Unusually high soil nitrogen oxide emissions influence air quality in a high-temperature agricultural region

PubMed Central

Oikawa, P. Y.; Ge, C.; Wang, J.; Eberwein, J. R.; Liang, L. L.; Allsman, L. A.; Grantz, D. A.; Jenerette, G. D.

2015-01-01

Fertilized soils have large potential for production of soil nitrogen oxide (NOx=NO+NO2), however these emissions are difficult to predict in high-temperature environments. Understanding these emissions may improve air quality modelling as NOx contributes to formation of tropospheric ozone (O3), a powerful air pollutant. Here we identify the environmental and management factors that regulate soil NOx emissions in a high-temperature agricultural region of California. We also investigate whether soil NOx emissions are capable of influencing regional air quality. We report some of the highest soil NOx emissions ever observed. Emissions vary nonlinearly with fertilization, temperature and soil moisture. We find that a regional air chemistry model often underestimates soil NOx emissions and NOx at the surface and in the troposphere. Adjusting the model to match NOx observations leads to elevated tropospheric O3. Our results suggest management can greatly reduce soil NOx emissions, thereby improving air quality. PMID:26556236

HVAC SYSTEMS AS EMISSION SOURCES AFFECTING INDOOR AIR QUALITY: A CRITICAL REVIEW

EPA Science Inventory

The paper discusses results of an evaluation of literature on heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems as contaminant emission sources that affect indoor air quality (IAQ). The various literature sources and methods for characterizing HVAC emission sources are re...

Impacts of Residential Biofuel Emissions on Air Quality and Climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Y.; Unger, N.; Harper, K.; Storelvmo, T.

2016-12-01

The residential biofuel sector is defined as fuelwood, agricultural residues and dung used for household cooking and heating. Aerosol emissions from this human activity play an important role affecting local, regional and global air quality, climate and public health. However, there are only few studies available that evaluate the net impacts and large uncertainties persist. Here we use the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM v5.3) within the Community Earth System Model version 1.2.2, to quantify the impacts of cook-stove biofuel emissions on air quality and climate. The model incorporates a novel advanced treatment of black carbon (BC) effects on mixed-phase/ice clouds. We update the global anthropogenic emission inventory in CAM v5.3 to a state-of-the-art emission inventory from the Greenhouse Gas-Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies integrated assessment model. Global in-situ and aircraft campaign observations for BC and organic carbon are used to evaluate and validate the model performance. Sensitivity simulations are employed to assess the impacts of residential biofuel emissions on regional and global direct and indirect radiative forcings in the contemporary world. We focus the analyses on several key regions including India, China and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality: Two global challenges.

PubMed

Erickson, Larry E

2017-07-01

There are many good reasons to promote sustainable development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other combustion emissions. The air quality in many urban environments is causing many premature deaths because of asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and dementia associated with combustion emissions. The global social cost of air pollution is at least $3 trillion/year; particulates, nitrogen oxides and ozone associated with combustion emissions are very costly pollutants. Better air quality in urban environments is one of the reasons for countries to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. There are many potential benefits associated with limiting climate change. In the recent past, the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been increasing and the number of weather and climate disasters with costs over $1 billion has been increasing. The average global temperature set new record highs in 2014, 2015, and 2016. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the transition to electric vehicles and electricity generation using renewable energy must take place in accord with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This work reviews progress and identifies some of the health benefits associated with reducing combustion emissions. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 982-988, 2017.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving air quality: Two global challenges

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

There are many good reasons to promote sustainable development and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other combustion emissions. The air quality in many urban environments is causing many premature deaths because of asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, and dementia associated with combustion emissions. The global social cost of air pollution is at least $3 trillion/year; particulates, nitrogen oxides and ozone associated with combustion emissions are very costly pollutants. Better air quality in urban environments is one of the reasons for countries to work together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. There are many potential benefits associated with limiting climate change. In the recent past, the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been increasing and the number of weather and climate disasters with costs over $1 billion has been increasing. The average global temperature set new record highs in 2014, 2015, and 2016. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the transition to electric vehicles and electricity generation using renewable energy must take place in accord with the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This work reviews progress and identifies some of the health benefits associated with reducing combustion emissions. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 982–988, 2017 PMID:29238442

Impacts of Future Climate and Emission Changes on U.S. Air Quality

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Penrod, Ashley; Zhang, Yang; Wang, K.

