Conception of metrological assurance for monitoring environmental thermal pollution

Abstract

Sources of environmental thermal pollution are considered in regard to the scale of their impact on the entire planet and on the ecological sintation of individual regions and the life of people in enclosed premises. The main principles are forrm~_!ated for the conception of metrological assurance in monitoring environmental thermal pollution.Thermal pollution is a major factor that has a deleterious effect on the environment [1, 2], which is caused by a rise in the ambient temperature and arises during large-scale atmospheric motions due, in particular, to the appearance of ozone holes and the greenhouse effect as well as industrial discharges of hot gases and water. The latter consist mainly of heat discharges with waste water (for heat-and-power plants and nuclear power plants), hot gases and ash particles released with the combustion products (from heat-and-power plants). Moreover, the large cooling towers in the condensate cooling systems (of heat-and-power plants) also have a deleterious effect on the environment, inasmuch as they substantially heat and humidify the atmosphere in their region. With insufficient insulation, the thermal grids and pipelines connecting the plants with the users of the heat also disrupt the environmental thermal conditions in the regions through which they pass. All facilities of energyintensive enterprises (metallurgical, chemical, etc.) as well as high-deusity reside,tial areas are thermal pollution sources, to some degree or another. Ensuring effective heat insulation of industrial and residential buildings, therefore, is vital not only for saving energy and resources but also maintaining the normal ecological situation of the inhabited region. Note must be taken of one more deleterious aspect of thermal pollution, i.e., the direct impact that the higher temperature and strong heat flows have on enclosed industrial premises with high-capacity power plants and equipment with a high heat output.The temperature and the heat flow are the main parameters that determine the level of thermal pollution. Depending on its scale, the thermal pollution may have a negative effect on the global scale, affecting the thermal conditions of the entire planet, as well as on separate regions with a high concentration of thermal pollution sources and on the conditions in which humans remain in enclosed premises. The problems of monitoring the thermal pollution in each ease have much in common but also have specific aspects, so that it is desirable to consider them separately henceforth.Monitoring Thermal Pollution on the Scale of the Impact on the Entire Planet. The energetics of the Earth and the large-scale atmospheric movements are determined by the radiation balance of the Earth as a planet. Data about the components of the radiation balance of the system consisting of the terrestrial surface and the atmosphere are important for evaluating the energetics of objects (such as space vehicles) in outer space in the terrestrial radiation field. Study of the radiation balance for the soil cover ena...

Fingerprinting Anthropogenic “Waste” Heat Across an Urban Landscape Using Earth Observational Satellite Data

“…More recently, interest has focused on the question of urban thermal pollution and the application of remotely sensed data as an assessment tool [4]. Urban thermal pollution is known to be strongly associated with increases in ambient temperatures at both local and regional scales [5]. The intensification of urban land cover and its spread exacerbates thermal pollution, which is closely related to the urban heat island effect.…”