Changing Atmospheric Environment, Changing Views – and an Air Quality Model’s Response on the Regional Scale

Regional Scale Impact of the COVID-19 Lockdown on Air Quality: Gaseous Pollutants in the Po Valley, Northern Italy

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12020264 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 264 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Giovanni Lonati ◽

Federico Riva

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Regional Scale ◽

High Volume ◽

Ambient Air ◽

Northern Italy ◽

Traffic Emissions ◽

Gaseous Pollutants ◽

Po Valley ◽

Concentration Levels

The impact of the reduced atmospheric emissions due to the COVID-19 lockdown on ambient air quality in the Po Valley of Northern Italy was assessed for gaseous pollutants (NO2, benzene, ammonia) based on data collected at the monitoring stations distributed all over the area. Concentration data for each month of the first semester of 2020 were compared with those of the previous six years, on monthly, daily, and hourly bases, so that pre, during, and post-lockdown conditions of air quality could be separately analyzed. The results show that, as in many other areas worldwide, the Po Valley experienced better air quality during 2020 spring months for NO2 and benzene. In agreement with the reductions of nitrogen oxides and benzene emissions from road traffic, estimated to be −35% compared to the regional average, the monthly mean concentration levels for 2020 showed reductions in the −40% to −35% range compared with the previous years, but with higher reductions, close to −50%, at high-volume-traffic sites in urban areas. Conversely, NH3 ambient concentration levels, almost entirely due the emissions of the agricultural sector, did not show any relevant change, even at high-volume-traffic sites in urban areas. These results point out the important role of traffic emissions in NO2 and benzene ambient levels in the Po Valley, and confirm that this region is a rather homogeneous air basin with urban area hot-spots, the contributions of which add up to a relatively high regional background concentration level. Additionally, the relatively slow response of the air quality levels to the sudden decrease of the emissions due to the lockdown shows that this region is characterized by a weak exchange of the air masses that favors both the build-up of atmospheric pollutants and the development of secondary formation processes. Thus, air quality control strategies should aim for structural interventions intended to reduce traffic emissions at the regional scale and not only in the largest urban areas.

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Contribution of Local and Transboundary Air Pollution to the Urban Air Quality of Fukuoka, Japan

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12040431 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (4) ◽

pp. 431

Author(s):

Ayako Yoshino ◽

Akinori Takami ◽

Keiichiro Hara ◽

Chiharu Nishita-Hara ◽

Masahiko Hayashi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Gaseous Species ◽

Transboundary Air Pollution ◽

Local Air Pollution ◽

The City

Transboundary air pollution (TAP) and local air pollution (LAP) influence the air quality of urban areas. Fukuoka, located on the west side of Japan and affected by TAP from the Asian continent, is a unique example for understanding the contribution of LAP and TAP. Gaseous species and particulate matter (PM) were measured for approximately three weeks in Fukuoka in the winter of 2018. We classified two distinctive periods, LAP and TAP, based on wind speed. The classification was supported by variations in the concentration of gaseous species and by backward trajectories. Most air pollutants, including NOx and PM, were high in the LAP period and low in the TAP period. However, ozone was the exception. Therefore, our findings suggest that reducing local emissions is necessary. Ozone was higher in the TAP period, and the variation in ozone concentration was relatively small, indicating that ozone was produced outside of the city and transported to Fukuoka. Thus, air pollutants must also be reduced at a regional scale, including in China.

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The influence of spatiality on shipping emissions, air quality and potential human exposure in Yangtze River Delta/Shanghai, China

10.5194/acp-2018-1163 ◽

2018 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Junlan Feng ◽

Yan Zhang ◽

Shanshan Li ◽

Jingbo Mao ◽

Allison P. Patton ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Yangtze River ◽

Human Exposure ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Yangtze River Delta ◽

