A New Separation Methodology for the Maritime Sector Emissions Over the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions

The aim of this paper is to apply a new lane separation methodology for the maritime sector emissions attributed to the different vessel types and marine traffic loads in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea defined via the European Marine and Observation Data network (EMODnet), developed in 2016. This methodology is implemented for the first time on the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service Global Shipping (CAMS-GLOB-SHIP v2.1) nitrogen dioxide (NOX) emissions inventory, on the Sentinel-5 Precursor TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) tropospheric vertical column densities and on the LOTOS-EUROS (LOng Term Ozone Simulation – EURopean Operational Smog) chemical transport model simulations. By applying this new, EMODnet-based lane separation method to the CAMS-GLOB-SHIP v2.1 emission inventory, we find that cargo and tanker vessels account for approximately 80% of the total emissions in the Mediterranean, followed by fishing, passenger, and other vessel emissions with contributions of 8%, 7% and 5%, respectively. Tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities sensed by TROPOMI for 2019 and simulated by the LOTOS-EUROS CTM have been successfully attributed to the major vessel activities in the Mediterranean; the mean annual NO2 load of the observations and the simulations reported for the entire maritime EMODnet-reported fleet of the Mediterranean is in satisfactory agreement, 1.26 ± 0.56x1015 molecules cm-2 and 0.98 ± 0.41x1015 molecules cm-2, respectively. The spatial correlation of the annual maritime NO2 loads of all vessel types between observation and simulation ranges between 0.93 and 0.98. On seasonal basis, both observations and simulations show a common variability. The winter-time comparisons are in excellent agreement for the highest emitting sector, cargo vessels, with the observations reporting a mean load of 0.98 ± 0.54 and the simulations of 0.81 ± 0.45x1015 molecules cm-2 and correlation of 0.88. Similarly, the passenger sector reports 0.45 ± 0.49 and 0.39 ± 0.45x1015 molecules cm-2 respectively, with correlation of 0.95. In summertime, the simulations report a higher decrease in modelled tropospheric columns than the observations, however still resulting in a high correlation between 0.85 and 0.94 for all sectors. These encouraging findings will permit us to proceed with creating a top-down inventory for NOx shipping emissions using S5P/TROPOMI satellite observations and a data assimilation technique based on the LOTOS-EUROS chemical transport model.

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A New Separation Methodology for the Maritime Sector Emissions over the Mediterranean and Black Sea Regions

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12111478 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. 1478

Author(s):

Andreas Pseftogkas ◽

Maria-Elissavet Koukouli ◽

Ioanna Skoulidou ◽

Dimitrios Balis ◽

Charikleia Meleti ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Sea ◽

Transport Model ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

The Black Sea ◽

Observation Data ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Vertical Column ◽

Emissions Inventory ◽

Major Vessel ◽

The Mediterranean

The aim of this paper is to apply a new lane separation methodology for the maritime sector emissions attributed to the different vessel types and marine traffic loads in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea defined via the European Marine and Observation Data network (EMODnet), developed in 2016. This methodology is implemented for the first time on the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service Global Shipping (CAMS-GLOB-SHIP v2.1) nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions inventory, on the Sentinel-5 Precursor Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) nitrogen dioxide (NO2) tropospheric vertical column densities, and on the LOTOS-EUROS (Long Term Ozone Simulation—European Operational Smog) CTM (chemical transport model) simulations. By applying this new EMODnet-based lane separation method to the CAMS-GLOB-SHIP v2.1 emission inventory, we find that cargo and tanker vessels account for approximately 80% of the total emissions in the Mediterranean, followed by fishing, passenger, and other vessel emissions with contributions of 8%, 7%, and 5%, respectively. Tropospheric NO2 vertical column densities sensed by TROPOMI for 2019 and simulated by the LOTOS-EUROS CTM have been successfully attributed to the major vessel activities in the Mediterranean; the mean annual NO2 load of the observations and the simulations reported for the entire maritime EMODnet-reported fleet of the Mediterranean is in satisfactory agreement, 1.26 ± 0.56 × 1015 molecules cm−2 and 0.98 ± 0.41 × 1015 molecules cm−2, respectively. The spatial correlation of the annual maritime NO2 loads of all vessel types between observation and simulation ranges between 0.93 and 0.98. On a seasonal basis, both observations and simulations show a common variability. The wintertime comparisons are in excellent agreement for the highest emitting sector, cargo vessels, with the observations reporting a mean load of 0.98 ± 0.54 and the simulations of 0.81 ± 0.45 × 1015 molecules cm−2 and correlation of 0.88. Similarly, the passenger sector reports 0.45 ± 0.49 and 0.39 ± 0.45 × 1015 molecules cm−2 respectively, with correlation of 0.95. In summertime, the simulations report a higher decrease in modelled tropospheric columns than the observations, however, still resulting in a high correlation between 0.85 and 0.94 for all sectors. These encouraging findings will permit us to proceed with creating a top-down inventory for NOx shipping emissions using S5P/TROPOMI satellite observations and a data assimilation technique based on the LOTOS-EUROS chemical transport model.

