scholarly journals Assessing the ammonium nitrate formation regime in the Paris megacity and its representation in the CHIMERE model

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (17) ◽  
pp. 23731-23794 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Petetin ◽  
J. Sciare ◽  
M. Bressi ◽  
A. Rosso ◽  
O. Sanchez ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ammonium Nitrate ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Inorganic Compounds ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Local Formation ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
Uncertainty Sources ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Fine Aerosol ◽  
The City

Abstract. Secondary inorganic compounds represent a major fraction of fine aerosol in the Paris megacity. The thermodynamics behind their formation is now relatively well constrained, but due to sparse direct measurements of their precursors (in particular NH3 and HNO3), uncertainties remain on their concentrations and variability as well as the formation regime of ammonium nitrate (in terms of limited species, among NH3 and HNO3) in urban environments such as Paris. This study presents the first urban background measurements of both inorganic aerosol compounds and their gaseous precursors during several months within the city of Paris. Intense agriculture-related NH3 episodes are observed in spring/summer while HNO3 concentrations remain relatively low, even during summer, which leads to a NH3-rich regime in Paris. The local formation of ammonium nitrate within the city appears low, despite high NOx emissions. The dataset is also used to evaluate the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model (CTM). Interestingly, the rather good results obtained on ammonium nitrates hide significant errors on gaseous precursors (e.g. mean bias of −75 and +195 % for NH3 and HNO3, respectively). It thus leads to a mis-representation of the nitrate formation regime through a highly underestimated Gas Ratio metric (introduced by Ansari and Pandis, 1998) and a much higher sensitivity of nitrate concentrations to ammonia changes. Several uncertainty sources are investigated, pointing out the importance of better assessing both NH3 emissions and OH concentrations in the future. These results finally remind the caution required in the use of CTMs for emission scenario analysis, highlighting the importance of prior diagnostic and dynamic evaluations.

scholarly journals Assessing the ammonium nitrate formation regime in the Paris megacity and its representation in the CHIMERE model

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 10419-10440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hervé Petetin ◽  
Jean Sciare ◽  
Michael Bressi ◽  
Valérie Gros ◽  
Amandine Rosso ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ammonium Nitrate ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Inorganic Compounds ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Local Formation ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Uncertainty Sources ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Agricultural Emissions ◽  
The City

Abstract. Secondary inorganic compounds represent a major fraction of fine aerosol in the Paris megacity. The thermodynamics behind their formation is now relatively well constrained but, due to sparse direct measurements of their precursors (in particular NH3 and HNO3), uncertainties remain on their concentrations and variability as well as the formation regime of ammonium nitrate (in terms of limited species among NH3 and HNO3) in urban environments such as Paris. This study presents the first urban background measurements of both inorganic aerosol compounds and their gaseous precursors during several months within the city of Paris. Intense agriculture-related NH3 episodes are observed in spring/summer while HNO3 concentrations remain relatively low, even during summer, which leads to a NH3-rich regime in Paris. The local formation of ammonium nitrate within the city appears low, despite high NOx emissions. The data set also allows evaluating the CHIMERE chemistry-transport model (CTM). Interestingly, the rather good results obtained on ammonium nitrates hide significant errors on gaseous precursors (e.g., mean bias of −75 and +195 % for NH3 and HNO3, respectively). This leads to a misrepresentation of the nitrate formation regime through a highly underestimated gas ratio metric (introduced by Ansari and Pandis, 1998) and a much higher sensitivity of nitrate concentrations to ammonia changes. Several uncertainty sources are investigated, pointing out the importance of better assessing both NH3 agricultural emissions and OH concentrations in the future. These results remind us of the caution required when using of CTMs for emission scenario analysis, highlighting the importance of prior diagnostic and dynamic evaluations.

scholarly journals Development of the city-scale chemistry transport model CityChem-EPISODE and its application to the city of Hamburg

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Urban Area ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Dispersion Model ◽  
Temporal Correlation ◽  
Urban Atmosphere ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
New Model ◽  
The City