2014-06-01

Changes in climate and emissions will affect future air quality. In this work, simulations of present (2001-2005) and future (2026-2030) regional air quality are conducted with the newly released CMAQ version 5.0 to examine the individual and combined impacts of simulated future climate and anthropogenic emission projections on air quality over the U.S. Current (2001-2005) meteorological and chemical predictions are evaluated against observational data to assess the model’s capability in reproducing the seasonal differences. Overall, WRF and CMAQ perform reasonably well. Increased temperatures (up to 3.18 °C) and decreased ventilation (up to 157 m in planetary boundary layer height) aremore » found in both future winter and summer, with more prominent changes in winter. Increases in future temperatures result in increased isoprene and terpene emissions in winter and summer, driving the increase in maximum 8-h average O3 (up to 5.0 ppb) over the eastern U.S. in winter while decreases in NOx emissions drive the decrease in O3 over most of the U.S. in summer. Future concentrations of PM2.5 in winter and summer and many of its components including organic matter in winter, ammonium and nitrate in summer, and sulfate in winter and summer, decrease due to decreases in primary anthropogenic emissions and the concentrations of secondary anthropogenic pollutants and increased precipitation in winter. Future winter and summer dry and wet deposition fluxes are spatially variable and increase with increasing surface resistance and precipitation (e.g., NH4+ and NO3- dry and wet deposition fluxes increase in winter over much of the U.S.), respectively, and decrease with a decrease in ambient particulate concentrations (e.g., SO42- dry and wet deposition fluxes decrease over the eastern U.S. in summer and winter). Sensitivity simulations show that anthropogenic emission projections dominate over changes in climate in their impacts on the U.S. air quality in the near future

Biofuels, vehicle emissions, and urban air quality.

PubMed

Wallington, Timothy J; Anderson, James E; Kurtz, Eric M; Tennison, Paul J

2016-07-18

Increased biofuel content in automotive fuels impacts vehicle tailpipe emissions via two mechanisms: fuel chemistry and engine calibration. Fuel chemistry effects are generally well recognized, while engine calibration effects are not. It is important that investigations of the impact of biofuels on vehicle emissions consider the impact of engine calibration effects and are conducted using vehicles designed to operate using such fuels. We report the results of emission measurements from a Ford F-350 fueled with either fossil diesel or a biodiesel surrogate (butyl nonanoate) and demonstrate the critical influence of engine calibration on NOx emissions. Using the production calibration the emissions of NOx were higher with the biodiesel fuel. Using an adjusted calibration (maintaining equivalent exhaust oxygen concentration to that of the fossil diesel at the same conditions by adjusting injected fuel quantities) the emissions of NOx were unchanged, or lower, with biodiesel fuel. For ethanol, a review of the literature data addressing the impact of ethanol blend levels (E0-E85) on emissions from gasoline light-duty vehicles in the U.S. is presented. The available data suggest that emissions of NOx, non-methane hydrocarbons, particulate matter (PM), and mobile source air toxics (compounds known, or suspected, to cause serious health impacts) from modern gasoline and diesel vehicles are not adversely affected by increased biofuel content over the range for which the vehicles are designed to operate. Future increases in biofuel content when accomplished in concert with changes in engine design and calibration for new vehicles should not result in problematic increases in emissions impacting urban air quality and may in fact facilitate future required emissions reductions. A systems perspective (fuel and vehicle) is needed to fully understand, and optimize, the benefits of biofuels when blended into gasoline and diesel.

Estimating emissions from fires in North America for air quality modeling.

Treesearch

Christine Wiedinmyer; Brad Quayle; Chris Geron; Angie Belote; Don McKenzie; Xiaoyang Zhang; Susan O' Neill; Kristina Klos Wynne

2006-01-01

Fires contribute substantial emissions of trace gases and particles to the atmosphere. These emissions can impact air quality and even climate. We have developed a modeling framework to estimate the emissions from fires in North and parts of Central America (10-71 ˚N and 55-175 ˚W) by taking advantage of a combination of complementary satellite and...

Air Emissions Factors and Quantification

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Emissions factors are used in developing air emissions inventories for air quality management decisions and in developing emissions control strategies. This area provides technical information on and support for the use of emissions factors.

Updating Sea Spray Aerosol Emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gantt, B.; Bash, J. O.; Kelly, J.

2014-12-01

Sea spray aerosols (SSA) impact the particle mass concentration and gas-particle partitioning in coastal environments, with implications for human and ecosystem health. In this study, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is updated to enhance fine mode SSA emissions, include sea surface temperature (SST) dependency, and revise surf zone emissions. Based on evaluation with several regional and national observational datasets in the continental U.S., the updated emissions generally improve surface concentrations predictions of primary aerosols composed of sea-salt and secondary aerosols affected by sea-salt chemistry in coastal and near-coastal sites. Specifically, the updated emissions lead to better predictions of the magnitude and coastal-to-inland gradient of sodium, chloride, and nitrate concentrations at Bay Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (BRACE) sites near Tampa, FL. Including SST-dependency to the SSA emission parameterization leads to increased sodium concentrations in the southeast U.S. and decreased concentrations along the Pacific coast and northeastern U.S., bringing predictions into closer agreement with observations at most Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) and Chemical Speciation Network (CSN) sites. Model comparison with California Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change (CalNex) observations will also be discussed, with particular focus on the South Coast Air Basin where clean marine air mixes with anthropogenic pollution in a complex environment. These SSA emission updates enable more realistic simulation of chemical processes in coastal environments, both in clean marine air masses and mixtures of clean marine and polluted conditions.

Michigan`s air emission trading program

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Russette, T.M.; VanKolken, A.M.

