Atmospheric satellite-based and in situ surface observations on summertime trace gases (CO, CO2, CH4) over the metropolitan area of Bucharest

Although anthropogenic emissions of trace gases have decreased over the last decades in Europe, strong additional reductions are required to reach the goals of the Paris climate agreements. In addition, air pollution is an issue of great concern for the inhabitants of the metropolitan area of Bucharest, as the local air quality is often poor. The rapid development of the city, increased traffic volume from a mixed vehicle fleet (different technologies and fuels), and other factors are strong contributors of emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants in Bucharest.The goal of this research was the assessment of CO, CO2 and CH4 concentrations in Bucharest, identification of potential emissions hotspots and their causes (anthropogenic or natural/biogenic, local or distant) and determination of the background values.Measurements were performed in summer 2019 in four districts of Bucharest covering about two thirds of the metropolitan area during the Romanian Methane Emissions from Oil&gas (ROMEO) campaign with high resolution (1 sec). These data sets were complemented with satellite observations of CO and CH4 from Copernicus Sentinel-5P at a resolution of 7 km2.Hourly meteorological data, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, and atmospheric pressure were added to the air pollutant data set because synoptic conditions can strongly influence the levels of pollution. Air mass origins were investigated by computing backward air mass trajectories using the HYSPLIT (Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model for 72 hours back.Points of high concentrations of CO, CO2, CH4 near the surface were identified which are, most likely, linked to local anthropogenic activities in the nearby surroundings. We identified a variation of concentrations of CO from 0.01 to 101 ppm, of CO2 from 388 to 6556 ppm, and of CH4 from 1.89 to 246 ppm, while background levels are as follows: 0.071&#177;0.042 ppm CO, 392.68&#177;3.01 ppm CO2, and 1.93&#177;0.016 ppm CH4.Results of our study provide an up to date quantitative image of CO, CO2, CH4 hotspots in the Bucharest area, which is important for modeling air quality and may also help to improve the relationships between column integrated air pollution data with in situ ground observations.Acknowledgement:This research is supported by ROMEO project, developed under UNEP&#8217;s financial support PCA/CCAC/UU/DTIE19-EN652. Partial financial support from UB198/Int project is also acknowledged.The authors acknowledge the free use of tropospheric CO and CH4 column data from TROPOMI (Sentinel-5P) sensor from https://s5phub.copernicus.eu and the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport model available at READY website https://www.ready.noaa.govSpecial thanks to all INCAS technical staff for their support in performing the campaigns.

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Changes of air pollutants’ concentrations in selected Romanian cities during the pandemic year 2020

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1800 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gabriela Iorga ◽

George-Bogdan Burghelea

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

European Commission ◽

Air Pollutants ◽

Meteorological Parameters ◽

Dust Particles ◽

Spatial And Temporal Variation ◽

Pollution Level ◽

Data Set ◽

Air Mass

Present research contributes to scientific knowledge concerning spatial and temporal variation of major air pollutants with high resolution at the country scale bringing statistical information on concentrations of NOx, O3, CO, SO2 and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter below 10&#160;&#956;m (PM10) and below 2.5&#160;&#956;m (PM2.5) during the pandemic year 2020 using an observational data set from the Romanian National Air Quality Network in seven selected cities spread out over the country. These cities have different level of development, play regional roles, might have potential influence at European scale and they are expected to be impacted by different pollution sources. Among them, three cities (Bucharest, Bra&#537;ov, Ia&#537;i) appear frequently on the list of the European Commission with reference to the infringement procedure that the European Commission launched against Romania in the period 2007-2020 regarding air quality.Air pollutant data was complemented with local meteorological parameters at each site (atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, temperature, global solar radiation, wind speed and direction). Statistics of air pollutants provide us with an overview of air pollution in main Romanian cities.&#160; Correlations between meteorological parameters and ambient pollutant levels were analyzed. Lowest air pollution levels were measured during the lockdown period in spring, as main traffic and non-essential activities were severely restricted. Among exceptions were the construction activities that were not interrupted. During 2020, some of selected cities experienced few pollution episodes which were due to dust transport from Sahara desert. However, in Bucharest metropolitan area, some cases with high pollution level were found correlated with local anthropogenic activity namely, waste incinerations. Air mass origins were investigated for 72 hours back by computing the air mass backward trajectories using the HYSPLIT model. Dust load and spatial distribution of the aerosol optical depth with BSC-DREAM8b v2.0 and NMBM/BSC-Dust models showed the area with dust particles transport during the dust events.The obtained results are important for investigations of sources of air pollution and for modeling of air quality.&#160;Acknowledgment:The research leading to these results has received funding from the NO Grants 2014-2021, under Project contract no. 31/2020, EEA-RO-NO-2019-0423 project. NOAA Air Resources Laboratory for HYSPLIT transport model, available at READY website https://www.ready.noaa.gov &#160;and the Barcelona dust forecast center for BSC-DREAM8b and NMBM/BSC-Dust models, available at: &#160;https://ess.bsc.es/bsc-dust-daily-forecast are also acknowledged. The data regarding ground-based air pollution and meteorology by site was extracted from the public available Romanian National Air Quality Database, www.calitateaer.ro.