Abstract. This paper describes the City-scale Chemistry (CityChem) extension of the urban dispersion model EPISODE with the aim to enable chemistry/transport simulations of multiple reactive pollutants on urban scales. The new model is called CityChem-EPISODE. The primary focus is on the simulation of urban ozone concentrations. Ozone is produced in photochemical reaction cycles involving nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted by various anthropogenic activities in the urban area. The performance of the new model was evaluated with a series of synthetic tests and with a first application to the air quality situation in the city of Hamburg, Germany. The model performs fairly well for ozone in terms of temporal correlation and bias at the air quality monitoring stations in Hamburg. In summer afternoons, when photochemical activity is highest, modelled median ozone at an inner-city urban background station was about 30 % lower than the observed median ozone. Inaccuracy of the computed photolysis frequency of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the most probable explanation for this. CityChem-EPISODE reproduces the spatial variation of annual mean NO2 concentrations between urban background, traffic and industrial stations. However, the temporal correlation between modelled and observed hourly NO2 concentrations is weak for some of the stations. For daily mean PM10, the performance of CityChem-EPISODE is moderate due to low temporal correlation. The low correlation is linked to uncertainties in the seasonal cycle of the anthropogenic particulate matter (PM) emissions within the urban area. Missing emissions from domestic heating might be an explanation for the too low modelled PM10 in winter months. Four areas of need for improvement have been identified: (1) dry and wet deposition fluxes; (2) treatment of photochemistry in the urban atmosphere; (3) formation of secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA); and (4) formation of biogenic and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The inclusion of secondary aerosol formation will allow for a better sectorial attribution of observed PM levels. Envisaged applications of the CityChem-EPISODE model are urban air quality studies, environmental impact assessment, sensitivity analysis of sector-specific emission and the assessment of local and regional emission abatement policy options.

scholarly journals Increase of secondary organic aerosol over four years in an urban environment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Via ◽  
María Cruz Minguillón ◽  
Cristina Reche ◽  
Xavier Querol ◽  
Andrés Alastuey
Keyword(s):  
Inorganic Compounds ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Western Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Fine Aerosol ◽  
One Year ◽  
Radiation Conditions

Abstract. The evolution of fine aerosol (PM1) species as well as the contribution of potential sources to the total organic aerosol (OA) at an urban background site (Palau Reial, PR, 80 m a.s.l) in the western Mediterranean basin (WMB) was investigated. For this purpose, an aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) was deployed to acquire real-time measurements for two one-year periods: May 2014–May 2015 (period A) and Sep 2017–Oct 2018 (period B). Total PM1 concentrations showed a slight decrease (from 10.1 to 9.6 µg · m−3 from A to B), although the relative contribution of both inorganic and organic compounds varied significantly. Regarding inorganic compounds, SO42−, black carbon and NH4+ showed a significant decrease from period A to B, whilst NO3− concentration was found higher in B. Source apportionment revealed OA was 46 % and 70 % of secondary origin (SOA) in periods A and B, respectively. Two oxygenated secondary sources (OOA) were differentiated by their oxidation status (i.e. aging): less-oxidized (LO-OOA) and more-oxidized (MO-OOA). Disregarding winter periods, where LO-OOA production is not favoured, LO-OOA transformation into MO-OOA was found more effective in period B. The highest MO-OOA-to-LO-OOA ratio (1.5) was found in September–October 2018, implying an accumulation effect after the high temperature and solar radiation conditions in the summer season. In addition, SOA was found sensitive to a NOx-polluted ambient and to other pollutants, especially to ozone, which could be enhancing its production specially during afternoon hours. The anthropogenic primary OA sources identified, cooking-like OA (COA), hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), and biomass burning OA (BBOA), decreased from period A to B in both absolute concentrations and relative contribution (as a whole, 44 % and 40 %, respectively). However, their concentrations and proportion to OA grow rapidly during highly-polluted episodes. The influence of certain atmospheric episodes on OA sources was also assessed. Both SOA factors seem linked with long and medium-range circulations, especially those coming from inland Europe and the Mediterranean (triggering mainly MO-OOA) and summer breeze-driven regional circulation (triggering mainly LO-OOA). In contrast, POA pollution is enhanced either during air-cleaning episodes or stagnation anticyclonic events.

scholarly journals Increase in secondary organic aerosol in an urban environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 8323-8339
Author(s):  
Marta Via ◽  
María Cruz Minguillón ◽  
Cristina Reche ◽  
Xavier Querol ◽  
Andrés Alastuey
Keyword(s):  
Inorganic Compounds ◽  
Organic Aerosol ◽  
Western Mediterranean ◽  
Urban Background ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Western Mediterranean Basin ◽  
Fine Aerosol ◽  
Oxidation Status ◽  
Radiation Conditions ◽  
Urban Background Site

