scholarly journals Nitrogen oxides, regional transport, and ozone air quality: Results of a regional-scale model for the midwestern United States

1993 ◽  
Vol 67 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford Sillman ◽  
Perry J. Samson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Scale Model ◽  
Regional Transport ◽  
Midwestern United States

Emissions and Air Quality Impacts of Truck-to-Rail Freight Modal Shifts in the Midwestern United States

2013 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 446-454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Bickford ◽  
Tracey Holloway ◽  
Alexandra Karambelas ◽  
Matt Johnston ◽  
Teresa Adams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Midwestern United States ◽  
Rail Freight

scholarly journals Inconsistent decadal variations between surface and free tropospheric nitrogen oxides over United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Jiang ◽  
Helen Worden ◽  
John R. Worden ◽  
Daven K. Henze ◽  
Dylan B. A. Jones ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Long Range ◽  
North American ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Decadal Scale ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract. Decreases in surface emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) in North America have led to substantial improvements in air-quality over the last several decades. Here we show that satellite observations of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns over the contiguous United States (US) do not decrease after about 2009, while surface NO2 concentrations continue to decline through to the present. This divergence, if it continues, could have a substantial impact on surface air quality due to mixing of free-tropospheric air into the boundary layer. Our results show only limited contributions from local effects such as fossil fuel emissions, lightning, or instrument artifacts, but we do find a possible relationship of NO2 changes to decadal climate variability. Our analysis demonstrates that the intensity of transpacific transport is stronger in El Niño years and weaker in La Niña years, and consequently, that decadal-scale climate variability impacts the contribution of Asian emissions on North American atmospheric composition. Because of the short lifetime, it is usually believed that the direct contribution of long-range transport to tropospheric NOx distribution is limited. If our hypothesis about transported Asian emissions is correct, then this observed divergence between satellite and surface NOx could indicate mechanisms that allow for either NOx or its reservoir species to have a larger than expected effect on North American tropospheric composition. These results therefore suggest more aircraft and satellite studies to determine the possible missing processes in our understanding of the long-range transport of tropospheric NOx.

scholarly journals Attributing ozone and its precursors to land transport emissions in Europe and Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 7843-7873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Mertens ◽  
Astrid Kerkweg ◽  
Volker Grewe ◽  
Patrick Jöckel ◽  
Robert Sausen
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Nitrogen Oxides ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Model System ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Po Valley ◽  
Transport Emissions

Abstract. Land transport is an important emission source of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds. The emissions of nitrogen oxides affect air quality directly. Further, all of these emissions serve as a precursor for the formation of tropospheric ozone, thus leading to an indirect influence on air quality. In addition, ozone is radiatively active and its increase leads to a positive radiative forcing. Due to the strong non-linearity of the ozone chemistry, the contribution of emission sources to ozone cannot be calculated or measured directly. Instead, atmospheric chemistry models equipped with specific source attribution methods (e.g. tagging methods) are required. In this study we investigate the contribution of land transport emissions to ozone and ozone precursors using the MECO(n) model system (MESSy-fied ECHAM and COSMO models nested n times). This model system couples a global and a regional chemistry climate model and is equipped with a tagging diagnostic. We investigate the combined effect of long-range-transported ozone and ozone which is produced by European emissions by applying the tagging diagnostic simultaneously and consistently on the global and regional scale. We performed two simulations each covering 3 years with different anthropogenic emission inventories for Europe. We applied two regional refinements, i.e. one refinement covering Europe (50 km resolution) and one covering Germany (12 km resolution). The diagnosed absolute contributions of land transport emissions to reactive nitrogen (NOy) near ground level are in the range of 5 to 10 nmol mol−1. This corresponds to relative contributions of 50 % to 70 %. The largest absolute contributions appear around Paris, southern England, Moscow, the Po Valley, and western Germany. The absolute contributions to carbon monoxide range from 30 nmol mol−1 to more than 75 nmol mol−1 near emission hot-spots such as Paris or Moscow. The ozone which is attributed to land transport emissions shows a strong seasonal cycle with absolute contributions of 3 nmol mol−1 during winter and 5 to 10 nmol mol−1 during summer. This corresponds to relative contributions of 8 % to 10 % during winter and up to 16 % during summer. The largest values during summer are confined to the Po Valley, while the contributions in western Europe range from 12 % to 14 %. Only during summer are the ozone contributions slightly influenced by the anthropogenic emission inventory, but these differences are smaller than the range of the seasonal cycle of the contribution to land transport emissions. This cycle is caused by a complex interplay of seasonal cycles of other emissions (e.g. biogenic) and seasonal variations of the ozone regimes. In addition, our results suggest that during events with large ozone values the ozone contributions of land transport and biogenic emissions increase strongly. Here, the contribution of land transport emissions peaks up to 28 %. Hence, our model results suggest that land transport emissions are an important contributor during periods with large ozone values.

