Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Issue: Chemical Contamination
Presence of chemicals, which are toxic, persistent, and liable to bioaccumulation,
including inorganic (heavy metals), organic (some biocides and industrial compounds,
usually chlorinated, and some polycyclic aromatichydrocarbons), and metal-organic
compounds (organic compounds of mercury and tin). The following indicators can
be used to monitor and assess this aspect of lagoon health.
Anthropogenic Pressure Indicators
Discharges of toxic compounds from land-based sources
Deposition of toxic compounds via atmosphere
Deposition of toxic compounds from sea-based sources
Environmental State Indicators
Contamination levels/concentrations in sediments and biota
Bioaccumulation levels/rates in organisms
Long-term trends in concentration levels
Ecotoxicological effects, e.g., reproductive declines,
immunosuppression, carcinogenic effects, genotoxic effects
Government/Society Response Indicators
Improvement/construction of wastewater treatment facilities
Ban or significant reduction in production and/or
use of substances (e.g., DDT, PCBs)
Reduction of toxic emissions from industry
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Anything that helps the user prepare input data for a model and/or to analyze and
visualize the outputs of a model can be thought of as a user interface. Data input
forms, file format conversion programs, and graphical post-processing software can
all be part of user interfaces.
Usually, the model itself is a stand-alone computer program written in a standard
programming language, which can read or write in a predefined format. This software
development strategy usually makes the model operation harder, but the modeling
software can be ported to different computers or operating systems easily. In the 1960s
only computer scientists were able to use computers efficiently. The type of input was
not very important for them, and some could even give commands in binary code.
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