveau-repère MP7,Belgique) semble faire exception. Parmi les nombreux fossiles de lézards de cette localité, nous présentons ici pour la première fois quelques rares éléments appartenant à un gecko. Ce dernier vivait donc dans nos régions durant le Maximum Thermique Paléocène-Eocène (PETM), climat le plus chaud des 66 derniers millions d’années. Ce nouveau taxon, daté de 56 Ma, est le plus ancien gecko cénozoïque connu en Europe. Avec Laonogekko lefevrei de Prémontré (MP 10, Bassin de Paris), plus jeune d’environ 5 millions d’années, ces taxons forment la radiation du Paléogène inférieur de ce clade. Aujourd’hui, les geckos sont répartis dans le monde entier, principalement dans les zones tempérées chaudes à tropicales, bien que certaines espèces puissent atteindre des régions plus froides dans les hémisphères Nord et Sud. Le nouveau gecko de Dormaal représente un élément thermophile, confirmant les préférences thermiques actuelles des geckos. Par ailleurs, la distribution de ce groupe dans des latitudes aussi septentrionales (au-dessus de 50° Nord) n’est pas surprenante durant cette période particulièrement chaude. Bien que le nouveau taxon décrit ici ne soit représenté que par un frontal et des dentaires (deux des éléments les plus fréquemment préservés chez les geckos fossiles), il fournit un nouveau record de diversité des squamates à la base de l’Eocène. Avec Yantarogekko de l’ambre éocène de la Baltique (district de Kaliningrad, nord-ouest de la Russie), ces geckos documentent la distribution septentrionale des geckos en Europe pendant l’Éocène.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Présence ignorée de Aplus assimilis (Reeve, 1846) (Gastropoda, Pisaniidae) en Méditerranée pendant quatre décennies
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2020
Article Reference Presence of Placiphorella atlantica (Verrill & S. I. Smith, 1882) (Polyplacophora, Mopaliidae) in the Denmark Strait (West Iceland)
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2022 OA
Article Reference Presence of the large aquatic snake Palaeophis africanus in the middle Eocene marine margin of the Congo Basin, Cabinda, Angola
Ten isolated snake vertebrae from Landana and Sassa-Zao, Cabinda Exclave, Angola, present a ‘‘primitive” grade morphology with a weak lateral compression and do not belong to Palaeophis aff. typhaeus as originally referred to. They well belong to a single taxon and are here attributed to Palaeophis africanus for which the intracolumnar variation is described and illustrated. This species is Lutetian (middle Eocene) in age and originates from a marine coastal environment confirming again the aquatic capabilities of palaeophiid snakes. It represents the third largest species of Palaeophis with P. colossaeus and P. maghrebianus to which it is closely related in our tentative phylogenetic analysis, indicating that these three taxa could belong to an African clade. This study also contributes to the debate on the existence of primitive and advanced grades among palaeophiid snakes. Palaeophis presents laterally compressed anterior trunk vertebrae that could have been often erroneously considered as representing advanced grade species and potential parataxonomy.
Located in Library / RBINS Staff Publications 2021