1997-12-31

Michigan`s Emission Trading Program took effect on March 16, 1996 after two years of rule development by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, Air Quality Division and affected stakeholders. This program is based on the open market trading model and has been designed to (1) be consistent with existing federal and state rules and regulations, (2) integrate with existing air programs such as the permit program, and (3) address the needs of Michigan`s regulated community. Michigan`s Air Quality Division, along with other interested parties, initiated this program as part of market-based approaches to improve air quality through the reduction ofmore » criteria pollutants (except ozone) and volatile organic compounds. The Emission Trading rules offer potential benefits for Michigan companies that include increased operational flexibility, lower compliance costs, and/or money generated from the sale of the emission reduction credits. The environment also benefits from this program because the rules require that 10 percent of all registered emission reductions must be permanently retired as an air quality benefit. The emission trading program provides new opportunities for consulting firms to assist companies by identifying acceptable ways to generate and use emission reduction credits. Air pollution control companies may also see new opportunities by designing and installing control equipment in order to reduce air emissions. The role of consultants and equipment companies may expand to that of a broker selling and/or buying emission reduction credits on the Emission Trading Registry. Much has been learned since the conception of the air emission trading program. This paper will discuss how the program works in practice compared to what was envisioned in theory and the potential benefits from Michigan`s Emission Trading Program.« less

A prescribed fire emission factors database for land management and air quality applications

Treesearch

E. Lincoln; WeiMin Hao; S. Baker; R. J. Yokelson; I. R. Burling; Shawn Urbanski; W. Miller; D. R. Weise; T. J. Johnson

2010-01-01

Prescribed fire is a significant emissions source in the U.S. and that needs to be adequately characterized in atmospheric transport/chemistry models. In addition, the Clean Air Act, its amendments, and air quality regulations require that prescribed fire managers estimate the quantity of emissions that a prescribed fire will produce. Several published papers contain a...

IMPROVING EMISSION INVENTORIES FOR EFFECTIVE AIR-QUALITY MANAGMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA - A NARSTO ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The NARSTO Ozone and Particulate Matter Assessments emphasized that emission inventories are critical to the success of air quality management programs and that emissions inventories in Canada, Mexico, and the United States need improvement to meet expectations for quality, timel...

IMPROVING EMISSION INVENTORIES FOR EFFECTIVE AIR-QUALITY MANAGEMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA - A NARSTO ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The NARSTO Ozone and Particulate Matter Assessments emphasized that emission inventories are critical to the success of air quality management programs and that emissions inventories in Canada, Mexico, and the United States need improvement to meet expectations for quality, timel...

Regional air quality impacts of future fire emissions in Sumatra and Kalimantan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marlier, Miriam E.; DeFries, Ruth S.; Kim, Patrick S.; Gaveau, David L. A.; Koplitz, Shannon N.; Jacob, Daniel J.; Mickley, Loretta J.; Margono, Belinda A.; Myers, Samuel S.

2015-05-01

Fire emissions associated with land cover change and land management contribute to the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants, which can affect regional air quality and climate. Mitigating these impacts requires a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between fires and different land cover change trajectories and land management strategies. We develop future fire emissions inventories from 2010-2030 for Sumatra and Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) to assess the impact of varying levels of forest and peatland conservation on air quality in Equatorial Asia. To compile these inventories, we combine detailed land cover information from published maps of forest extent, satellite fire radiative power observations, fire emissions from the Global Fire Emissions Database, and spatially explicit future land cover projections using a land cover change model. We apply the sensitivities of mean smoke concentrations to Indonesian fire emissions, calculated by the GEOS-Chem adjoint model, to our scenario-based future fire emissions inventories to quantify the different impacts of fires on surface air quality across Equatorial Asia. We find that public health impacts are highly sensitive to the location of fires, with emissions from Sumatra contributing more to smoke concentrations at population centers across the region than Kalimantan, which had higher emissions by more than a factor of two. Compared to business-as-usual projections, protecting peatlands from fires reduces smoke concentrations in the cities of Singapore and Palembang by 70% and 40%, and by 60% for the Equatorial Asian region, weighted by the population in each grid cell. Our results indicate the importance of focusing conservation priorities on protecting both forested (intact or logged) peatlands and non-forested peatlands from fire, even after considering potential leakage of deforestation pressure to other areas, in order to limit the impact of fire emissions on atmospheric smoke concentrations and

Modeling natural emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model-I: building an emissions data base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, S. N.; Mueller, S. F.

