Spyridon RAPSOMANIKIS | Democritus University of Thrace (original) (raw)

Papers by Spyridon RAPSOMANIKIS

Applied Sciences

Energy efficiency in museums and buildings that house works of art or cultural heritage appears t... more Energy efficiency in museums and buildings that house works of art or cultural heritage appears to be a difficult achievement if indoor air quality has to be kept at appropriate levels for artefacts’ long-term sustainability. There is a gap in our scientific literature on the relationship between indoor air quality and energy efficiency, meaning that there are no numerical data that examine both of them simultaneously, although this is a theme that is broadly discussed by museum managers, curators, and scientists. It is certain that the two parameters, indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy efficiency (EEF) are conflicting and difficult to reconcile. Furthermore, IAQ is not only the determination of temperature, relative humidity, and CO2, as is usually presented. Using green or renewable energy does not make a building “energy efficient”. Hence, in the manuscript we review the literature on IAQ of museums and exhibition buildings, in conjunction with the consideration of their EEF. Ho...

Science of The Total Environment, 2007

An Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS; TSI 3800) was deployed to Athens (Greece) du... more An Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS; TSI 3800) was deployed to Athens (Greece) during August 2003. The instrument provides information on a polydisperse aerosol, acquiring precise aerodynamic diameter (+/-1%) within the range 0.3 to 3 mum and individual particle positive and negative mass spectral data in real time. Sampling was carried out indoors and outdoors at an office in a building on a minor road in the city centre and various outdoor and indoor sources were identified. Specific outdoor particles such as dust and carbon particles were detected in indoor air. The generation of particles from indoor sources was studied and several different types of particle were found to be present in environmental tobacco smoke (ETS): three were potassium-rich (with differing proportions of carbon) emitted directly in the exhaled mainstream smoke. Two other types arose mainly when the cigarette was left smouldering on an ash-tray. Another particle type exhibited a strong signal at m/z 84, most likely due to a nicotine fragment. The temporal trend of this specific particle type showed likely condensation of semi-volatile constituents on existing potassium-rich particles. A release of insect repellent in the room was also successfully monitored.

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 2000

One of the primary aims of the North Atlantic regional Aerosol Characterisation Experiment (ACE-2... more One of the primary aims of the North Atlantic regional Aerosol Characterisation Experiment (ACE-2) was to quantify the physical and chemical processes affecting the evolution of the major aerosol types over the North Atlantic. The best, practical way of doing this is in a Lagrangian framework where a parcel of air is sampled over several tens of hours and its physical and chemical properties are intensively measured. During the intensive observational phase of ACE-2, between 15 June 1997 and 24 July 1997, 3 cloudy Lagrangian experiments and 3 cloud-free, Lagrangian experiments were undertaken between the south west tip of the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands. This paper gives an overview of the aims and logistics of all of the Lagrangian experiments and compares and contrasts them to provide a framework for the more focused Lagrangian papers in this issue and future process modelling studies and parametrisation development. The characteristics of the cloudy Lagrangian experiments were remarkably different, enabling a wide range of different physical and chemical processes to be studied. In the 1st Lagrangian, a clean maritime air mass was sampled in which salt particle production, due to increased wind speed, dominated the change in the accumulation mode concentrations. In the 2nd Lagrangian, extensive cloud cover resulted in cloud processing of the aerosol in a polluted air mass, and entrainment of air from the free troposphere influenced the overall decrease in aerosol concentrations in the marine boundary layer (MBL). Very little change in aerosol characteristics was measured in the 3rd Lagrangian, where the pollution in the MBL was continually being topped up by entraining air from a residual continental boundary layer (CBL) above. From the analysis of all the Lagrangian experiments, it has been possible to formulate, and present here, a generalised description of a European continental outbreak of pollution over the subtropical North Atlantic.

Environmental Technology Letters, 1984

Incubation of (CD3) SnCl in estuarine and freshwater sediments demonstrates that the conversion t... more Incubation of (CD3) SnCl in estuarine and freshwater sediments demonstrates that the conversion to (CD3)4 Sn is almost entirely a chemical process (to an extent ≥ 95% of the total conversion.) The implications of this for the environmental methylation of methyltin compounds is that a biological process does not occur.

