To evaluate the real reductions in sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) emissions from coal-fired power plants in China, Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) remote sensing SO 2 columns were used to inversely model the SO 2 emission burdens surrounding 26 isolated power plants before and after the effective operation of their flue gas desulfurization (FGD) facilities. An improved two-dimensional Gaussian fitting method was developed to estimate SO 2 burdens under complex background conditions, by using the accurate local background columns and the customized fitting domains for each target source. The OMI-derived SO 2 burdens before effective FGD operation were correlated well with the bottom-up emission estimates (R=0.92), showing the reliability of the OMI-derived SO 2 burdens as a linear indicator of the associated source strength. OMI observations indicated that the average lag time period between installation and effective operation of FGD facilities at these 26 power plants was around 2 years, and no FGD facilities have actually operated before the year 2008. The OMI estimated average SO 2 removal equivalence (56.0%) was substantially lower than the official report (74.6%) for these 26 power plants. Therefore, it has been concluded that the real reductions of SO 2 emissions in China associated with the FGD facilities at coal-fired power plants were considerably diminished in the context of the current weak supervision measures.

Background: Bathyarchaeota, a newly proposed archaeal phylum, is considered as an important driver of the global carbon cycle. However, due to the great diversity of them, there is limited genomic information that accurately encompasses the metabolic potential of the entire archaeal phylum. Results: In the current study, nine metagenome-assembled genomes of Bathyarchaeota from four subgroups were constructed from mangrove sediments, and metatranscriptomes were obtained for evaluating their in situ transcriptional activities. Comparative analyses with reference genomes and the transcripts of functional genes posit an expanded role for Bathyarchaeota in phototrophy, autotrophy, and nitrogen and sulfur cycles, respectively. Notably, the presence of genes for rhodopsins, cobalamin biosynthesis, and the oxygen-dependent metabolic pathways in some Bathyarchaeota subgroup 6 genomes suggest a light-sensing and microoxic lifestyle within this subgroup. Conclusions: The results of this study expand our knowledge of metabolic abilities and diverse lifestyles of Bathyarchaeota, highlighting the crucial role of Bathyarchaeota in geochemical cycle.

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