River Delta ◽

Population Exposure ◽

Inland Water ◽

The Yrd ◽

The Impact

Abstract. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the megacity of Shanghai are host to one of the busiest port clusters in the world, the region also suffers from high levels of air pollution. The goal of this study was to estimate the contributions of shipping to emissions, air quality, and population exposure and characterize their dependence on the geographic spatiality of ship lanes from the regional scale to city scale for 2015. The WRF-CMAQ model was used to simulate the influence of coastal and inland-water shipping, in port emissions, shipping-related cargo transport on air quality and, population-weighted concentrations, a measure of human exposure. Our results showed that the impact of shipping on air quality in the YRD was attributable primarily to shipping emissions within 12 NM of shore, but emissions coming from the coastal area of 24 to 96 NM still contributed substantially to ship-related PM2.5 concentrations in YRD. The overall contribution of ships to PM2.5 concentration in YRD could reach to 4.62 μg/m3 in summer when monsoon winds transport shipping emissions onshore. In Shanghai city, inland-water going ships were major contributors (40–80 %) to the shipping impact on urban air quality. Given the proximity of inland-water ships to urban populations of Shanghai, the emissions of inland-water ships contributed more to population-weighted concentrations. These research results provide scientific evidence to inform policies for controlling future shipping emissions; in particular, stricter standards could be considered for the ships on inland rivers and other waterways close to residential regions.

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Evaluating Regional-Scale Air Quality Models

Air Pollution Modeling and Its Application XIX - NATO Science for Peace and Security Series ◽

10.1007/978-1-4020-8453-9_45 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 412-419

Author(s):

Alice B. Gilliland ◽

James M. Godowitch ◽

Christian Hogrefe ◽

S. T. Rao

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Quality Models

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A data-driven approach for optimal design of integrated air quality monitoring network in a chemical cluster

Royal Society Open Science ◽

10.1098/rsos.180889 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (9) ◽

pp. 180889 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Zhengqiu Zhu ◽

Bin Chen ◽

Sihang Qiu ◽

Rongxiao Wang ◽

Yiping Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Measurement Data ◽

Monitoring Network ◽

Quality Monitoring ◽

Data Driven ◽

Atmospheric Environment ◽

Illustrative Case ◽

Air Quality Monitoring ◽

Detection Capability ◽

Data Driven Approach

The chemical industry is of paramount importance to the world economy and this industrial sector represents a substantial income source for developing countries. However, the chemical plants producing inside an industrial district pose a great threat to the surrounding atmospheric environment and human health. Therefore, designing an appropriate and available air quality monitoring network (AQMN) is essential for assessing the effectiveness of deployed pollution-controlling strategies and facilities. As monitoring facilities located at inappropriate sites would affect data validity, a two-stage data-driven approach constituted of a spatio-temporal technique (i.e. Bayesian maximum entropy) and a multi-objective optimization model (i.e. maximum concentration detection capability and maximum dosage detection capability) is proposed in this paper. The approach aims at optimizing the design of an AQMN formed by gas sensor modules. Owing to the lack of long-term measurement data, our developed atmospheric dispersion simulation system was employed to generate simulated data for the above method. Finally, an illustrative case study was implemented to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed approach, and results imply that this work is able to design an appropriate AQMN with acceptable accuracy and efficiency.

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Study on the Content and Influence of Heavy Metal Elements in Dust of Xiqing District of Tianjin

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/202124801042 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 248 ◽

pp. 01042

Author(s):

YanShan Yin ◽

Jin Xu

Keyword(s):

Heavy Metal ◽

Air Quality ◽

Human Health ◽

Inductively Coupled Plasma ◽

Great Influence ◽

Electric Heating ◽

Atmospheric Environment ◽

Total Dust ◽

Metal Elements ◽

Heavy Metal Elements

At present, heavy metal elements in dust have great influence on air quality and human health,therefore, the content and influence of heavy metal elements on campus were studied. Firstly, PM10 and total dust in the autumn campus atmosphere were sampled for 10 consecutive days, and then digested by electric heating plate digestion method. Then, inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) was used to detect and analyze the content and concentration ratio of seven heavy metal elements Cu, Pb, Cd, Zn, Cr, Hg and Ba in PM10 and total dust. Finally, through comparative analysis, it is concluded that heavy metal pollutants in the atmospheric environment are mainly Zn and Ba, and the concentrations of Cd, Zn and Ba are seriously exceeded, so the air quality in Xiqing District of Tianjin is poor, and the particle size distribution of Cd and Hg makes it easy to enter the human body, which is especially unfavorable to human health.