Applied sciences, Nov 22, 2022

This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a typical phenomenon of urban climate, where the temperatur... more The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a typical phenomenon of urban climate, where the temperature of central urban locations is several degrees higher than that of surrounding rural areas of similar elevation; the temperature difference is especially pronounced during night-time. Although the UHI effect has long been studied through ground-based observations, the possibility of thermal remote sensing using spacecraft and/or airborne platforms has become available only relatively recently, providing innovative ways for the observation and study of the UHI effect. Following an initiative of the European Space Agency (ESA) to improve our understanding of the complexities of how urban heat islands arise, a relevant project entitled “Urban Heat Islands and Urban Thermography” has been under way to study the UHI effect in major European cities through the combination of ground-based observations and spacecraft remote sensing. In this paper we report preliminary results of this project pe...

Coastal rural areas can be a source of elemental mercury, but the potential influence of their to... more Coastal rural areas can be a source of elemental mercury, but the potential influence of their topographic and climatic particularities on gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) fluxes have not been investigated extensively. In this study gaseous elemental mercury was measured over Mediterranean coastal grassland located at Northern Greece from 2014 to 2015 and GEM fluxes were evaluated utilizing Monin-Obukhov similarity theory. The GEM fluxes ranged from -50.30 to 109.695 ng m-2 h-1 with a mean value equal to 10.501 ng m-2 h-1 ± 19.14 ng m-2 h-1. Concerning the peak events, with high positive and low negative GEM fluxes, those were recorded from the morning until the evening. Rain events were a strong contributing factor for enhanced GEM fluxes. The enhanced turbulent mixing under daytime unstable conditions led to greater evasion and positive GEM fluxes while during nighttime periods the GEM evasion is lower indicating the effect of atmospheric stability on GEM fluxes. The coastal grassl...

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2017

Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations were determined in three different indoor environm... more Gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations were determined in three different indoor environments: an office in a building with no indoor sources of mercury (Bldg. I), an office affected by indoor mercury emissions from an adjacent laboratory (Bldg. II), and finally, an office where an outdoor mercury spill occurred accidentally (Bldg. III). The maximum recorded indoor GEM concentrations, with the largest variation in time, were observed in Bldg. II, with a continuous indoor mercury source (lower to upper quartile 15 to 62 ng m−3). The lowest values were recorded in Bldg. I (lower to upper quartile 3 to 5 ng m−3), where indoor GEM levels were affected mainly by the exhaust of vehicles in the parking lot of the building. The monitoring of GEM indoors (lower to upper quartile 15 to 42 ng m−3), and outdoors (in several heights) of the Bldg. III, revealed that the cleaning up procedure that followed the spill was not adequate. Auxiliary measurements in the first two cases were the indoor microclimatic conditions, as well as the indoor CO2 concentrations, and in the third case the outdoor meteorological data. The exhaust of vehicles, the chemical reagents, and an outdoor mercury spill were found to mainly affect the observed indoor GEM levels. People in Bldg. II and people walking through the area, where Hg0 was spilled, were found to be exposed to concentrations above some guide values.

Muddy Coast Dynamics and Resource Management, 2000

A first assessment of N2O and CH4 emissions from Bodden waters (southern Baltic Sea) was carried ... more A first assessment of N2O and CH4 emissions from Bodden waters (southern Baltic Sea) was carried out with the aim of investigating the seasonal and spatial variability of the emissions as well as characterizing the corresponding biological processes (i.e. denitrification, nitrification, and methanogenesis) along pronounced gradients in trophic status and salinity.Saturation values of CH4 varied from 102 to 16,300%. Supply

Environmental Technology Letters, 1985

... University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, England + Department of Chemistry, Pa... more ... University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, England + Department of Chemistry, Parsons Hall, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03824 ... Samples were boiled almost to dryness and the volume adjusted to 50 cm3 prior to analysis by FAAS (Flame Atomic ...

Mediterranean Marine Science, 2006

Data on the distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon (measured as TCO2) and related parameters ... more Data on the distribution of dissolved inorganic carbon (measured as TCO2) and related parameters in the Thermaikos Gulf were obtained during May 1997. High TCO2 concentrations were recorded close to the bottom, especially in the northern part of the gulf, as a result of organic matter remineralisation. The positive relatively good correlation between TCO2 and both apparent oxygen utilisation (AOU) and phosphate at the last sampling depth confi rmed the regenerative origin of a large proportion of TCO2. The comparatively conservative behaviour of alkalinity, together with the relatively low value of the homogenous buffer factor β (β = ∂lnfCO2/∂lnTCO2) revealed that calcifi cation or carbonate dissolution takes place on a very small scale, simultaneously with the organic carbon production. The correlations between fCO2 and chlorophyll α, as well as AOU and the surface temperature, revealed that the carbon dioxide fi xation through the biological activity is the principal factor that m...