2010-05-01

A natural emissions inventory for the continental United States and surrounding territories is needed in order to use the US Environmental Protection Agency Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model for simulating natural air quality. The CMAQ air modeling system (including the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) emissions processing system) currently estimates non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emissions from biogenic sources, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from soils, ammonia from animals, several types of particulate and reactive gas emissions from fires, as well as sea salt emissions. However, there are several emission categories that are not commonly treated by the standard CMAQ Model system. Most notable among these are nitrogen oxide emissions from lightning, reduced sulfur emissions from oceans, geothermal features and other continental sources, windblown dust particulate, and reactive chlorine gas emissions linked with sea salt chloride. A review of past emissions modeling work and existing global emissions data bases provides information and data necessary for preparing a more complete natural emissions data base for CMAQ applications. A model-ready natural emissions data base is developed to complement the anthropogenic emissions inventory used by the VISTAS Regional Planning Organization in its work analyzing regional haze based on the year 2002. This new data base covers a modeling domain that includes the continental United States plus large portions of Canada, Mexico and surrounding oceans. Comparing July 2002 source data reveals that natural emissions account for 16% of total gaseous sulfur (sulfur dioxide, dimethylsulfide and hydrogen sulfide), 44% of total NOx, 80% of reactive carbonaceous gases (NMVOCs and carbon monoxide), 28% of ammonia, 96% of total chlorine (hydrochloric acid, nitryl chloride and sea salt chloride), and 84% of fine particles (i.e., those smaller than 2.5 μm in size) released into the atmosphere

Review of Singapore's air quality and greenhouse gas emissions: current situation and opportunities.

PubMed

Velasco, Erik; Roth, Matthias

2012-06-01

Singapore has many environmental accomplishments to its credit. Accessible data on air quality indicates that all criteria pollutants satisfy both U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and World Health Organization (WHO) air quality standards and guidelines, respectively. The exception is PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter < or = 2.5 microm), which is not currently considered a criteria pollutant in Singapore but may potentially be the major local air pollution problem and cause for health concern. Levels of other airborne pollutants as well as their physical and chemical processes associated with local formation, transformation, dispersion, and deposition are not known. According to available emission inventories, Singapore contribution to the total atmospheric pollution and carbon budget at the regional and global scales is small. Emissions per unit gross domestic product (GDP) are low compared with other countries, although Singapore's per-capita GDP and per-capita emissions are among the highest in the world. Some information is available on health effects, but the impacts on the ecosystem and the complex interactions of air pollution and climate change at a regional level are also unknown. This article reviews existing available information on atmospheric pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and proposes a multipollutant approach to greenhouse gas mitigation and local air quality. Singapore, by reducing its per-capita emissions, increasing the availability of information (e.g., through regularly publishing hourly and/or daily PM2.5 concentrations) and developing a research agenda in this area, would likely be seen to be a model of a high-density, livable, and sustainable city in Southeast Asia and other tropical regions worldwide.

Modeling Study on Air Quality Improvement due to Mobile Source Emission control Plan in Seoul Metropolitan Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Y. J.; Sunwoo, Y.; Hwang, I.; Song, S.; Sin, J.; Kim, D.

2015-12-01

A very high population and corresponding high number of vehicles in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) are aggravating the air quality of this region. The Korean government continues to make concerted efforts to improve air quality. One of the major policies that the Ministry of Environment of Korea enforced is "The Special Act for Improvement of Air Quality in SMA" and "The 1st Air Quality Management Plan of SMA". Mobile Source emission controls are an important part of the policy. Thus, it is timely to evaluate the air quality improvement due to the controls. Therefore, we performed a quantitative analysis of the difference in air quality using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and December, 2011 was set as the target period to capture the impact of the above control plans. We considered four fuel-type vehicle emission scenarios and compared the air quality improvement differences between them. The scenarios are as follows: no-control, gasoline vehicle control only, diesel vehicle control only, and control of both; utilizing the revised mobile source emissions from the Clean Air Policy Support System (CAPSS), which is the national emission inventory reflecting current policy.In order to improve the accuracy of the modeling data, we developed new temporal allocation coefficients based on traffic volume observation data and spatially reallocated the mobile source emissions using vehicle flow survey data. Furthermore, we calculated the PM10 and PM2.5 emissions of gasoline vehicles which is omitted in CAPSS.The results of the air quality modeling shows that vehicle control plans for both gasoline and diesel lead to a decrease of 0.65ppb~8.75ppb and 0.02㎍/㎥~7.09㎍/㎥ in NO2 and PM10 monthly average concentrations, respectively. The large percentage decreases mainly appear near the center of the metropolis. However, the largest NO2 decrease percentages are found in the northeast region of Gyeonggi-do, which is the province that surrounds the

The Impact of Residential Combustion Emissions on Air Quality and Human Health in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Archer-Nicholls, S.; Wiedinmyer, C.; Baumgartner, J.; Brauer, M.; Cohen, A.; Carter, E.; Frostad, J.; Forouzanfar, M.; Xiao, Q.; Liu, Y.; Yang, X.; Hongjiang, N.; Kun, N.