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Vehicle induced turbulence and atmospheric pollution

10.5194/acp-2020-1243 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Paul A. Makar ◽

Craig Stroud ◽

Ayodeji Akingunola ◽

Junhua Zhang ◽

Shuzhan Ren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radiative Transfer ◽

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Transport Model ◽

Lower Troposphere ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

Vertical Transport ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Human Environment ◽

Mean Square Errors

Abstract. Theoretical models of the Earth's atmosphere adhere to an underlying concept of flow driven by radiative transfer and the nature of the surface over which the flow is taking place: heat from the sun and/or anthropogenic sources are the sole sources of energy driving atmospheric constituent transport. However, another source of energy is prevalent in the human environment at the very local scale – the transfer of kinetic energy from moving vehicles to the atmosphere. We show that this source of energy, due to being co-located with combustion emissions, can influence their vertical distribution to the extent of having a significant influence on lower troposphere pollutant concentrations throughout North America. The effect of vehicle-induced turbulence on freshly emitted chemicals remains notable even when taking into account more complex urban radiative transfer-driven turbulence theories at high resolution. We have designed a parameterization to account for the at-source vertical transport of freshly emitted pollutants from mobile emissions resulting from vehicle-induced turbulence, in analogy to sub-grid-scale parameterizations for plume rise emissions from large stacks. This parameterization allows vehicle-induced turbulence to be represented at the scales inherent 3D chemical transport models, allowing its impact over large regions to be represented, without the need for the computational resources and much higher resolution of large eddy simulation models. Including this sub-grid-scale parameterization for the vertical transport of emitted pollutants due to vehicle-induced turbulence into a 3D chemical transport model of the atmosphere reduces pre-existing North American nitrogen dioxide biases by a factor of eight, and improves most model performance scores for nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter and ozone (for example, reductions in root mean square errors of 20, 9 and 0.5 percent, respectively).

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Source apportionment of PM2.5 in Guangzhou combining observation data analysis and chemical transport model simulation

Atmospheric Environment ◽

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.06.054 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 116 ◽

pp. 262-271 ◽

Cited By ~ 60

Author(s):

Hongyang Cui ◽

Weihua Chen ◽

Wei Dai ◽

Huan Liu ◽

Xuemei Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Data Analysis ◽

Source Apportionment ◽

Transport Model ◽

Model Simulation ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

Observation Data ◽

Chemical Transport Model

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Modeling the effect of reduced traffic due to COVID-19 measures on air quality using a chemical transport model: impacts on the Po Valley and the Swiss Plateau regions

Environmental Science: Atmospheres ◽

10.1039/d1ea00036e ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Giancarlo Ciarelli ◽

Jianhui Jiang ◽

Imad El Haddad ◽

Alessandro Bigi ◽

Sebnem Aksoyoglu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Secondary Organic Aerosol ◽

Transport Model ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

Organic Aerosol ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Po Valley ◽

Swiss Plateau

Our results indicate that lockdown measures induced a mild increase in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentrations in areas with substantial reductions in nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, i.e. the “Greater Milan” area.