The Science of the total environment, Jan 15, 2009

The abundance and origin of aliphatic hydrocarbons, carbonyl compounds and molecular biomarkers f... more The abundance and origin of aliphatic hydrocarbons, carbonyl compounds and molecular biomarkers found in the aliphatic fraction of PM(10-2.5) and PM(2.5) in the centre of Athens Greece are discussed in an attempt to reveal seasonal air pollution characteristics of the conurbation. Each extract was fractionated into individual compound classes and was analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Normal alkanes, ranging from C(14) to C(35), were abundant in PM(10-2.5) and PM(2.5) samples during both sampling campaigns. The daily concentration of total n-alkanes was up to 438 ng m(-3) for PM(10-2.5) and up to 511 ng m(-3) for PM(2.5). Additionally, gaseous concentrations of n-alkanes were calculated, revealing that the relative proportions between gaseous and particle phases of individual compounds may differ significantly between summer and late winter. Normal alkanals and alkan-2-ones were only detected in the fine fraction of particulate matter and their concentra...

Naturwissenschaften, 1999

The distribution of partial pressure of carbon dioxide and the concentrations of nitrous oxide an... more The distribution of partial pressure of carbon dioxide and the concentrations of nitrous oxide and methane were investigated in a cold water filament near the coastal upwelling region off Oman at the beginning of the southwest monsoon in 1997. The results suggest that such filaments are regions of intense biogeochemical activity which may affect the marine cycling of climatically relevant trace gases.

Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2009

Ambient samples of coarse and fine organic particulate matter collected from two urban sites in t... more Ambient samples of coarse and fine organic particulate matter collected from two urban sites in the city of Athens over one warm and one cold period have been solvent-extracted and quantitatively characterized by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for their content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and oxidized PAHs (oxyPAHs). Variable concentrations were observed for the two distinct monthly periods representing a cold, dry period and a summer period, relating to strong local primary emissions and to lower emissions with more stable meteorological conditions, respectively. Additionally, gaseous concentrations of selected PAHs were calculated, revealing that the relative proportions between gaseous and particle phase of individual compounds may differ significantly between summer and late winter, reflecting changes in PAH emission sources and climate conditions. In fact almost all of SigmaPAHs were attributed to combustion sources (82-92%), while more than half are considered as comprising of probable human carcinogens (47-62%). Traffic was confirmed as the major contributor of PAHs when appropriate diagnostic ratios and traffic marker compounds were used. This approach also led to the estimation of diesel versus petrol contribution to the atmospheric PAH burden, using the methylphenanthrene to phenanthrene ratio. The fourteen oxygenated polycyclic compounds that were quantified had greater concentrations in the colder period. Among these compounds 9,10-phenanthrenequinone, 1-pyrenecarboxaldehyde and 9H-fluoren-9-one had the highest concentrations.

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2007

Spectral measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and theÅngström coefficient were conduct... more Spectral measurements of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and theÅngström coefficient were conducted at Thessaloniki, Greece (40.5 • N, 22.9 • E) between January 1997 and December 2005 with a Brewer MKIII doublemonochromator spectroradiometer. The dataset was compared with collocated measurements of a second spectroradiometer (Brewer MKII) and a CIMEL sun-photometer, showing correlations of 0.93 and 0.98, respectively. A seasonal variation of the AOD was observed at Thessaloniki, with AOD values at 340 nm of 0.52 and 0.28 for August and December respectively. Back trajectories of air masses for up to 4 days were used to assess the influence of long-range transport from various regions to the aerosol load over Thessaloniki. It is shown that part of the observed seasonality can be attributed to air masses with high AOD originating from NorthEastern and Eastern directions during summertime. The analysis of the long-term record (9 years) of AOD showed a downward tendency. A similar decreasing tendency was found in the record of the PM 10 aerosol measurements, which are conducted near the surface at 4 air-quality monitoring stations in the area of the city of Thessaloniki.

Applied Organometallic Chemistry, 1990