Abstract. The evolution of fine aerosol (PM1) species as well as the contribution of potential sources to the total organic aerosol (OA) at an urban background site in Barcelona, in the western Mediterranean basin (WMB) was investigated. For this purpose, a quadrupole aerosol chemical speciation monitor (Q-ACSM) was deployed to acquire real-time measurements for two 1-year periods: May 2014–May 2015 (period A) and September 2017–October 2018 (period B). Total PM1 concentrations showed a slight decrease (from 10.1 to 9.6 µg m−3 from A to B), although the relative contribution of inorganic and organic compounds varied significantly. Regarding inorganic compounds, SO42-, black carbon (BC) and NH4+ showed a significant decrease from period A to B (−21 %, −18 % and −9 %, respectively), whilst NO3- concentrations were higher in B (+8 %). Source apportionment revealed OA contained 46 % and 70 % secondary OA (SOA) in periods A and B, respectively. Two secondary oxygenated OA sources (OOA) were differentiated by their oxidation status (i.e. ageing): less oxidized (LO-OOA) and more oxidized (MO-OOA). Disregarding winter periods, when LO-OOA production was not favoured, LO-OOA transformation into MO-OOA was found to be more effective in period B. The lowest LO-OOA-to-MO-OOA ratio, excluding winter, was in September–October 2018 (0.65), implying an accumulation of aged OA after the high temperature and solar radiation conditions in the summer season. In addition to temperature, SOA (sum of OOA factors) was enhanced by exposure to NOx-polluted ambient and other pollutants, especially to O3 and during afternoon hours. The anthropogenic primary OA sources identified, cooking-related OA (COA), hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), and biomass burning OA (BBOA), decreased from period A to B in both absolute concentrations and relative contribution (as a whole, 44 % and 30 %, respectively). However, their concentrations and proportion to OA grew rapidly during highly polluted episodes. The influence of certain atmospheric episodes on OA sources was also assessed. Both SOA factors were boosted with long- and medium-range circulations, especially those coming from inland Europe and the Mediterranean (triggering mainly MO-OOA) and summer breeze-driven regional circulation (mainly LO-OOA). In contrast, POA was enhanced either during air-renewal episodes or stagnation anticyclonic events.

Minimetrò in Perugia as leverage for urban regeneration

TERRITORIO ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 148-163
Author(s):  
Luca Fondacci
Keyword(s):  
Urban Regeneration ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Peripheral Area ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Considerable Impact ◽  
The City ◽  
Historical Centre

In the 1970s, the fragile historical centre of the city of Perugia was a key area where the binomial of sustainable mobility and urban regeneration was developed and applied. At the turn of the xxi century, the low carbon automatic people-mover Minimetrò broadened that application from the city's historical centre to the outskirts, promoting the enhancement of several urban environments. This paper is the outcome of an investigation of original sources, field surveys and direct interviews, which addresses the Minimetrò as the backbone of a wide regeneration process which has had a considerable impact on the economic development of a peripheral area of the city which was previously devoid of any clear urban sense. The conclusion proposes some solutions to improve the nature of the Minimetrò as an experimental alternative means of transport.

scholarly journals Mapping the Pollution Plume Using the Self-Potential Geophysical Method: Case of Oum Azza Landfill, Rabat, Morocco

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 961
Author(s):  
Meryem Touzani ◽  
Ismail Mohsine ◽  
Jamila Ouardi ◽  
Ilias Kacimi ◽  
Moad Morarech ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Conductivity ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Soil Surface ◽  
The Self ◽  
Drainage Network ◽  
Geophysical Method ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Sandy Material ◽  
The City ◽  
Self Potential

The main landfill in the city of Rabat (Morocco) is based on sandy material containing the shallow Mio-Pliocene aquifer. The presence of a pollution plume is likely, but its extent is not known. Measurements of spontaneous potential (SP) from the soil surface were cross-referenced with direct measurements of the water table and leachates (pH, redox potential, electrical conductivity) according to the available accesses, as well as with an analysis of the landscape and the water table flows. With a few precautions during data acquisition on this resistive terrain, the results made it possible to separate the electrokinetic (~30%) and electrochemical (~70%) components responsible for the range of potentials observed (70 mV). The plume is detected in the hydrogeological downstream of the discharge, but is captured by the natural drainage network and does not extend further under the hills.

scholarly journals Scenario Analyses of Exhaust Emissions Reduction through the Introduction of Electric Vehicles into the City

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 2030
Author(s):  
Marianna Jacyna ◽  
Renata Żochowska ◽  
Aleksander Sobota ◽  
Mariusz Wasiak
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
Electric Vehicles ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Exhaust Emissions ◽  
Scenario Analyses ◽  
High Emission ◽  
Clean Air ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