2015-12-01

Solid fuel cookstoves are used heavily in rural China for both residential cooking and heating purposes. Their use contributes significantly to regional emissions of several key pollutants, including carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, oxides of nitrogen, and aerosol particles. The residential sector was responsible for approximately 36%, 46% and 81% of China's total primary PM2.5, BC and OC emissions respectively in 2005 (Lei et al., 2011). These emissions have serious consequences for household air pollution, ambient air quality, tropospheric ozone formation, and the resulting population health and climate impacts. This paper presents initial findings from the modeling component of a multi-disciplinary energy intervention study currently being conducted in Sichuan, China. The purpose of this effort is to quantify the impact of residential cooking and heating emissions on regional air quality and human health. Simulations with varying levels of residential emissions have been carried out for the whole of 2014 using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), a fully-coupled, "online" regional chemical transport model. Model output is evaluated against surface air quality measurements across China and compared with seasonal (winter and summer) ambient air pollution measurements conducted at the Sichuan study site in 2014. The model output is applied to available exposure—response relationships between PM2.5 and cardiopulmonary health outcomes. The sensitivity in different regions across China to the different cookstove emission scenarios and seasonality of impacts are presented. By estimating the mortality and disease burden risk attributable to residential emissions we demonstrate the potential benefits from large-scale energy interventions. Lei Y, Zhang Q, He KB, Streets DG. 2011. Primary anthropogenic aerosol emission trends for China, 1990-2005. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11:931-954.

Basic Information about Air Emissions Monitoring

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This site is about types of air emissions monitoring and the Clean Air Act regulations, including Ambient Air Quality Monitoring, Stationary Source Emissions Monitoring, and Continuous Monitoring Systems.

Air quality management in Mexico.

PubMed

Fernández-Bremauntz, Adrián

2008-01-01

Several significant program and policy measures have been implemented in Mexico over the past 15 yr to improve air quality. This article provides an overview of air quality management strategies in Mexico, including (1) policy initiatives such as vehicle use restrictions, air quality standards, vehicle emissions, and fuel quality standards, and (2) supporting programs including establishment of a national emission inventory, an air pollution episodes program, and the implementation of exposure and health effects studies. Trends in air pollution episodes and ambient air pollutant concentrations are described.

(AWMA) IMPROVING EMISSION INVENTORIES FOR EFFECTIVE AIR-QUALITY MANAGEMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA - A NARSTO ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The NARSTO Ozone and Particulate Matter Assessments emphasized that emission inventories are critical to the success of air quality management programs and that emissions inventories in Canada, Mexico, and the United States need improvement to meet expectations for quality, timel...

Regional Air Quality in central México and emissions inventories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gerardo Ruiz-Suarez, Luis; Torres-Jardón, Ricardo; Agustín García-Reynoso, José; Santos García-Yee, José; Barrera-Huertas, Hugo; Alejandro Torres-Jaramillo, Jorge; Robles-Roldán, Miguel Angel; Gutierrez López, Wilfrido; García-Espinoza, Manuel; Castro-Romero, Telma

2014-05-01

Four air quality field campaigns, from 2009 to 2012, during March-April were carried out in several sites in urban, rural and semi-rural sites in Central México. One of the sites was in the Chalco Gap southeast of MCMA (2011), another in the state of Morelos (2011), other two in the state of Puebla (2009 and 2012). All these sites are South and East of the Mexico Basin. The main object of those campaigns was to document regional air quality, mainly in rural and periurban sites, including the photochemical age of regional polluted plumes as they were transported away from the main metropolitan areas within the region. In this paper, we focus on comparisons between observed CO/NOx, and CO/SO2 ratios with those from the National Emissions Inventory and form local inventories reported in state air quality management programs. Comparisons were made with data between 05:00 to 08:00 h to minimize effects photochemical activity and the fast evolution of MLH occurring between 08:00 and 09:00 due to high insolation. Comparisons among observed ratios show a fairly consistent ratio, whereas ratios from emissions inventory are widely variable and only in few sites compare reasonable well with observed ones, indicating the need for homologation of emissions inventories in the country. Also Ozone, CO, NOx and NOy observed time series are compared with WRF-Chem model results for the same campaign periods to evaluate its performance outside MCMA. In addition, observed surface wind speeds and early morning MLH obtained with a tethered balloon are also compared with modeled values to help understanding discrepancies in the trace gases comparisons.

Air quality impacts of implementing emission reduction strategies at southern California airports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benosa, Guillem; Zhu, Shupeng; Kinnon, Michael Mac; Dabdub, Donald

2018-07-01

Reducing aviation emissions will be a major concern in the coming years, as the relative contribution of aviation to overall emissions is projected to increase in the future. The South Coast Air Basin of California (SoCAB) is an extreme nonattainment area with many airports located upwind of the most polluted regions in the basin. Techniques to reduce aviation emissions have been studied in the past, and strategies that can be implemented at airports include taxi-out times reduction, ground support equipment electrification and aviation biofuel implementation. These strategies have been analyzed only at the national scale, their effectiveness to improve air quality within the SoCAB given the local meteorology and chemical regimes is unclear. This work studies how the adoption of the techniques at commercial SoCAB airports affect ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations. In addition, potential impacts on public exposure to PM2.5 and O3 resulting from changes in the concentration of these pollutants are estimated. In addition, the work calculates aviation emissions for each scenario and simulate the transport and atmospheric chemistry of the pollutants using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The simultaneous application of all reduction strategies is projected to reduce the aviation-attributable population weighted ground-level PM2.5 by 36% in summer and 32% in winter. On the other hand, O3 increases by 16% in winter. Occurring mostly in densely populated areas, the decrease in ground-level PM2.5 would have a positive health impact and help the region achieve attainment of national ambient air quality standards.

