scholarly journals Air quality in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 10619-10630 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Marrapu ◽  
Y. Cheng ◽  
G. Beig ◽  
S. Sahu ◽  
R. Srinivas ◽  
...  

Abstract. Air quality during the Commonwealth Games (CWG, held in Delhi in October 2010) is analyzed using a new air quality forecasting system established for the games. The CWG stimulated enhanced efforts to monitor and model air quality in the region. The air quality of Delhi during the CWG had high levels of particles with mean values of PM2.5 and PM10 at the venues of 111 and 238 μg m−3, respectively. Black carbon (BC) accounted for ~ 10% of the PM2.5 mass. It is shown that BC, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are well predicted, but with positive biases of ~ 25%. The diurnal variations are also well captured, with both the observations and the modeled values showing nighttime maxima and daytime minima. A new emissions inventory, developed as part of this air quality forecasting initiative, is evaluated by comparing the observed and predicted species-species correlations (i.e., BC : CO; BC : PM2.5; PM2.5 : PM10). Assuming that the observations at these sites are representative and that all the model errors are associated with the emissions, then the modeled concentrations and slopes can be made consistent by scaling the emissions by 0.6 for NOx, 2 for CO, and 0.7 for BC, PM2.5, and PM10. The emission estimates for particles are remarkably good considering the uncertainty in the estimates due to the diverse spread of activities and technologies that take place in Delhi and the rapid rates of change. The contribution of various emission sectors including transportation, power, domestic and industry to surface concentrations are also estimated. Transport, domestic and industrial sectors all make significant contributions to PM levels in Delhi, and the sectoral contributions vary spatially within the city. Ozone levels in Delhi are elevated, with hourly values sometimes exceeding 100 ppb. The continued growth of the transport sector is expected to make ozone pollution a more pressing air pollution problem in Delhi. The sector analysis provides useful inputs into the design of strategies to reduce air pollution levels in Delhi. The contribution for sources outside of Delhi on Delhi air quality range from ~ 25% for BC and PM to ~ 60% for day time ozone. The significant contributions from non-Delhi sources indicates that in Delhi (as has been show elsewhere) these strategies will also need a more regional perspective.

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 10025-10059 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Marrapu ◽  
Y. Cheng ◽  
G. Beig ◽  
S. Sahu ◽  
R. Srinivas ◽  
...  

Abstract. Air quality during The CommonWealth Games (CWG, held in Delhi in October 2010) is analyzed using a new air quality forecasting system established for the Games. The CWG stimulated enhanced efforts to monitor and model air quality in the region. The air quality of Delhi during the CWG had high levels of particles with mean values of PM2.5 and PM10 at the venues of 111 and 238 μg m−3, respectively. Black carbon (BC) accounted for ∼10% of the PM2.5 mass. It is shown that BC, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are well predicted, but with positive biases of ∼25%. The diurnal variations are also well captured, with both the observations and the modeled values showing nighttime maxima and daytime minima. A new emissions inventory, developed as part of this air quality forecasting initiative, is evaluated by comparing the observed and predicted species-species correlations (i.e., BC : CO; BC : PM2.5; PM2.5 : PM10). Assuming that the observations at these sites are representative and that all the model errors are associated with the emissions, then the modeled concentrations and slopes can be made consistent by scaling the emissions by: 0.6 for NOx, 2 for CO, and 0.7 for BC, PM2.5 and PM10. The emission estimates for particles are remarkably good considering the uncertainty in the estimates due to the diverse spread of activities and technologies that take place in Delhi and the rapid rates of change. The contribution of various emission sectors including transportation, power, domestic and industry to surface concentrations are also estimated. Transport, domestic and industrial sectors all make significant contributions to PM levels in Delhi, and the sectoral contributions vary spatially within the city. Ozone levels in Delhi are elevated, with hourly values sometimes exceeding 100 ppb. The continued growth of the transport sector is expected to make ozone pollution a more pressing air pollution problem in Delhi. The sector analysis provides useful inputs into the design of strategies to reduce air pollution levels in Delhi. The contribution for sources outside of Delhi on Delhi air quality range from ∼25% for BC and PM to ∼60% for day time ozone. The significant contributions from non-Delhi sources indicates that in Delhi (as has been show elsewhere) these strategies will also need a more regional perspective.


Author(s):  
Janis Kleperis ◽  
Gunars Bajars ◽  
Ingrida Bremere ◽  
Martins Menniks ◽  
Arturs Viksna ◽  
...  

Air Quality in Riga and Its Improvement Options Air quality in the city of Riga is evaluated from direct monitoring results and from accounting registered air pollutants in the city. It is concluded that from all air polluting substances listed in the European Commission directives, only nitrogen dioxide NO2 and particulate matter PM10 exceed the limits. In assessing the projected measures to improve air quality in Riga, it can be concluded that the implementation of cleaner fuels and improvements in energy efficiency of household and industrial sectors will decrease particle pollution, but measures in the transport sector will also contribute to reducing air pollution from nitrogen oxides.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 302
Author(s):  
Rajesh Kumar ◽  
Piyush Bhardwaj ◽  
Gabriele Pfister ◽  
Carl Drews ◽  
Shawn Honomichl ◽  
...  