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Short-Term Associations between Morbidity and Air Pollution in Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12101352 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 1352

Author(s):

Rosa Maria Cerón Breton ◽

Julia Céron Breton ◽

María de la Luz Espinosa Fuentes ◽

Jonathan Kahl ◽

Alberto Antonio Espinosa Guzman ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

Hospital Admissions ◽

Risk Index ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Quality Data ◽

Short Term ◽

Pollution Effects ◽

National System

Short-term effects of air pollution on the number of hospital admissions in eight municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of Monterrey, Mexico, were assessed from 2016 to 2019 using a time-series approach. Air quality data were obtained from the Atmospheric Monitoring System of Nuevo Leon State (SIMA) which belongs to SINAICA (National System of Air Quality Information), providing validated data for this study. Epidemiological data were provided by SINAIS (National System of Health Information), considering admission by all causes and specific causes, gender and different age groups. Guadalupe had the highest mean concentrations for SO2, CO and O3; whereas Santa Catarina showed the highest NO2 concentrations. Escobedo and Garcia registered the highest levels for PM10. Only PM10 and O3 exceeded the permissible maximum values established in Mexican official standards. A basal Poisson model was constructed to assess the association between daily morbidity and air pollutants, from this, a second scenario in which daily mean concentrations of air pollutant criteria increase by 10% was considered. Most of pollutants and municipalities studied showed a great number of associations between an increase of 10% in their current concentrations and morbidity, especially for the age group between 5 and 59 years during cold months, excepting ozone which showed a strongest correlation during summer. Results were comparable to those reported by other authors around the world, however, in spite of relative risk index (RRI) values being low, they are of public concern. This study demonstrated that considering the nature of their activities, economically active population and students, they could be more vulnerable to air pollution effects. Results found in this study can be used by decision makers to develop public policies focused on protecting this specific group of the population in metropolitan areas in Mexico.

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Characterization of atmospheric trace gases and particle matters in Hangzhou, China

10.5194/acp-2017-777 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Gen Zhang ◽

Honghui Xu ◽

Bing Qi ◽

Rongguang Du ◽

Ke Gui ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Fine Particles ◽

Trace Gases ◽

Photochemical Pollution ◽

Seasonal Scale ◽

Haze Pollution ◽

Synoptic Conditions ◽

The Yrd ◽

Local Emissions

Abstract. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) is one of the most densely populated regions in China with severe air quality issues, which has not been fully understood. Thus, in this study, based on one-year (2013) continuous measurement at a National Reference Climatological Station (NRCS, 30.22° N, 120.17° E, 41.7 m a.s.l.) in the center of Hangzhou in the YRD, we investigated the seasonal characteristics, interspecies relationships, and the local emissions and the regional potential source contributions of trace gases (including O3, NOx, NOy, SO2 and CO) and particulate matters (PM2.5 and PM10). Results revealed severe two-tier air pollution (photochemical and haze pollution) occurred in this region, with frequent exceedances in O3 (38 days) and PM2.5 (62 days). O3 and PM2.5 both exhibited distinct seasonal variations with reversed patterns: O3 reaching a maximum in warm seasons (May and July) but PM2.5 in cold seasons (November to January). The overall results from interspecies correlation indicated a strong local photochemistry favoring the O3 production under a volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited regime, whereas it moved towards an optimum O3 production zone during warm seasons, accompanying with a formation of secondary fine particles under high O3. The emission maps of PM2.5, CO, NOx, and SO2 demonstrated that local emissions were both significant for these species on seasonal scale. The contributions from the regional transports among inland cities (Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui, and Jiangxi Province) on seasonal scale were further confirmed to be crucial to air pollution at NRCS site by using the backward trajectories simulations. Air masses transported from Yellow Sea, East Sea, and South Sea were also found to be highly relevant to the elevated pollutants, especially for NOx and O3. Case studies of photochemical pollution (O3) and haze (PM2.5) episodes both suggested the combined importance of local atmospheric photochemistry and synoptic conditions during the accumulation (related with anticyclones) and dilution process (related with cyclones). This study supplements a general picture of the air pollution state in the YRD region, specifically elucidates the role of local emission and regional transport, and interprets the physical and photochemical processes during haze and photochemical pollution episodes. Moreover, this work suggests that cross-regional control measures are crucial to improve air quality in the YRD region, and further emphasizes the importance of local thermally induced circulation on air quality.

