scholarly journals Evaluation of the LOTOS-EUROS NO<sub>2</sub> simulations using ground-based measurements and S5P/TROPOMI observations over Greece

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioanna Skoulidou ◽  
Maria-Elissavet Koukouli ◽  
Astrid Manders ◽  
Arjo Segers ◽  
Dimitris Karagkiozidis ◽  
...  

Abstract. The evaluation of chemical transport models, CTMs, is essential for the assessment of their performance regarding the physical and chemical parameterizations used. While regional CTMs have been widely used and evaluated over Europe, their validation over Greece is limited. In this study, we investigate the performance of the LOTOS-EUROS v2.2.001 regional chemical transport model in simulating nitrogen dioxide, NO2, over Greece from June to December 2018. In-situ NO2 measurements obtained from the National Air Pollution Monitoring Network are compared with surface simulations over the two major cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. The model reproduces well the spatial variability of the measured NO2 with a spatial correlation coefficient of 0.85 for the period between June and December 2018. About half of the 14 air quality monitoring stations show a good temporal correlation to the simulations, higher than 0.6, during daytime (12–15 p.m. local time), while the corresponding biases are negative. Most stations show stronger negative biases during winter than in summer. Furthermore, the simulated tropospheric NO2 columns are evaluated against ground-based MAX-DOAS NO2 measurements and space-borne Sentinel 5-Precursor TROPOMI tropospheric NO2 observations in July and December 2018. LOTOS-EUROS captures better the NO2 temporal variability in December (0.61 and 0.81) than in July (0.50 and 0.21) when compared to the corresponding measurements of the MAX-DOAS instruments in Thessaloniki and the rural azimuth viewing direction in Athens respectively. The urban azimuth viewing direction in Athens region however shows a better correlation in July than in December (0.41 and 0.19, respectively). LOTOS-EUROS NO2 columns over Athens and Thessaloniki agree well with the TROPOMI observations showing higher spatial correlation in July (0.95 and 0.82, respectively) than in December (0.82 and 0.66, respectively) while the relative temporal correlations are higher during winter. Overall, the comparison of the simulations with the TROPOMI observations shows a model underestimation in summer and an overestimation in winter both in Athens and Thessaloniki. Updated emissions for the simulations and model improvements when extreme values of boundary layer height are encountered are further suggested.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 5269-5288
Author(s):  
Ioanna Skoulidou ◽  
Maria-Elissavet Koukouli ◽  
Astrid Manders ◽  
Arjo Segers ◽  
Dimitris Karagkiozidis ◽  
...  

Abstract. The evaluation of chemical transport models, CTMs, is essential for the assessment of their performance regarding the physical and chemical parameterizations used. While regional CTMs have been widely used and evaluated over Europe, their validation over Greece is limited. In this study, we investigate the performance of the Long Term Ozone Simulation European Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) v2.2.001 regional chemical transport model in simulating nitrogen dioxide, NO2, over Greece from June to December 2018. In situ NO2 measurements obtained from 14 stations of the National Air Pollution Monitoring Network are compared with surface simulations over the two major cities of Greece, Athens and Thessaloniki. Overall the LOTOS-EUROS NO2 surface simulations compare very well to the in situ measurements showing a mild underestimation of the measurements with a mean relative bias of ∼-10 %, a high spatial correlation coefficient of 0.86 and an average temporal correlation of 0.52. The CTM underestimates the NO2 surface concentrations during daytime by ∼-50 ± 15 %, while it slightly overestimates during night-time ∼ 10 ± 35 %. Furthermore, the LOTOS-EUROS tropospheric NO2 columns are evaluated against ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) NO2 measurements in Athens and Thessaloniki. We report that the CTM tropospheric NO2 column simulations over both urban and rural locations represent the diurnal patterns and hourly levels for both summer and winter seasons satisfactorily. The relative biases range between ∼ −2 % and −35 %, depending on season and relative NO2 load observed. Finally, the CTM was assessed also against space-borne Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) carrying the Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) tropospheric NO2 observations. We conclude that LOTOS-EUROS simulates extremely well the tropospheric NO2 patterns over the region with very high spatial correlation of 0.82 on average, ranging between 0.66 and 0.95, with negative biases in the summer and positive in the winter. Updated emissions for the simulations and model improvements when extreme values of boundary layer height are encountered are further suggested.


