scholarly journals A global observational analysis to understand changes in air quality during exceptionally low anthropogenic emission conditions

2021 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 106818
Author(s):  
Ranjeet S. Sokhi ◽  
Vikas Singh ◽  
Xavier Querol ◽  
Sandro Finardi ◽  
Admir Créso Targino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Observational Analysis

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 Evaluation of GEOS-5 sulfur dioxide simulations during the Frostburg, MD 2010 field campaign

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1929-1941 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. Buchard ◽  
A. M. da Silva ◽  
P. Colarco ◽  
N. Krotkov ◽  
R. R. Dickerson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutant ◽  
Field Campaign

Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a major atmospheric pollutant with a strong anthropogenic component mostly produced by the combustion of fossil fuel and other industrial activities. As a precursor of sulfate aerosols that affect climate, air quality, and human health, this gas needs to be monitored on a global scale. Global climate and chemistry models including aerosol processes along with their radiative effects are important tools for climate and air quality research. Validation of these models against in-situ and satellite measurements is essential to ascertain the credibility of these models and to guide model improvements. In this study, the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) module running on-line inside the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model is used to simulate aerosol and SO2 concentrations. Data taken in November 2010 over Frostburg, Maryland during an SO2 field campaign involving ground instrumentation and aircraft are used to evaluate GEOS-5 simulated SO2 concentrations. Preliminary data analysis indicated the model overestimated surface SO2 concentration, which motivated the examination of the specification of SO2 anthropogenic emission rates. As a result of this analysis, a revision of anthropogenic emission inventories in GEOS-5 was implemented, and the vertical placement of SO2 sources was updated. Results show that these revisions improve the model agreement with observations locally and in regions outside the area of this field campaign. In particular, we use the ground-based measurements collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) for the year 2010 to evaluate the revised model simulations over North America.

scholarly journals Sectorial and regional uncertainty analysis of the contribution of anthropogenic emissions to regional and global PM<sub>2.5</sub> health impacts

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Crippa ◽  
Greet Janssens-Maenhout ◽  
Diego Guizzardi ◽  
Rita Van Dingenen ◽  
Frank Dentener
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
Air Pollutant ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Pollutant Emission ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Relative Contribution

Abstract. In this work we couple the HTAPv2.2 global air pollutant emission inventory with the global source receptor model TM5-FASST to evaluate the relative contribution of the major anthropogenic emission sources (power generation, industry, ground transport, residential, agriculture and international shipping) to air quality and human health in 2010. We focus on particulate matter (PM) concentrations because of the relative importance of PM2.5 emissions in populated areas and the proven cumulative negative effects on human health. We estimate that in 2010 regional annual averaged anthropogenic PM2.5 concentrations varied between ca. 1 and 40 μg/m3 depending on the region, with the highest concentrations observed in China and India, and lower concentrations in Europe and North America. The relative contribution of anthropogenic emission source sectors to PM2.5 concentrations varies between the regions. European PM pollution is mainly influenced by the agricultural and residential sectors, while the major contributing sectors to PM pollution in Asia and the emerging economies are the power generation, industrial and residential sectors. We also evaluate the emission sectors and emission regions in which pollution reduction measures would lead to the largest improvement on the overall air quality. We show that in order to improve air quality, regional policies should be implemented (e.g. in Europe) due to the transboundary features of PM pollution. In addition, we investigate emission inventory uncertainties and their propagation to PM2.5 concentrations, in order to identify the most effective strategies to be implemented at sector and regional level to improve emission inventories knowledge and air quality. We show that the uncertainty of PM concentrations depends not only on the uncertainty of local emission inventories but also on that of the surrounding regions. Finally, we propagate emission inventories uncertainty to PM concentrations and health impacts.

scholarly journals Contribution and uncertainty of sectorial and regional emissions to regional and global PM<sub>2.5</sub> health impacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. 5165-5186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Crippa ◽  
Greet Janssens-Maenhout ◽  
Diego Guizzardi ◽  
Rita Van Dingenen ◽  
Frank Dentener
Keyword(s):  
Power Generation ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Emission Inventory ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Pollutant Emission ◽  
Emission Sources ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Premature Deaths