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An overview of ACTRIS observational data in relation to the 2020 lockdown period in Europe

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-8645 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Giulia Saponaro ◽

Cathrine Lund Myhre ◽

Markus Fiebig ◽

Ewan O'Connor ◽

Lucia Mona ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Air Quality ◽

Trace Gases ◽

Research Infrastructure ◽

Atmospheric Composition ◽

World Health ◽

Quality Data ◽

Data Set ◽

Aerosol Remote Sensing

The identification of the severe COVID-19 virus in December 2019 led the World Health Organization to declare a global pandemic by March 2020. Up till recently with the first available vaccines, the only prevention measures include strict social, travel and working restrictions in a so-called lockdown period that lasted for several weeks (mid-March to the end of April 2020 for most of Europe). This abrupt change in social behaviour is expected to impact local but also regional atmospheric composition, and the environmental impact is highly interesting to study.The Aerosol, Clouds and Trace Gases Research Infrastructure (ACTRIS) is a pan-European research infrastructure producing high-quality data and information on short-lived atmospheric constituents and on the processes leading to the variability of these constituents in natural and controlled atmospheres. ACTRIS integrates, harmonizes, and distributes datasets, activities, and services provided by the Central Facilities and National Facilities, located in 22 European countries.&#160;During the lockdown period in spring 2020 most of the ACTRIS observational were operational. The National Facilities performing the ambient measurements are generally regional background sites, with the aim to detect changes on regional level. Within the context of the current COVID-19 outbreak, ACTRIS has been continuously providing access to data on air quality and atmospheric composition. This is of particular interest and importance as it provides unique information measured from the ground to assess the European air quality and atmospheric composition during the lockdown complementing, in a fundamental way, satellite observations and modelling analysis.&#160;&#160;ACTRIS released a comprehensive and quality assured set of atmospheric measurement data during the COVID-19 pandemic spring 2020 &#8211; January&#8211; May 2020. This includes:<ul>- 30 sites with aerosol in situ measurements providing mainly absorption and scattering coefficient, size and/or number distribution. A few sites with high time solution aerosol chemical composition;</ul><ul>- 12 sites with trace gases in situ data providing VOCs and NOX measurements;24 sites with aerosol remote sensing data providing profiles with backscattering and extinction coefficient;</ul><ul>- 11 cloud remote sensing sites providing profile information of 9 various cloud properties.</ul>To facilitate studies, ACTRIS has compiled the data and coined a DOI for the data sets measured during the COVID-19 spring lockdown period, including an intensive aerosol remote sensing campaign in May. This presentation will present the data set and the potential applications and benefits using ACTRIS COVID-19 dataset for studying atmospheric composition changes during COVID-19 lockdown periods.

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Quantifying Air Pollutant Variations during COVID-19 Lockdown in a Capital City in Northwest China

Atmosphere ◽

10.3390/atmos12060788 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 788

Author(s):

Rong Feng ◽

Hongmei Xu ◽

Zexuan Wang ◽

Yunxuan Gu ◽

Zhe Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Rural Areas ◽

Vehicle Emissions ◽

Motor Vehicle ◽

Northwest China ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Capital City ◽

Air Pollution Control ◽

Motor Vehicle Emissions

In the context of the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), strict lockdown policies were implemented to control nonessential human activities in Xi’an, northwest China, which greatly limited the spread of the pandemic and affected air quality. Compared with pre-lockdown, the air quality index and concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and CO during the lockdown reduced, but the reductions were not very significant. NO2 levels exhibited the largest decrease (52%) during lockdown, owing to the remarkable decreased motor vehicle emissions. The highest K+ and lowest Ca2+ concentrations in PM2.5 samples could be attributed to the increase in household biomass fuel consumption in suburbs and rural areas around Xi’an and the decrease in human physical activities in Xi’an (e.g., human travel, vehicle emissions, construction activities), respectively, during the lockdown period. Secondary chemical reactions in the atmosphere increased in the lockdown period, as evidenced by the increased O3 level (increased by 160%) and OC/EC ratios in PM2.5 (increased by 26%), compared with pre-lockdown levels. The results, based on a natural experiment in this study, can be used as a reference for studying the formation and source of air pollution in Xi’an and provide evidence for establishing future long-term air pollution control policies.