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Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions ◽

10.5194/acpd-15-31385-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (21) ◽

pp. 31385-31432

Author(s):

Y. H. Lee ◽

D. T. Shindell ◽

G. Faluvegi ◽

R. W. Pinder

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Climate Change ◽

Air Quality ◽

Climate Policy ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Surface Ozone ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Climate Mitigation ◽

The Us ◽

Indirect Forcing

Abstract. We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that reduces 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50 % below 2005 emissions. Using NASA GISS ModelE2, we look at the impacts in year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions and the rest of the world emissions are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in the future but result in positive radiative forcing. Surface PM2.5 is reduced by ~ 2 μg m−3 on average over the US, and surface ozone by ~ 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the US, mainly due to the PM2.5 reduction (~ 74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduces the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) by both aerosols direct and indirect forcing: total RF is ~ 0.04 W m−2 over the globe; ~ 0.8 W m−2 over the US. Under the hypothetical climate policy, future US energy relies less on coal and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it leads to climate dis-benefits over the US. In 2055, the US mean total RF is +0.22 W m−2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing, while the global mean total RF is −0.06 W m−2 due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF). To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1) to have multi-national efforts to reduce GHGs emissions and (2) to target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3) on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the resulting climate benefit occurs faster and provides co-benefits to air quality and public health.

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Impact of the Christmas 2018 Mount Etna Eruption on the Regional Air Quality

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-2167 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Claire Lamotte ◽

Jonathan Guth ◽

Virginie Marécal ◽

Giuseppe Salerno ◽

Nicolas Theys ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Volcanic Eruptions ◽

Mount Etna ◽

Surface Measurement ◽

Volcanic Plume ◽

Observation Data ◽

Sulfate Aerosols ◽

Lower Altitude ◽

The Impact

Volcanic eruptions are events that can eject several tons of material into the atmosphere. Among these emissions, sulfur dioxide is the main sulfurous volcanic gas. It can form sulfate aerosols that are harmful to health or, being highly soluble, it can condense in water particles and form acid rain. Thus, volcanic eruptions can have an environmental impact on a regional scale.The Mediterranean region is very interesting from this point of view because it is a densely populated region with a strong anthropogenic activity, therefore polluted, in which Mount Etna is also located. Mount Etna is the largest passive SO2 emitter in Europe, but it can also sporadically produce strong eruptive events. It is then likely that the additional input of sulfur compounds into the atmosphere by volcanic emissions may have effects on the regional atmospheric sulfur composition.We are particularly investigating the eruption of Mount Etna on December 24, 2018 [Corradini et al, 2020]. This eruption took place along a 2 km long breach on the side of the volcano, thus at a lower altitude than its main crater. About 100 kt of SO2 and 35 kt of ash were released in total, between December 24 and 30. With the exception of the 24th, the quantities of ash were always lower than the SO2.The availability of the TROPOMI SO2column estimates, at fine spatial resolution (7 km x 3.5 km at nadir) and associated averaging kernels, during this eruptive period made it also an excellent case study. It allows us to follow the evolution of SO2 in the volcanic plume over several days.Using the CNRM MOCAGE chemistry-transport model (CTM), we aim to quantify the impact of this volcanic eruption on atmospheric composition, sulfur deposition and air quality at the regional scale. The comparison of the model with the TROPOMI observation data allows us to assess the ability of the model to properly represent the plume. In spite of a particular meteorological situation, leading to a complex plume transport, MOCAGE shows a good agreement with TROPOMI observations. Thus, from the MOCAGE simulation, we can evaluate the impact of the eruption on the regional concentrations of SO2 and sulfate aerosols, but also analyse the quantities of dry and wet deposition, and compare it to surface measurement stations.

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Biogenic Emissions Contribution on Air Quality at Regional Scale

Air Pollution Modelling and Simulation ◽

10.1007/978-3-662-04956-3_14 ◽

2002 ◽

pp. 123-140

Author(s):

Claire Sarrat ◽

Fabien Solmon ◽

Daniel Guédalia ◽

Robert Rosset

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Biogenic Emissions

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EURODELTA-Trends, a multi-model experiment of air quality hindcast in Europe over 1990–2010

Geoscientific Model Development ◽

10.5194/gmd-10-3255-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3255-3276 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Augustin Colette ◽

Camilla Andersson ◽

Astrid Manders ◽

Kathleen Mar ◽

Mihaela Mircea ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Boundary Conditions ◽

Radiative Forcing ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Pollutant Emissions ◽

Mitigation Measures ◽

Modelling Experiment ◽

Technical Features

Abstract. The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality. The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions. The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions. Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community. The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.

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