This paper describes a quasi-operational regional air quality forecasting system for the contiguous United States (CONUS) developed at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to support air quality decision-making, field campaign planning, early identification of model errors and biases, and support the atmospheric science community in their research. This system aims to complement the operational air quality forecasts produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), not to replace them. A publicly available information dissemination system has been established that displays various air quality products, including a near-real-time evaluation of the model forecasts. Here, we report the performance of our air quality forecasting system in simulating meteorology and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) for the first year after our system started, i.e., 1 June 2019 to 31 May 2020. Our system shows excellent skill in capturing hourly to daily variations in temperature, surface pressure, relative humidity, water vapor mixing ratios, and wind direction but shows relatively larger errors in wind speed. The model also captures the seasonal cycle of surface PM2.5 very well in different regions and for different types of sites (urban, suburban, and rural) in the CONUS with a mean bias smaller than 1 µg m−3. The skill of the air quality forecasts remains fairly stable between the first and second days of the forecasts. Our air quality forecast products are publicly available at a NCAR webpage. We invite the community to use our forecasting products for their research, as input for urban scale (<4 km), air quality forecasts, or the co-development of customized products, just to name a few applications.


Author(s):  
Bowen Jiang ◽  
Yuangang Li ◽  
Weixin Yang

At present, China’s air pollution and its treatment effect are issues of general concern in the academic circles. Based on the analysis of the development stages of air pollution in China and the development history of China’s air quality standards, we selected 17 cities of Shandong Province, China as the research objects. By expanding China’s existing Air Quality Index System, the air quality of six major pollutants including PM2.5 and PM10 in 17 cities from February 2017 to January 2020 is comprehensively evaluated. Then, with a forecast model, the air quality of the above cities in the absence of air pollution control policies since June 2018 was simulated. The results of the error test show that the model has a maximum error of 4.67% when simulating monthly assessment scores, and the maximum mean error of the four months is 3.17%. Through the comparison between the simulation results and the real evaluation results of air quality, we found that since June 2018, the air pollution control policies of six cities have achieved more than 10% improvement, while the air quality of the other 11 cities declined. The different characteristics of pollutants and the implementation of governance policies are perhaps the main reasons for the above differences. Finally, policy recommendations for the future air pollution control in Shandong and China were provided.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (28) ◽  
pp. 7756-7761 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Denise L. Mauzerall ◽  
Qi Chen ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Yu Song ◽  
...  

As part of the 12th Five-Year Plan, the Chinese government has developed air pollution prevention and control plans for key regions with a focus on the power, transport, and industrial sectors. Here, we investigate the contribution of residential emissions to regional air pollution in highly polluted eastern China during the heating season, and find that dramatic improvements in air quality would also result from reduction in residential emissions. We use the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry to evaluate potential residential emission controls in Beijing and in the Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei (BTH) region. In January and February 2010, relative to the base case, eliminating residential emissions in Beijing reduced daily average surface PM2.5 (particulate mater with aerodynamic diameter equal or smaller than 2.5 micrometer) concentrations by 14 ± 7 μg⋅m−3 (22 ± 6% of a baseline concentration of 67 ± 41 μg⋅m−3; mean ± SD). Eliminating residential emissions in the BTH region reduced concentrations by 28 ± 19 μg⋅m−3 (40 ± 9% of 67 ± 41 μg⋅m−3), 44 ± 27 μg⋅m−3 (43 ± 10% of 99 ± 54 μg⋅m−3), and 25 ± 14 μg⋅m−3 (35 ± 8% of 70 ± 35 μg⋅m−3) in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei provinces, respectively. Annually, elimination of residential sources in the BTH region reduced emissions of primary PM2.5 by 32%, compared with 5%, 6%, and 58% achieved by eliminating emissions from the transportation, power, and industry sectors, respectively. We also find air quality in Beijing would benefit substantially from reductions in residential emissions from regional controls in Tianjin and Hebei, indicating the value of policies at the regional level.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 12013-12027 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Liu ◽  
X. M. Wang ◽  
J. M. Pang ◽  
K. B. He