Trends of multiple air pollutants emissions from residential coal combustion in Beijing and its implication on improving air quality for control measures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Yifeng; Zhou, Zhen; Nie, Teng; Wang, Kun; Nie, Lei; Pan, Tao; Wu, Xiaoqing; Tian, Hezhong; Zhong, Lianhong; Li, Jing; Liu, Huanjia; Liu, Shuhan; Shao, Panyang

2016-10-01

Residential coal combustion is considered to be an important source of air pollution in Beijing. However, knowledge regarding the emission characteristics of residential coal combustion and the related impacts on the air quality is very limited. In this study, we have developed an emission inventory for multiple hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) associated with residential coal combustion in Beijing for the period of 2000-2012. Furthermore, a widely used regional air quality model, the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality model (CMAQ), is applied to analyze the impact of residential coal combustion on the air quality in Beijing in 2012. The results show that the emissions of primary air pollutants from residential coal combustion have basically remained the same levels during the past decade, however, along with the strict emission control imposed on major industrial sources, the contribution of residential coal combustion emissions to the overall emissions from anthropogenic sources have increased obviously. In particular, the contributions of residential coal combustion to the total air pollutants concentrations of PM10, SO2, NOX, and CO represent approximately 11.6%, 27.5%, 2.8% and 7.3%, respectively, during the winter heating season. In terms of impact on the spatial variation patterns, the distributions of the pollutants concentrations are similar to the distribution of the associated primary HAPs emissions, which are highly concentrated in the rural-urban fringe zones and rural suburb areas. In addition, emissions of primary pollutants from residential coal combustion are forecasted by using a scenario analysis. Generally, comprehensive measures must be taken to control residential coal combustion in Beijing. The best way to reduce the associated emissions from residential coal combustion is to use economic incentive means to promote the conversion to clean energy sources for residential heating and cooking. In areas with reliable energy supplies, the coal used

Emission controls and changes in air quality in Guangzhou during the Asian Games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Huan; Wang, Xuemei; Zhang, Jinpu; He, Kebin; Wu, Ye; Xu, Jiayu

2013-09-01

With the new air quality standards forthcoming in China, the Pearl River Delta region is facing new challenges to achieve its air quality goal. The success of the emission reduction measures introduced by local authorities in the run-up to the Guangzhou Asian Games demonstrated that the Pearl River Delta air quality can be improved by introducing integrated emission reduction measures. This paper combines observation data, emission reduction measures, and air quality simulations that were applied during the Asian Games (12-27 November 2010) to analyze the relationship between emissions and concentrations of pollutants in Guangzhou. The Asian Games abatement strategy totally reduced emissions of 41.1% SO2, 41.9% NOx, 26.5% PM10, 25.8% PM2.5 and 39.7% VOC. The concentrations of SO2, NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 were reduced by 66.8%, 51.3%, 21.5% and 17.1%, respectively. In Guangzhou, the main challenge to be overcome with the new air quality daily requirements is mostly for NO2, PM2.5, and hourly ozone maxima. If pollutants maintain the same concentrations before and after the Asian Games, there will be 47.4% and 31.6% non-attainment days for NO2 and PM2.5 respectively as a period average. Although PM10 concentration can meet the daily limits (150 μg m-3), it is quite difficult to meet the annual limit value (70 μg m-3). One important implication is that the long-term, step-by-step integrated measures of the past six years work better than the strict, intensive, short-term measures on SO2, NO2 and VOC control. Dust control by limiting construction sites and watering the roads can further reduce 12.8% of the PM10 concentration. However, to reduce ambient PM2.5, the abatement strategy should be more complex and extensive. On the contrary, ozone pollution was not improved during the Asian Games, indicating that alleviation strategies should be improved by scientific studies to determine the appropriate control ratio of NO2 and VOC in the Pearl River Delta region.

Modeling natural emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model - Part 1: Building an emissions data base

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, S. N.; Mueller, S. F.

2010-01-01

A natural emissions inventory for the continental United States and surrounding territories is needed in order to use the US Environmental Protection Agency Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model for simulating natural air quality. The CMAQ air modeling system (including the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) emissions processing system) currently estimates volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from biogenic sources, nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from soils, ammonia from animals, several types of particulate and reactive gas emissions from fires, as well as windblown dust and sea salt emissions. However, there are several emission categories that are not commonly treated by the standard CMAQ Model system. Most notable among these are nitrogen oxide emissions from lightning, reduced sulfur emissions from oceans, geothermal features and other continental sources, and reactive chlorine gas emissions linked with sea salt chloride. A review of past emissions modeling work and existing global emissions data bases provides information and data necessary for preparing a more complete natural emissions data base for CMAQ applications. A model-ready natural emissions data base is developed to complement the anthropogenic emissions inventory used by the VISTAS Regional Planning Organization in its work analyzing regional haze based on the year 2002. This new data base covers a modeling domain that includes the continental United States plus large portions of Canada, Mexico and surrounding oceans. Comparing July 2002 source data reveals that natural emissions account for 16% of total gaseous sulfur (sulfur dioxide, dimethylsulfide and hydrogen sulfide), 44% of total NOx, 80% of reactive carbonaceous gases (VOCs and carbon monoxide), 28% of ammonia, 96% of total chlorine (hydrochloric acid, nitryl chloride and sea salt chloride), and 84% of fine particles (i.e., those smaller than 2.5 μm in size) released into the atmosphere. The seasonality and