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Gender Differences in Association between Air Pollution and Daily Mortality in the Capital of the Green Lungs of Poland–Population-Based Study with 2,953,000 Person-Years of Follow-Up

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm9082351 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (8) ◽

pp. 2351

Author(s):

Łukasz Kuźma ◽

Krzysztof Struniawski ◽

Szymon Pogorzelski ◽

Hanna Bachórzewska-Gajewska ◽

Sławomir Dobrzycki

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Gender Differences ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

World Health ◽

The European Union ◽

Daily Mortality ◽

Male Population ◽

The Impact

(1) Introduction: air pollution is considered to be one of the main risk factors for public health. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), air pollution contributes to the premature deaths of approximately 500,000 citizens of the European Union (EU), including almost 5000 inhabitants of Poland every year. (2) Purpose: to assess the gender differences in the impact of air pollution on the mortality in the population of the city of Bialystok—the capital of the Green Lungs of Poland. (3) Materials and Methods: based on the data from the Central Statistical Office, the number—and causes of death—of Białystok residents in the period 2008–2017 were analyzed. The study utilized the data recorded by the Provincial Inspectorate for Environmental Protection station and the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management during the analysis period. Time series regression with Poisson distribution was used in statistical analysis. (4) Results: A total of 34,005 deaths had been recorded, in which women accounted for 47.5%. The proportion of cardiovascular-related deaths was 48% (n = 16,370). An increase of SO2 concentration by 1-µg/m3 (relative risk (RR) 1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.02–1.12; p = 0.005) and a 10 °C decrease of temperature (RR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05; p = 0.005) were related to an increase in the number of daily deaths. No gender differences in the impact of air pollution on mortality were observed. In the analysis of the subgroup of cardiovascular deaths, the main pollutant that was found to have an effect on daily mortality was particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5); the RR for 10-µg/m3 increase of PM2.5 was 1.07 (95% CI 1.02–1.12; p = 0.01), and this effect was noted only in the male population. (5) Conclusions: air quality and atmospheric conditions had an impact on the mortality of Bialystok residents. The main air pollutant that influenced the mortality rate was SO2, and there were no gender differences in the impact of this pollutant. In the male population, an increased exposure to PM2.5 concentration was associated with significantly higher cardiovascular mortality. These findings suggest that improving air quality, in particular, even with lower SO2 levels than currently allowed by the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, may benefit public health. Further studies on this topic are needed, but our results bring questions whether the recommendations concerning acceptable concentrations of air pollutants should be stricter, or is there a safe concentration of SO2 in the air at all.

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Monitoring compliance with sulfur content regulations of shipping fuel by in situ measurements of ship emissions

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-10087-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (17) ◽

pp. 10087-10092 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

L. Kattner ◽

B. Mathieu-Üffing ◽

J. P. Burrows ◽

A. Richter ◽

S. Schmolke ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sulfur Content ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Monitoring Site ◽

Data Set ◽

The North ◽

Position Data ◽

Gas Measurements ◽

Set Up ◽

Carbon Dioxide Co2

Abstract. In 1997 the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted MARPOL Annex VI to prevent air pollution by shipping emissions. It regulates, among other issues, the sulfur content in shipping fuels, which is transformed into the air pollutant sulfur dioxide (SO2) during combustion. Within designated Sulfur Emission Control Areas (SECA), the sulfur content was limited to 1 %, and on 1 January 2015, this limit was further reduced to 0.1 %. Here we present the set-up and measurement results of a permanent ship emission monitoring site near Hamburg harbour in the North Sea SECA. Trace gas measurements are conducted with in situ instruments and a data set from September 2014 to January 2015 is presented. By combining measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) and SO2 with ship position data, it is possible to deduce the sulfur fuel content of individual ships passing the measurement station, thus facilitating the monitoring of compliance of ships with the IMO regulations. While compliance is almost 100 % for the 2014 data, it decreases only very little in 2015 to 95.4 % despite the much stricter limit. We analysed more than 1400 ship plumes in total and for months with favourable conditions, up to 40 % of all ships entering and leaving Hamburg harbour could be checked for their sulfur fuel content.

