Improving Air Pollution Modelling in Complex Terrain with a Coupled WRF–LOTOS–EUROS Approach: A Case Study in Aburrá Valley, Colombia

Chemical transport models (CTM) are crucial for simulating the distribution of air pollutants, such as particulate matter, and evaluating their impact on the environment and human health. However, these models rely heavily on accurate emission inventory and meteorological inputs, usually obtained from reanalyzed weather data, such as the...

Changes in power plant NOx emissions over northwest greece using a data assimilation technique (preprint)

In this work, we investigate the ability of a data assimilation technique and space-borne observations to quantify and monitor changes in nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions over North-Western Greece for the summers of 2018 and 2019. In this region, four lignite-burning power plants are located. The data assimilation technique, based on the Ensemble...

The urbem hybrid method to derive high-resolution emissions for city-scale air quality modeling

As cities are growing in size and complexity, the estimation of air pollution exposure requires a detailed spatial representation of air pollution levels, rather than homogenous fields, provided by global- or regional-scale models. A critical input for city-scale modeling is a timely and spatially resolved emission inventory. Bottom–up...

Forecasting PM10 and PM2.5 in the Aburrá Valley (Medellín, Colombia) via EnKF based data assimilation

A data assimilation system for the LOTOS-EUROS chemical transport model has been implemented to improve the simulation and forecast of PM10 and PM2.5 in a densely populated urban valley of the tropical Andes. The Aburrá Valley in Colombia was used as a case study, given data availability and current environmental issues related to population...

Joint analysis of deposition fluxes and atmospheric concentrations of inorganic nitrogen and sulphur compounds predicted by six chemistry transport models in the frame of the EURODELTAIII project

In the framework of the UNECE Task Force on Measurement and Modelling (TFMM) under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP), the EURODELTAIII project is evaluating how well air quality models are able to reproduce observed pollutant air concentrations and deposition fluxes in Europe. In this paper the sulphur and nitrogen...

Air pollution impacts due to petroleum extraction in the Norwegian Sea during the ACCESS aircraft campaign

Emissions from oil/gas extraction activities in the Arctic are already important in certain regions and may increase as global warming opens up new opportunities for industrial development. Emissions from oil/gas extraction are sources of air pollutants, but large uncertainties exist with regard to their amounts and composition. In this study,...

Observing System Simulation Experiments for air quality

This review paper provides a framework for the application of the Observing System Simulation Experiment (OSSE) methodology to satellite observations of atmospheric constituents relevant for air quality. The OSSEs are experiments used to determine the potential benefit of future observing systems using an existing monitoring or forecasting...

Quantification of the urban air pollution increment and its dependency on the use of down-scaled and bottom-up city emission inventories

The impact of large cities on air pollution levels usually is determined with models driven by so-called downscaled emission inventories. This implies that annual emissions of air pollutants at the national scale are spatially distributed over a grid using proxy data like population density. These inventories are frequently used for regional air...

Monitoring and assessment of regional air quality in China using space observations (Marco Polo)

In this paper we will present the FP7-project 'MarcoPolo'. The main objective of MarcoPolo is to improve air quality monitoring, modelling and forecasting over China using satellite data. During the project a new emission inventory will be constructed by combining Chinese and European expertise. It will be based on recent satellite data and GIS...

Bias Correction Techniques to Improve Air Quality Ensemble Predictions: Focus on O3 and PM Over Portugal

Five air quality models were applied over Portugal for July 2006 and used as ensemble members. Each model was used, with its original set up in terms of meteorology, parameterizations, boundary conditions and chemical mechanisms, but with the same emission data. The validation of the individual models and the ensemble of ozone (O3) and...

Evaluation of the meteorological forcing used for the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) air quality simulations

Accurate regional air pollution simulation relies strongly on the accuracy of the mesoscale meteorological simulation used to drive the air quality model. The framework of the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII), which involved a large international community of modeling groups in Europe and North America, offered a...

Impact of forest fires on particulate matter and ozone levels during the 2003, 2004 and 2005 fire seasons in portugal

The main purpose of this work is to estimate the impact of forest fires on air pollution applying the LOTOS-EUROS air quality modeling system in Portugal for three consecutive years, 2003-2005. Forest fire emissions have been included in the modeling system through the development of a numerical module, which takes into account the most suitable...

Comparing emission inventories and model-ready emission datasets between Europe and North America for the AQMEII project

This paper highlights the similarities and differences in how emission inventories and datasets were developed and processed across North America and Europe for the Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII) project and then characterizes the emissions for the two domains. We focus specifically on the creation of " model...

New Directions: Understanding interactions of air quality and climate change at regional scales

Operational model evaluation for particulate matter in Europe and North America in the context of AQMEII

Ten state-of-the-science regional air quality (AQ) modeling systems have been applied to continental-scale domains in North America and Europe for full-year simulations of 2006 in the context of Air Quality Model Evaluation International Initiative (AQMEII), whose main goals are model inter-comparison and evaluation. Standardised modeling...

Skill and uncertainty of a regional air quality model ensemble

Recently several regional air quality projects were carried out to support the negotiation under the Clean Air For Europe (CAFE) programme by predicting the impact of emission control policies with an ensemble of models. Within these projects, CITYDELTA and EURODELTA, the fate of air quality at the scale of European cities or that of the...

The study of traffic hotspot air quality and street scale modelling in the Street Emission Ceilings (SEC) Project

The introduction of local scale analysis in Integrated Assessment Modelling (IAM) requires an evaluation of road transport emission factors and local scale air quality models. The comparison of PM10 and PM2.5 over NOx delta (street level minus background) concentration ratios against emission ratio estimates, confirms the appropriateness of the...

Comparison of model results obtained with several European regional air quality models

An intercomparison study has been performed with four photo-oxidant dispersion models (EMEP, EURAD, LOTOS and REM3) which are currently capable of performing photo-oxidant formation calculations over larger path of Europe. The models, in principle, were run in the mode in which they are normally used, with their own input data and process...