Dynamic Evaluation of a Regional Air Quality Model: Assessing the Emissions-Induced Weekly Ozone Cycle

EPA Science Inventory

Air quality models are used to predict changes in pollutant concentrations resulting from envisioned emission control policies. Recognizing the need to assess the credibility of air quality models in a policy-relevant context, we perform a dynamic evaluation of the community Mult...

Ports Primer: 7.2 Air Emissions

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Near-port communities are often disproportionately impacted by air emissions due to port operations, goods movement operations and other industries that may be co-located with ports. Air emissions at ports also impact regional air quality.

Global Air Quality and Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fiore, Arlene M.; Naik, Vaishali; Steiner, Allison; Unger, Nadine; Bergmann, Dan; Prather, Michael; Righi, Mattia; Rumbold, Steven T.; Shindell, Drew T.; Skeie, Ragnhild B.;

Global air quality and climate.

PubMed

Fiore, Arlene M; Naik, Vaishali; Spracklen, Dominick V; Steiner, Allison; Unger, Nadine; Prather, Michael; Bergmann, Dan; Cameron-Smith, Philip J; Cionni, Irene; Collins, William J; Dalsøren, Stig; Eyring, Veronika; Folberth, Gerd A; Ginoux, Paul; Horowitz, Larry W; Josse, Béatrice; Lamarque, Jean-François; MacKenzie, Ian A; Nagashima, Tatsuya; O'Connor, Fiona M; Righi, Mattia; Rumbold, Steven T; Shindell, Drew T; Skeie, Ragnhild B; Sudo, Kengo; Szopa, Sophie; Takemura, Toshihiko; Zeng, Guang

2012-10-07

Emissions of air pollutants and their precursors determine regional air quality and can alter climate. Climate change can perturb the long-range transport, chemical processing, and local meteorology that influence air pollution. We review the implications of projected changes in methane (CH(4)), ozone precursors (O(3)), and aerosols for climate (expressed in terms of the radiative forcing metric or changes in global surface temperature) and hemispheric-to-continental scale air quality. Reducing the O(3) precursor CH(4) would slow near-term warming by decreasing both CH(4) and tropospheric O(3). Uncertainty remains as to the net climate forcing from anthropogenic nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emissions, which increase tropospheric O(3) (warming) but also increase aerosols and decrease CH(4) (both cooling). Anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and non-CH(4) volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) warm by increasing both O(3) and CH(4). Radiative impacts from secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are poorly understood. Black carbon emission controls, by reducing the absorption of sunlight in the atmosphere and on snow and ice, have the potential to slow near-term warming, but uncertainties in coincident emissions of reflective (cooling) aerosols and poorly constrained cloud indirect effects confound robust estimates of net climate impacts. Reducing sulfate and nitrate aerosols would improve air quality and lessen interference with the hydrologic cycle, but lead to warming. A holistic and balanced view is thus needed to assess how air pollution controls influence climate; a first step towards this goal involves estimating net climate impacts from individual emission sectors. Modeling and observational analyses suggest a warming climate degrades air quality (increasing surface O(3) and particulate matter) in many populated regions, including during pollution episodes. Prior Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios (SRES) allowed unconstrained growth, whereas

( RTP, NC ) IMPROVING EMISSION INVENTORIES FOR EFFECTIVE AIR-QUALITY MANAGEMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA - A NARSTO ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The NARSTO Ozone and Particulate Matter Assessments emphasized that emission inventories are critical to the success of air quality management programs and that emissions inventories in Canada, Mexico, and the United States need improvement to meet expectations for quality, timel...

(NEW YORK) IMPROVING EMISSION INVENTORIES FOR EFFECTIVE AIR-QUALITY MANAGEMENT ACROSS NORTH AMERICA - A NARSTO ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The NARSTO Ozone and Particulate Matter Assessments emphasized that emission inventories are critical to the success of air quality management programs and that emissions inventories in Canada, Mexico, and the United States need improvement to meet expectations for quality, timel...

Improving and monitoring air quality.

PubMed

DuPont, André

2018-05-01

Since the authorization of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the air quality in the USA has significantly improved because of strong public support. The lessons learned over the last 25 years are being shared with the policy analysts, technical professionals, and scientist who endeavor to improve air quality in their communities. This paper will review how the USA has achieved the "high" standard of air quality that was envisioned in the early 1990s. This document will describe SO 2 gas emission reduction technology and highlight operation of emission monitoring technology. This paper describes the basic process operation of an air pollution control scrubber. A technical review of measures required to operate and maintain a large-scale pollution control system will be described. Also, the author explains how quality assurance procedures in performance of continuous emission monitoring plays a significant role in reducing air pollution.