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Use of electrochemical sensors for measurement of air pollution: correcting interference response and validating measurements

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ◽

10.5194/amt-10-3575-2017 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 10 (9) ◽

pp. 3575-3588 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

Eben S. Cross ◽

Leah R. Williams ◽

David K. Lewis ◽

Gregory R. Magoon ◽

Timothy B. Onasch ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Lower Cost ◽

Electrochemical Sensors ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Sensor System ◽

Time Interval ◽

High Dimensional Model Representation ◽

Integrated Sensor ◽

Mean Square Errors

Abstract. The environments in which we live, work, and play are subject to enormous variability in air pollutant concentrations. To adequately characterize air quality (AQ), measurements must be fast (real time), scalable, and reliable (with known accuracy, precision, and stability over time). Lower-cost air-quality-sensor technologies offer new opportunities for fast and distributed measurements, but a persistent characterization gap remains when it comes to evaluating sensor performance under realistic environmental sampling conditions. This limits our ability to inform the public about pollution sources and inspire policy makers to address environmental justice issues related to air quality. In this paper, initial results obtained with a recently developed lower-cost air-quality-sensor system are reported. In this project, data were acquired with the ARISense integrated sensor package over a 4.5-month time interval during which the sensor system was co-located with a state-operated (Massachusetts, USA) air quality monitoring station equipped with reference instrumentation measuring the same pollutant species. This paper focuses on validating electrochemical (EC) sensor measurements of CO, NO, NO2, and O3 at an urban neighborhood site with pollutant concentration ranges (parts per billion by volume, ppb; 5 min averages, ±1σ): [CO]  =  231 ± 116 ppb (spanning 84–1706 ppb), [NO]  =  6.1 ± 11.5 ppb (spanning 0–209 ppb), [NO2]  =  11.7 ± 8.3 ppb (spanning 0–71 ppb), and [O3]  =  23.2 ± 12.5 ppb (spanning 0–99 ppb). Through the use of high-dimensional model representation (HDMR), we show that interference effects derived from the variable ambient gas concentration mix and changing environmental conditions over three seasons (sensor flow-cell temperature  =  23.4 ± 8.5 °C, spanning 4.1 to 45.2 °C; and relative humidity  =  50.1 ± 15.3 %, spanning 9.8–79.9 %) can be effectively modeled for the Alphasense CO-B4, NO-B4, NO2-B43F, and Ox-B421 sensors, yielding (5 min average) root mean square errors (RMSE) of 39.2, 4.52, 4.56, and 9.71 ppb, respectively. Our results substantiate the potential for distributed air pollution measurements that could be enabled with these sensors.

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Case Study on Anthropogenic Air Pollution in Nagpur City

International Journal for Research in Applied Science and Engineering Technology ◽

10.22214/ijraset.2021.34082 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (VI) ◽

pp. 2279-2282

Author(s):

Mukul Dayaramani

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Harmful Effect ◽

Central India ◽

Well Being ◽

Good Health ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Corporate Community ◽

Health And Well Being

Air pollution is a very serious problem worldwide. Anthropogenic air pollution is mostly related to the combustion of various types of fuels. Air pollutant levels remain too high and air quality problems are still not solved. The presence of pollutants in the air has a harmful effect on the human health and the environment. Good air quality is a prerequisite for our good health and well-being. Nagpur city is located in Maharashtra state of central India. Business hub and increased industrialization in study area is affecting the environment adversely. n. Changing life style of corporate community and their effects on other population enhancing the contamination of environment

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A Layered Recurrent Neural Network for Imputing Air Pollutants Missing Data and Prediction of NO 2, O 3, PM 10, and PM 2.5

10.5772/intechopen.93678 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hamza Turabieh ◽

Alaa Sheta ◽

Malik Braik ◽

Elvira Kovač-Andrić

Keyword(s):

Neural Network ◽

Air Pollution ◽

Air Quality ◽

Recurrent Neural Network ◽

Missing Values ◽

Prediction Models ◽

Air Pollutant ◽

Forecasting Models ◽

Monitoring Strategies ◽

Artificial Neural Network Ann

To fulfill the national air quality standards, many countries have created emissions monitoring strategies on air quality. Nowadays, policymakers and air quality executives depend on scientific computation and prediction models to monitor that cause air pollution, especially in industrial cities. Air pollution is considered one of the primary problems that could cause many human health problems such as asthma, damage to lungs, and even death. In this study, we present investigated development forecasting models for air pollutant attributes including Particulate Matters (PM2.5, PM10), ground-level Ozone (O3), and Nitrogen Oxides (NO2). The dataset used was collected from Dubrovnik city, which is located in the east of Croatia. The collected data has missing values. Therefore, we suggested the use of a Layered Recurrent Neural Network (L-RNN) to impute the missing value(s) of air pollutant attributes then build forecasting models. We adopted four regression models to forecast air pollutant attributes, which are: Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Decision Tree Regression (DTR), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and L-RNN. The obtained results show that the proposed method enhances the overall performance of other forecasting models.

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