Data in Brief ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 107127
Author(s):  
Jose M. Barcelo-Ordinas ◽  
Pau Ferrer-Cid ◽  
Jorge Garcia-Vidal ◽  
Mar Viana ◽  
Ana Ripoll

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 91
Author(s):  
Santiago Lopez-Restrepo ◽  
Andres Yarce ◽  
Nicolás Pinel ◽  
O.L. Quintero ◽  
Arjo Segers ◽  
...  

The use of low air quality networks has been increasing in recent years to study urban pollution dynamics. Here we show the evaluation of the operational Aburrá Valley’s low-cost network against the official monitoring network. The results show that the PM2.5 low-cost measurements are very close to those observed by the official network. Additionally, the low-cost allows a higher spatial representation of the concentrations across the valley. We integrate low-cost observations with the chemical transport model Long Term Ozone Simulation-European Operational Smog (LOTOS-EUROS) using data assimilation. Two different configurations of the low-cost network were assimilated: using the whole low-cost network (255 sensors), and a high-quality selection using just the sensors with a correlation factor greater than 0.8 with respect to the official network (115 sensors). The official stations were also assimilated to compare the more dense low-cost network’s impact on the model performance. Both simulations assimilating the low-cost model outperform the model without assimilation and assimilating the official network. The capability to issue warnings for pollution events is also improved by assimilating the low-cost network with respect to the other simulations. Finally, the simulation using the high-quality configuration has lower error values than using the complete low-cost network, showing that it is essential to consider the quality and location and not just the total number of sensors. Our results suggest that with the current advance in low-cost sensors, it is possible to improve model performance with low-cost network data assimilation.


1999 ◽  
Vol 104 (D9) ◽  
pp. 11755-11781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugene V. Rozanov ◽  
Vladimir A. Zubov ◽  
Michael E. Schlesinger ◽  
Fanglin Yang ◽  
Natalia G. Andronova

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 7073-7085 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Kuttippurath ◽  
S. Godin-Beekmann ◽  
F. Lefèvre ◽  
G. Nikulin ◽  
M. L. Santee ◽  
...  

Abstract. We present a detailed discussion of the chemical and dynamical processes in the Arctic winters 1996/1997 and 2010/2011 with high resolution chemical transport model (CTM) simulations and space-based observations. In the Arctic winter 2010/2011, the lower stratospheric minimum temperatures were below 195 K for a record period of time, from December to mid-April, and a strong and stable vortex was present during that period. Simulations with the Mimosa-Chim CTM show that the chemical ozone loss started in early January and progressed slowly to 1 ppmv (parts per million by volume) by late February. The loss intensified by early March and reached a record maximum of ~2.4 ppmv in the late March–early April period over a broad altitude range of 450–550 K. This coincides with elevated ozone loss rates of 2–4 ppbv sh−1 (parts per billion by volume/sunlit hour) and a contribution of about 30–55% and 30–35% from the ClO-ClO and ClO-BrO cycles, respectively, in late February and March. In addition, a contribution of 30–50% from the HOx cycle is also estimated in April. We also estimate a loss of about 0.7–1.2 ppmv contributed (75%) by the NOx cycle at 550–700 K. The ozone loss estimated in the partial column range of 350–550 K exhibits a record value of ~148 DU (Dobson Unit). This is the largest ozone loss ever estimated in the Arctic and is consistent with the remarkable chlorine activation and strong denitrification (40–50%) during the winter, as the modeled ClO shows ~1.8 ppbv in early January and ~1 ppbv in March at 450–550 K. These model results are in excellent agreement with those found from the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder observations. Our analyses also show that the ozone loss in 2010/2011 is close to that found in some Antarctic winters, for the first time in the observed history. Though the winter 1996/1997 was also very cold in March–April, the temperatures were higher in December–February, and, therefore, chlorine activation was moderate and ozone loss was average with about 1.2 ppmv at 475–550 K or 42 DU at 350–550 K, as diagnosed from the model simulations and measurements.


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