Abstract. In this work we couple the HTAP_v2.2 global air pollutant emission inventory with the global source receptor model TM5-FASST to evaluate the relative contributions of the major anthropogenic emission sources (power generation, industry, ground transport, residential, agriculture and international shipping) to air quality and human health in 2010. We focus on particulate matter (PM) concentrations because of the relative importance of PM2.5 emissions in populated areas and the well-documented cumulative negative effects on human health. We estimate that in 2010, depending on the region, annual averaged anthropogenic PM2.5 concentrations varied between ca. 1 and 40 µg m−3, with the highest concentrations observed in China and India, and lower concentrations in Europe and North America. The relative contribution of anthropogenic emission sources to PM2.5 concentrations varies between the regions. European PM pollution is mainly influenced by the agricultural and residential sectors, while the major contributing sectors to PM pollution in Asia and the emerging economies are the power generation, industrial and residential sectors. We also evaluate the emission sectors and emission regions in which pollution reduction measures would lead to the largest improvement on the overall air quality. We show that air quality improvements would require regional policies, in addition to local- and urban-scale measures, due to the transboundary features of PM pollution. We investigate emission inventory uncertainties and their propagation to PM2.5 concentrations, in order to identify the most effective strategies to be implemented at sector and regional level to improve emission inventories, knowledge and air quality modelling. We show that the uncertainty of PM concentrations depends not only on the uncertainty of local emission inventories, but also on that of the surrounding regions. Countries with high emission uncertainties are often impacted by the uncertainty of pollution coming from surrounding regions, highlighting the need for effective efforts in improving emissions not only within a region but also from extra-regional sources. Finally, we propagate emission inventory uncertainty to PM concentrations and health impacts. We estimate 2.1 million premature deaths per year with an uncertainty of more than 1 million premature deaths per year due to the uncertainty associated only with the emissions.

scholarly journals Effect of different emission inventories on modeled ozone and carbon monoxide in Southeast Asia

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 9345-9400 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Amnuaylojaroen ◽  
M. C. Barth ◽  
L. K. Emmons ◽  
G. R. Carmichael ◽  
J. Kreasuwun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Air Quality ◽  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Biomass Burning ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Anthropogenic Emissions ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Regional Study ◽  
Mixing Ratios

Abstract. In order to improve our understanding of air quality in Southeast Asia, the anthropogenic emissions inventory must be well represented. In this work, we apply different anthropogenic emission inventories in the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) version 3.3 using MOZART gas-phase chemistry and GOCART aerosols to examine the differences in predicted carbon monoxide (CO) and ozone (O3) surface mixing ratios for Southeast Asia in March and December 2008. The anthropogenic emission inventories include the Reanalysis of the TROpospheric chemical composition (RETRO), the Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment-Phase B (INTEX-B), the MACCity emissions (adapted from the Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate and megacity Zoom for the Environment projects), the Southeast Asia Composition, Cloud, Climate Coupling Regional Study (SEAC4RS) emissions, and a combination of MACCity and SEAC4RS emissions. Biomass burning emissions are from the Fire Inventory from NCAR (FINNv1) model. WRF-chem reasonably predicts the 2 m temperature, 10 m wind, and precipitation. In general, surface CO is underpredicted by WRF-Chem while surface O3 is overpredicted. The NO2 tropospheric column predicted by WRF-Chem has the same magnitude as observations, but tends to underpredict NO2 column over the equatorial ocean and near Indonesia. Simulations using different anthropogenic emissions produce only a slight variability of O3 and CO mixing ratios, while biomass burning emissions add more variability. The different anthropogenic emissions differ by up to 20% in CO emissions, but O3 and CO mixing ratios differ by ~4.5% and ~8%, respectively, among the simulations. Biomass burning emissions create a substantial increase for both O3 and CO by ~29% and ~16%, respectively, when comparing the March biomass burning period to December with low biomass burning emissions. The simulations show that none of the anthropogenic emission inventories are better than the others and any of the examined inventories can be used for air quality simulations in Southeast Asia.

scholarly journals Influence of anthropogenic emission inventories on simulations of air quality in China during winter and summer 2010

2019 ◽  
Vol 198 ◽  
pp. 236-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Idir Bouarar ◽  
Guy Brasseur ◽  
Katinka Petersen ◽  
Claire Granier ◽  
Qi Fan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Emission Inventories ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission

scholarly journals Studying Urban Climate and Air Quality in the Alps: The Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. E488-E507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Karl ◽  
Alexander Gohm ◽  
Mathias W. Rotach ◽  
Helen C. Ward ◽  
Martin Graus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Trace Gases ◽  
Scientific Data ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Urban Atmosphere ◽  
Urban Setting ◽  
Emission Sources ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Gas Emissions

