Sharif Digital Repository

Atmospheric aerosols affect the Earth's climate, air quality, and thus human health. This study used the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) and the Ångström exponent to cluster different particle types over the Lake Urmia Basin. This classification found desert dust and marine (mixed with continental or local-pollution aerosols) as two main aerosol types over the region, while their sources are not well defined. Although different air masses and wind circulation over the study domain in varied months can help to distinguish aerosol sources, measurements are crucial for a complete evaluation  

Environmental degradation due to economic activities is a key challenge facing sustainable development. The fossil fuel production sector is a very polluting industry. In this research, the future trends of pollution accumulation in the region due to direct/indirect oily discharge into the semi-enclosed area of the Persian Gulf are studied. The purpose of the study was not only to alert policy-makers about potential future threats in the region but also to conduct a trial to develop potential solutions to these problems. Four different environmental cases were studied via the principle of system dynamic modeling simulation. The cases consisted of three situations: relaxed, simple policy, and... 

An unstructured grid, finite-volume, and three-dimensional (3D) primitive equation ocean model has been developed to predict oceanic pollutant dispersions in depth and surface of the Caspian Sea for non-chemical reactions of dissolved constituents. The model consists of momentum, continuity, temperature, salinity, and density equations. Physical and mathematical closure has been achieved using Mellor and Yamada turbulent closure sub-models. Since determining a practical definition of salinity that enjoys acceptable accuracy is difficult; therefore, various definitions have been used in this work. A recent definition of salinity stated in the UNESCO Practical Salinity Scale of 1978, PSS78,... 

The effect of temperature and impeller speed on the performance of induced gas flotation (IGF) systems for the removal of oil from produced water in different ranges (5-300 g/L) of total dissolved solids (TDS) was investigated in a pilot plant study. Furthermore, it was evaluated whether the IGF pilot plant effluent could reach the 15 mg/L outlet oil content as required by Article VI of the Kuwait Convention for Persian Gulf region, before being discharged to the sea. The results showed that oil removal efficiencies up to 90% could be reached at high temperature (80°C) in just one single flotation cell without adding any chemicals. Flotation unit, however, should be followed by at least one... 

Iran, having two separate coastlines at its north and south of about 3000 km length, with very different characteristics, suffers from various coastal problems. While its northern coastal area is over-populated and its sensitive and unique habitats must be protected from destruction, most of its southern coastal areas are undeveloped and deserted. Intense oil and gas exploitation activities in the Caspian Sea region and occurrence of two wars in the Persian Gulf during the last two decades have rendered hydrocarbon pollution a major issue for this country's marine and coastal environment. Biodiversity is under threat in some areas and natural resources are deteriorating. To overcome the... 

The Persian Gulf is one of the aquatic ecosystems which has recently faced with different pollutions. Cooling water discharges due to various industries such as power plants can cause important disorders on present ecosystem balance because of its high temperature. Obviously, due to thermal pollution, a great number of aquatic creatures face with a new situation that they can not tolerate. Thermal pollution leads to their migration, creates a potential for new coming species which in turn can thoroughly change the marine ecosystem feature. The other impacts of this phenomenon are: disorders in reproduction, nourishment and other biological habits. In this research, thermal pollution due to... 

Petroleum products which are used in a wide variety of industries as energy sources and raw materials have become a major concern in pollution of terrestrial and marine environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of indigenous microbial isolates for degradation of diesel fuel. Two most proficient bacterial strains among five isolated strains from polluted soil of an industrial refinery were studied. The isolates then were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis using biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. P. aeruginosa showed higher biodegradation efficiency than B. subtilis in shaking flask containing diesel-contaminated water. P.... 

Persian Gulf is a semi-enclosed highly saline reverse estuary that is exposed to the risk of oil spills in offshore oil and gas activities. In the early 2000s, a specific version of NOAA's Trajectory Analysis Planner (TAP II) was developed for Persian Gulf to assist regional organizations in preparing oil spill contingency plans. In this research, a new stochastic model is developed to cover the limitations of TAP II. The new model is based on an advanced trajectory model, which is now linked with high resolution spatiotemporal data of the wind and sea current. In a case study, the developed model is compared with TAP II, and evaluated by multiple tests designed for analysis of uncertainty,... 

Different causes lead to accidental oil spills from fixed and mobile sources in the marine environment. Therefore, it is essential to have a systematic plan for mitigating oil spill consequences. In this research, a general DSS is proposed for passive and active response planning in Persian Gulf, before and after a spill. The DSS is based on NOAA's advanced oil spill model (GNOME), which is now linked with credible met-ocean datasets of CMEMS and ECMWF. The developed open-source tool converts the results of the Lagrangian oil spill model to quantitative parameters such as mean concentration and time of impact of oil. Using them, two new parameters, emergency response priority number (ERPN)... 

Oil spills are serious environmental issues that potentially can cause adverse effects on marine ecosystems. In some marine areas, like the Baltic Sea, there is a large number of wrecks from the first half of the 20th century, and recent monitoring and field work have revealed release of oil from some of these wrecks. The risk posed by a wreck is governed by its condition, hazardous substances contained in the wreck and the state of the surrounding environment. Therefore, there is a need for a common standard method for estimating the risks associated with different wrecks. In this work a state-of-the-art model is presented for spatial and stochastic risk assessment of oil spills from... 

Herein, we demonstrated a facile method for the fabrication of magnetic and superhydrophobic polyurethane sponge with water contact angle of 159° as an adsorbent for cleanup the marine oil spill pollution. For this aim, a polyurethane sponge was coated with carbon black (CB), hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)@Fe3O4, and acrylic resin and then characterized by different techniques. Owing to the chemical and thermal stability of h-BN and CB, the modified sponge was stable under corrosive conditions (pH = 1–14 and salt solutions) and at different temperatures (−12 °C–105 °C). In addition to common oils and organic solvents, we also used the real spilled oils containing monoaromatics and...