scholarly journals The contribution of marine organics to the air quality of the western United States

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 7415-7423 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Gantt ◽  
N. Meskhidze ◽  
A. G. Carlton
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Atmospheric Chemistry ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
Western United States ◽  
The Us

Abstract. The contribution of marine organic emissions to the air quality in coastal areas of the western United States is studied using the latest version of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional-scale Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQv4.7) modeling system. Emissions of marine isoprene, monoterpenes, and primary organic matter (POM) from the ocean are implemented into the model to provide a comprehensive view of the connection between ocean biology and atmospheric chemistry and air pollution. Model simulations show that marine organics can increase the concentration of PM2.5 by 0.1–0.3 μg m−3 (up to 5%) in some coastal cities such as San Francisco, CA. This increase in the PM2.5 concentration is primarily attributed to the POM emissions, with small contributions from the marine isoprene and monoterpenes. When marine organic emissions are included, organic carbon (OC) concentrations over the remote ocean are increased by up to 50% (25% in coastal areas), values consistent with recent observational findings. This study is the first to quantify the air quality impacts from marine POM and monoterpenes for the United States, and it highlights the need for inclusion of marine organic emissions in air quality models.

scholarly journals Impacts of New Particle Formation on Short-term Meteorology and Air Quality as Determined by the NPF-explicit WRF-Chem in the Midwestern United States

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Can Dong ◽  
Hitoshi Matsui ◽  
Scott Spak ◽  
Alicia Kalafut-Pettibone ◽  
Charles Stanier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Particle Formation ◽  
New Particle Formation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Midwestern United States

A regional scale model for ozone in the United States with subgrid representation of urban and power plant plumes

1990 ◽  
Vol 95 (D5) ◽  
pp. 5731 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford Sillman ◽  
Jennifer A. Logan ◽  
Steven C. Wofsy
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scale Model

Air Quality Forecast Verification Using Satellite Data

2008 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kondragunta ◽  
P. Lee ◽  
J. McQueen ◽  
C. Kittaka ◽  
A. I. Prados ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Long Range Transport ◽  
Forecast Performance ◽  
Air Quality Forecast ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Range Transport

Abstract NOAA’s operational geostationary satellite retrievals of aerosol optical depths (AODs) were used to verify National Weather Service developmental (research mode) particulate matter (PM2.5) predictions tested during the summer 2004 International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation/New England Air Quality Study (ICARTT/NEAQS) field campaign. The forecast period included long-range transport of smoke from fires burning in Canada and Alaska and a regional-scale sulfate event over the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern United States. Over the 30-day time period for which daytime hourly forecasts were compared with observations, the categorical (exceedance defined as AOD > 0.55) forecast accuracy was between 0% and 20%. Hourly normalized mean bias (forecasts − observations) ranged between −50% and +50% with forecasts being positively biased when observed AODs were small and negatively biased when observed AODs were high. Normalized mean errors are between 50% and 100% with the errors on the lower end during the 18–22 July 2004 time period when a regional-scale sulfate event occurred. Spatially, the errors are small over the regions where sulfate plumes were present. The correlation coefficient also showed similar features (spatially and temporally) with a peak value of ∼0.6 during the 18–22 July 2004 time period. The dominance of long-range transport of smoke into the United States during the summer of 2004, neglected in the model predictions, skewed the model forecast performance. Enhanced accuracy and reduced normalized mean errors during the time period when a sulfate event prevailed show that the forecast system has skill in predicting PM2.5 associated with urban/industrial pollution events.

scholarly journals Total cost of carbon capture and storage implemented at a regional scale: northeastern and midwestern United States

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20190065 ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Schmelz ◽  
Gal Hochman ◽  
Kenneth G. Miller
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Carbon Capture ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Carbon Capture And Storage ◽  
Midwestern United States ◽  
Additional Costs ◽  
The Cost ◽  
And Storage

We model the costs of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in subsurface geological formations for emissions from 138 northeastern and midwestern electricity-generating power plants. The analysis suggests coal-sourced CO 2 emissions can be stored in this region at a cost of $52–$60 ton −1 , whereas the cost to store emission from natural-gas-fired plants ranges from approximately $80 to $90. Storing emissions offshore increases the lowest total costs of CCS to over $60 per ton of CO 2 for coal. Because there apparently is sufficient onshore storage in the northeastern and midwestern United States, offshore storage is not necessary or economical unless there are additional costs or suitability issues associated with the onshore reservoirs. For example, if formation pressures are prohibitive in a large-scale deployment of onshore CCS, or if there is opposition to onshore storage, offshore storage space could probably store emissions at an additional cost of less than $10 ton −1 . Finally, it is likely that more than 8 Gt of total CO 2 emissions from this region can be stored for less $60 ton −1 , slightly more than the $50 ton −1 Section 45Q tax credits incentivizing CCS.

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