Abstract. Improving the air quality in China is a long and arduous task. Although China has made very aggressive plans for air pollutant control, the difficulties in achieving the new air quality goals are still significant. A lot of cities are developing their implementation plan (CIP) for new air quality goals. In this study, a southern city, Guangzhou, has been selected to analyze the feasibility and difficulties of new air quality standard compliance, as well as the CIP evaluation. A comprehensive study of the air quality status in Guangzhou and the surrounding area was conducted using 22 monitoring sites collection data for O3, PM2.5 and PM10. The monthly non-attainment rates for O3 vary from 7 to 25% for May to November. The city average PM2.5 concentration was 53 μg m−3 in Guangzhou in 2010, which needs to be reduced by at least 34% to achieve the target of 35 μg m−3. The PM2.5 high violation months are from November to March. A CIP was developed for Guangzhou, which focused on PM2.5. Based on the CIP, the emission amounts of NOx, PM10, PM2.5 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in 2025 would be controlled to 119, 61, 26 and 163 thousand tons, respectively, reduced by 51.9%, 55.9%, 61.8% and 41.3%, respectively, compared to 2010. Analysis of air quality using the model MM5-STEM suggests that the long-term control measures would achieve the PM2.5 and PM10 goals successfully by 2025. The PM2.5 annual average concentration would be reduced to 27 μg m−3 in 2025. However, such PM2.5-based emission control scenarios may enhance the ozone pollution problems. The O3 non-attainment rate would increase from 7.1% in 2010 to 12.9% in 2025, implying that ozone will likely become a major compliance issue with the new national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). This suggests that O3 control must be taken into account while designing PM2.5 control strategies, especially PM2.5 compliance under increased atmospheric oxidation, and for VOCs / NOx reduction ratios need to be further investigated, in order to eventually achieve O3–PM2.5 co-improvement in this region or other cities.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiyun Lin ◽  
Larry Horowitz ◽  
Yuanyu Xie ◽  
Fabien Paulot ◽  
Sergey Malyshev ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;This study highlights a previously under-appreciated &amp;#8220;climate penalty&amp;#8221; feedback mechanism - namely, substantial reductions of ozone uptake by water stressed vegetation &amp;#8211; as a missing piece to the puzzle of why European ozone pollution episodes have not decreased as expected in recent decades, despite marked reductions in regional emissions of ozone precursors due to regulatory changes. The most extreme ozone pollution episodes are linked to heatwaves and droughts, which are increasing in frequency and intensity over Europe, with severe impacts on natural and human systems. Under drought stress, plants close their stomata to reduce water loss, consequently limiting the ozone uptake by vegetation (a component of dry deposition), leading to increased surface ozone concentrations. Such land-biosphere feedbacks are often overlooked in prior air quality projections, owing to a lack of process-based model formulations. Here, we use six decades of observations and Earth system model simulations (1960-2018) with an interactive dry deposition scheme to show that declining ozone removal by water-stressed vegetation in the warming climate exacerbate ozone air pollution over Europe. Incorporated into a dynamic vegetation land &amp;#8211; atmospheric chemistry &amp;#8211; climate model, the dry deposition scheme mechanistically describes the response of ozone deposition to atmospheric CO&lt;sub&gt;2&amp;#160;&lt;/sub&gt;concentration, canopy air vapor pressure deficit, and soil water availability. Our observational and modeling analyses reveal drought stress causing as much as 70% reductions in ozone removal by forests. Reduced ozone removal by water-stressed vegetation worsens peak ozone episodes during European mega-droughts, such as the 2003 event, offsetting much of the air quality improvements gained from regional emission controls. Accounting for vegetation feedbacks leads to a three-fold increase in high surface ozone events above 80 ppbv (8-hour average) and a 20% increase in the sensitivity of ozone pollution extremes (95&lt;sup&gt;th&amp;#160;&lt;/sup&gt;percentile) to increasing temperature. As the frequency of hot and dry summers is expected to increase in the coming decades, this ozone climate penalty could be severe and therefore needs to be considered when designing clean air policy in the European Union.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Notes: This study is currently under review for possible publication in Nature Climate Change.&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;


2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
J.P. Schoeman ◽  
D.W. Schutte

Background: In developing countries, it often occurs that little attention is given to air pollution emissions due to a lack of proper town planning, household combustion processes, energy production and the continuous growth in the transport sector (Norman et al., 2007:783). There is an increase in urban air pollution in most of the major cities of developing countries which is amplified by population growth and industrialization (World Resource Institute, 1998, 1999:1). Air pollution studies are not complete, and may fail if the quality of life and the perceptions of the studied community are not taken into consideration. This paper investigates the air quality perceptions of a high income residency surrounded by industrial activities and Mossel Bay was rated as to have potentially poor air quality by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out in Bayview, Mossel Bay. The perceptions of the respondents were collected by a structured questionnaire. Components of perceptions that were tested included general opinion regarding air quality, visual perceptions of air quality, type of pollutants such as smoke and dust, perceptions regarding the source of air pollution, perceptions regarding the municipal health institution controlling air quality in Bayview, etc. These perceptions were investigated by age, gender, socio-economic status etc.Conclusion: The findings of the study indicated that various factors, such as visual impacts, type of pollutants, role of the municipal health institution governing air quality, influence the air perceptions of the Bayview residents.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document