An air quality management system for Cyprus

The new Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) encourages the introduction of modelling as a necessary tool for air quality assessment and management. Towards this aim, a new Air Quality Management System (AQMS) has been developed and installed in the Department of Labour Inspection of the Republic of Cyprus. The core of the system handles the compilation of an emissions inventory that includes data from all major activity sectors and functions on the basis of a continuous update of the emissions database. Emission data are then fed into an advanced air quality modelling system that simulates concentration fields for all the major air pollutants over the island of Cyprus. The AQMS comprises of two operational modules, providing hourly nowcasting and daily forecasting of the air quality status, implemented as an integrated model system that performs nested grid meteorological and photochemical simulations. Hourly air quality data from nine measuring stations are continuously assimilated into these model calculations. A third operational module provides the capability of an interactive configuration of custom emission scenarios and corresponding model runs covering user-defined domains of interest. The system provides an advanced user interface, which is realised as a web-based application providing access to model results from any computer with an internet connection and a web browser.