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Vehicle-induced turbulence and atmospheric pollution

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-21-12291-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (16) ◽

pp. 12291-12316

Author(s):

Paul A. Makar ◽

Craig Stroud ◽

Ayodeji Akingunola ◽

Junhua Zhang ◽

Shuzhan Ren ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Radiative Transfer ◽

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Transport Model ◽

Lower Troposphere ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

Vertical Transport ◽

Anthropogenic Sources ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Human Environment ◽

Mean Square Errors

Abstract. Theoretical models of the Earth's atmosphere adhere to an underlying concept of flow driven by radiative transfer and the nature of the surface over which the flow is taking place: heat from the sun and/or anthropogenic sources are the sole sources of energy driving atmospheric constituent transport. However, another source of energy is prevalent in the human environment at the very local scale – the transfer of kinetic energy from moving vehicles to the atmosphere. We show that this source of energy, due to being co-located with combustion emissions, can influence their vertical distribution to the extent of having a significant influence on lower-troposphere pollutant concentrations throughout North America. The effect of vehicle-induced turbulence on freshly emitted chemicals remains notable even when taking into account more complex urban radiative transfer-driven turbulence theories at high resolution. We have designed a parameterization to account for the at-source vertical transport of freshly emitted pollutants from mobile emissions resulting from vehicle-induced turbulence, in analogy to sub-grid-scale parameterizations for plume rise emissions from large stacks. This parameterization allows vehicle-induced turbulence to be represented at the scales inherent in 3D chemical transport models, allowing this process to be represented over larger regions than is currently feasible with large eddy simulation models. Including this sub-grid-scale parameterization for the vertical transport of emitted pollutants due to vehicle-induced turbulence in a 3D chemical transport model of the atmosphere reduces pre-existing North American nitrogen dioxide biases by a factor of 8 and improves most model performance scores for nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, and ozone (for example, reductions in root mean square errors of 20 %, 9 %, and 0.5 %, respectively).

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Sudden changes in nitrogen dioxide emissions over Greece due to lockdown after the outbreak of COVID-19

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-21-1759-2021 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 1759-1774

Author(s):

Maria-Elissavet Koukouli ◽

Ioanna Skoulidou ◽

Andreas Karavias ◽

Isaak Parcharidis ◽

Dimitris Balis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Quality ◽

Nitrogen Dioxide ◽

Transport Model ◽

Chemical Transport ◽

Capital City ◽

Optical Absorption Spectroscopy ◽

Chemical Transport Model ◽

Ozone Monitoring Instrument ◽

Transport Modelling ◽

Monitoring Instrument

Abstract. The unprecedented order, in modern peaceful times, for a near-total lockdown of the Greek population as a means of protection against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, commonly known as COVID-19, has generated unintentional positive side-effects with respect to the country's air quality levels. Sentinel-5 Precursor/Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (S5P/TROPOMI) monthly mean tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) observations show an average change of −34 % to +20 % and −39 % to −5 % with an average decrease of −15 % and −11 % for March and April 2020 respectively, compared with the previous year, over the six larger Greek metropolitan areas; this is mostly attributable to vehicular emission reductions. For the capital city of Athens, weekly analysis was statistically possible for the S5P/TROPOMI observations and revealed a marked decline in the NO2 load of between −8 % and −43 % for 7 of the 8 weeks studied; this is in agreement with the equivalent Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI)/Aura observations as well as the ground-based estimates of a multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy ground-based instrument. Chemical transport modelling of the NO2 columns, provided by the Long Term Ozone Simulation European Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) chemical transport model, shows that the magnitude of these reductions cannot solely be attributed to the difference in meteorological factors affecting NO2 levels during March and April 2020 and the equivalent time periods of the previous year. Taking this factor into account, the resulting decline was estimated to range between ∼ −25 % and −65 % for 5 of the 8 weeks studied, with the remaining 3 weeks showing a positive average of ∼ 10 %; this positive average was postulated to be due to the uncertainty of the methodology, which is based on differences. As a result this analysis, we conclude that the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown and the restriction of transport emissions over Greece is ∼ −10 %. As transport is the second largest sector (after industry) affecting Greece's air quality, this occasion may well help policymakers to enforce more targeted measures to aid Greece in further reducing emissions according to international air quality standards.

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