In recent years, policymakers of urban agglomerations in various regions of the world have been striving to reduce environmental pollution from harmful exhaust and noise emissions. Restrictions on conventional vehicles entering the inner city are being introduced and the introduction of low-emission measures, including electric ones, is being promoted. This paper presents a method for scenario analysis applied to study the reduction of exhaust emissions by introducing electric vehicles in a selected city. The original scenario analyses relating to real problems faced by contemporary metropolitan areas are based on the VISUM tool (PTV Headquarters for Europe: PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany). For the case study, the transport model of the city of Bielsko-Biala (Poland) was used to conduct experiments with different forms of participation of electric vehicles on the one hand and traffic restrictions for high emission vehicles on the other hand. Scenario analyses were conducted for various constraint options including inbound, outbound, and through traffic. Travel time for specific transport relations and the volume of harmful emissions were used as criteria for evaluating scenarios of limited accessibility to city zones for selected types of vehicles. The comparative analyses carried out showed that the introduction of electric vehicles in the inner city resulted in a significant reduction in the emission of harmful exhaust compounds and, consequently, in an increase in the area of clean air in the city. The case study and its results provide some valuable insights and may guide decision-makers in their actions to introduce both driving ban restrictions for high-emission vehicles and incentives for the use of electric vehicles for city residents.

scholarly journals Facilitating fine-grained intra-urban dengue forecasting by integrating urban environments measured from street-view images

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kang Liu ◽  
Ling Yin ◽  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Min Kang ◽  
Ai-Ping Deng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Feature Vector ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Environmental Feature ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Environmental Features ◽  
Street View ◽  
The City ◽  
Dengue Epidemic

Abstract Background Dengue fever (DF) is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that has threatened tropical and subtropical regions in recent decades. An early and targeted warning of a dengue epidemic is important for vector control. Current studies have primarily determined weather conditions to be the main factor for dengue forecasting, thereby neglecting that environmental suitability for mosquito breeding is also an important factor, especially in fine-grained intra-urban settings. Considering that street-view images are promising for depicting physical environments, this study proposes a framework for facilitating fine-grained intra-urban dengue forecasting by integrating the urban environments measured from street-view images. Methods The dengue epidemic that occurred in 167 townships of Guangzhou City, China, between 2015 and 2019 was taken as a study case. First, feature vectors of street-view images acquired inside each township were extracted by a pre-trained convolutional neural network, and then aggregated as an environmental feature vector of the township. Thus, townships with similar physical settings would exhibit similar environmental features. Second, the environmental feature vector is combined with commonly used features (e.g., temperature, rainfall, and past case count) as inputs to machine-learning models for weekly dengue forecasting. Results The performance of machine-learning forecasting models (i.e., MLP and SVM) integrated with and without environmental features were compared. This indicates that models integrating environmental features can identify high-risk urban units across the city more precisely than those using common features alone. In addition, the top 30% of high-risk townships predicted by our proposed methods can capture approximately 50–60% of dengue cases across the city. Conclusions Incorporating local environments measured from street view images is effective in facilitating fine-grained intra-urban dengue forecasting, which is beneficial for conducting spatially precise dengue prevention and control.

scholarly journals Nitrogen Mass Balance and Pressure Impact Model Applied to an Urban Aquifer

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mitja Janža ◽  
Joerg Prestor ◽  
Simona Pestotnik ◽  
Brigita Jamnik
Keyword(s):  
Groundwater Quality ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Transport Model ◽  
Nitrate Concentration ◽  
Impact Model ◽  
Sewer System ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Pressure Impact ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

The assurance of drinking water supply is one of the biggest emerging global challenges, especially in urban areas. In this respect, groundwater and its management in the urban environment are gaining importance. This paper presents the modeling of nitrogen load from the leaky sewer system and from agriculture and the impact of this pressure on the groundwater quality (nitrate concentration) in the urban aquifer located beneath the City of Ljubljana. The estimated total nitrogen load in the model area of 58 km2 is 334 ton/year, 38% arising from the leaky sewer system and 62% from agriculture. This load was used as input into the groundwater solute transport model to simulate the distribution of nitrate concentration in the aquifer. The modeled nitrate concentrations at the observation locations were found to be on average slightly lower (2.7 mg/L) than observed, and in general reflected the observed contamination pattern. The ability of the presented model to relate and quantify the impact of pressures from different contamination sources on groundwater quality can be beneficially used for the planning and optimization of groundwater management measures for the improvement of groundwater quality.

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