Abstract The Innsbruck Atmospheric Observatory (IAO) aims to investigate atmospheric chemistry, micrometeorology, and mountain meteorology in a synergistic fashion within an urban setting. A new measurement supersite has been established in order to study processes affecting the exchange of momentum, energy, trace gases, and aerosols in an Alpine urban environment. Various long-term continuous measurements are augmented by frequent focused research campaigns with state-of-the-art instrumentation, linking different classes of data and addressing significant gaps in scientific data availability for urban environments. Current activities seek to address research objectives related to the urban heat island, trace gas emissions, the influence of foehn on air quality, and the atmospheric distribution of trace gases and aerosols in a mountainous city. We present initial results from long-term operations and first highlights from two intensive operational phases, showing that 1) the exchange of greenhouse gas emissions is dominated by anthropogenic activities and is driven by location-specific venting of street canyon air; 2) foehn events significantly perturb the photostationary state indicative for an extensive and rapid airmass exchange of the valley atmosphere; 3) the temporal distribution of pollutants is often decoupled from their emissions and primarily modulated by mountain boundary layer dynamics; 4) we can detect a large number of volatile chemical products in the urban atmosphere, which can be used to fingerprint anthropogenic emission sources; and 5) the first urban carbonyl sulfide (COS) flux measurements point toward anthropogenic emission sources.

scholarly journals Evaluation of GEOS-5 sulfur dioxide simulations during the Frostburg, MD 2010 field campaign

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 21765-21800
Author(s):  
V. Buchard ◽  
A. M. da Silva ◽  
P. Colarco ◽  
N. Krotkov ◽  
R. R. Dickerson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Sulfur Dioxide ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emission Rates ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Mixing Processes ◽  
Atmospheric Pollutant ◽  
Field Campaign

Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a major atmospheric pollutant with a strong anthropogenic component mostly produced by the combustion of fossil fuel and other industrial activities. As a precursor of sulfate aerosols that affect climate, air quality, and human health, this gas needs to be monitored on a global scale. Global climate and chemistry models including aerosol processes along with their radiative effects are important tools for climate and air quality research. Validation of these models against in-situ and satellite measurements is essential to ascertain the credibility of these models and to guide model improvements. In this study the Goddard Chemistry, Aerosol, Radiation, and Transport (GOCART) module running on-line inside the Goddard Earth Observing System version 5 (GEOS-5) model is used to simulate aerosol and SO2 concentrations. Data taken in November 2010 over Frostburg, Maryland during an SO2 field campaign involving ground instrumentation and aircraft are used to evaluate GEOS-5 simulated SO2 concentrations. Preliminary data analysis indicated the model overestimated surface SO2 concentration, which motivated the examination of mixing processes in the model and the specification of SO2 anthropogenic emission rates. As a result of this analysis, a revision of anthropogenic emission inventories in GEOS-5 was implemented, and the vertical placement of SO2 sources was updated. Results show that these revisions improve the model agreement with observations locally and in regions outside the area of this field campaign. In particular, we use the ground-based measurements collected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) for the year 2010 to evaluate the revised model simulations over North America.

scholarly journals Impact of anthropogenic emission on air-quality over a megacity – revealed from an intensive atmospheric campaign during the Chinese Spring Festival

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 17151-17185 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Huang ◽  
G. Zhuang ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
Q. Wang ◽  
J. S. Fu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Public Transportation ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Chinese Spring ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Light Extinction ◽  
Anthropogenic Emission ◽  
Aerosol Mass Concentration ◽  
Spring Festival ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. The Chinese Spring Festival is one of the most important traditional festivals in China. The peak transport in the Spring Festival season (spring travel rush) provides a unique opportunity for investigating the impact of human activities on air quality in the Chinese megacities as emission sources varied and fluctuated greatly prior to, during and after the festival. Enhanced vehicular emission during the spring travel rush before the festival resulted in high level pollutants of NOx (270 μg m−3), CO (2572 μg m−3), BC (8.5 μg m−3) and extremely low single scattering albedo of 0.70, indicating strong fresh combustion. Organics contributed most to PM2.5, followed by NO3−, NH4+, and SO42−. During the Chinese Lunar New Year's Eve and Day, widespread usage of fireworks burning caused heavy pollution of extremely high aerosol mass concentration, scattering coefficient, SO2 and NOx. Due to the spring travel rush after the festival, anthropogenic emission gradually climbed and mirrored corresponding increases in the aerosol components and gaseous pollutants. Secondary inorganic aerosol (SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+) accounted for a dominant fraction of 74% in PM2.5 due to the enhanced human activities, e.g. higher demand of energy usage from returned residents and re-open of factories and construction sites, more vehicle mileages due to returned workers and expanded public transportation. The average visibility during whole study period was less than 6 km. It was estimated that about 50% of the total light extinction was due to the high water vapor in the atmosphere. Of the aerosol extinction, organic aerosol had the largest contribution of 47%, followed by sulfate ammonium, nitrate ammonium and EC of 22%, 14%, and 12%, respectively. Our results indicated the dominant role of traffic-related aerosol species (i.e. organic aerosol, nitrate and EC) on the formation of air pollution, and suggested the importance of controlling vehicle numbers and emissions in mega-cities of China as its population and economy continue to grow.

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