The impacts of reactive terpene emissions from plants on air quality in Las Vegas, Nevada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papiez, Maria R.; Potosnak, Mark J.; Goliff, Wendy S.; Guenther, Alex B.; Matsunaga, Sou N.; Stockwell, William R.

A three-part study was conducted to quantify the impact of landscaped vegetation on air quality in a rapidly expanding urban area in the arid southeastern United States. The study combines in situ, plant-level measurements, a spatial emissions inventory, and a photochemical box model. Maximum plant-level basal emission rates were moderate: 18.1 μgC gdw -1 h -1 ( Washingtonia spp., palms) for isoprene and 9.56 μgC gdw -1 h -1 ( Fraxinus velutina, Arizona ash) for monoterpenes. Sesquiterpene emission rates were low for plant species selected in this study, with no measurement exceeding 0.1 μgC gdw -1 h -1. The high ambient temperatures combined with moderate plant-level emission factors resulted in landscape emission factors that were low (250-640 μgC m -2 h -1) compared to more mesic environments (e.g., the southeastern United States). The Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Mechanism (RACM) was modified to include a new reaction pathway for ocimene. Using measured concentrations of anthropogenic hydrocarbons and other reactive air pollutants (NO x, ozone), the box model employing the RACM mechanism revealed that these modest emissions could have a significant impact on air quality. For a suburban location that was downwind of the urban core (high NO x; low anthropogenic hydrocarbons), biogenic terpenes increased time-dependent ozone production rates by a factor of 50. Our study demonstrates that low-biomass density landscapes emit sufficient biogenic terpenes to have a significant impact on regional air quality.

Emissions from oil and gas operations in the United States and their air quality implications.

PubMed

Allen, David T

2016-06-01

The energy supply infrastructure in the United States has been changing dramatically over the past decade. Increased production of oil and natural gas, particularly from shale resources using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, made the United States the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas in 2014. This review examines air quality impacts, specifically, changes in greenhouse gas, criteria air pollutant, and air toxics emissions from oil and gas production activities that are a result of these changes in energy supplies and use. National emission inventories indicate that volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from oil and gas supply chains in the United States have been increasing significantly, whereas emission inventories for greenhouse gases have seen slight declines over the past decade. These emission inventories are based on counts of equipment and operational activities (activity factors), multiplied by average emission factors, and therefore are subject to uncertainties in these factors. Although uncertainties associated with activity data and missing emission source types can be significant, multiple recent measurement studies indicate that the greatest uncertainties are associated with emission factors. In many source categories, small groups of devices or sites, referred to as super-emitters, contribute a large fraction of emissions. When super-emitters are accounted for, multiple measurement approaches, at multiple scales, produce similar results for estimated emissions. Challenges moving forward include identifying super-emitters and reducing their emission magnitudes. Work done to date suggests that both equipment malfunction and operational practices can be important. Finally, although most of this review focuses on emissions from energy supply infrastructures, the regional air quality implications of some coupled energy production and use scenarios are examined. These case studies suggest that both

Cross influences of ozone and sulfate precursor emissions changes on air quality and climate

PubMed Central

Unger, Nadine; Shindell, Drew T.; Koch, Dorothy M.; Streets, David G.

2006-01-01

Tropospheric O3 and sulfate both contribute to air pollution and climate forcing. There is a growing realization that air quality and climate change issues are strongly connected. To date, the importance of the coupling between O3 and sulfate has not been fully appreciated, and thus regulations treat each pollutant separately. We show that emissions of O3 precursors can dramatically affect regional sulfate air quality and climate forcing. At 2030 in an A1B future, increased O3 precursor emissions enhance surface sulfate over India and China by up to 20% because of increased levels of OH and gas-phase SO2 oxidation rates and add up to 20% to the direct sulfate forcing for that region relative to the present day. Hence, O3 precursors impose an indirect forcing via sulfate, which is more than twice the direct O3 forcing itself (compare −0.61 vs. +0.35 W/m2). Regulatory policy should consider both air quality and climate and should address O3 and sulfate simultaneously because of the strong interaction between these species. PMID:16537360

Impacts of emission reduction and meteorological conditions on air quality improvement during the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Qian; Wang, Tijian; Chen, Pulong; Huang, Xiaoxian; Zhu, Jialei; Zhuang, Bingliang

2017-11-01

As the holding city of the 2nd Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Nanjing is highly industrialized and urbanized, and faces several air pollution issues. In order to ensure better air quality during the event, the local government took great efforts to control the emissions from pollutant sources. However, air quality can still be affected by synoptic weather, not only emission. In this paper, the influences of meteorological factors and emission reductions were investigated using observational data and numerical simulations with WRF-CMAQ (Weather Research and Forecasting - Community Multiscale Air Quality). During the month in which the YOG were held (August 2014), the observed hourly mean concentrations of SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5, CO and O3 were 11.6 µg m-3, 34.0 µg m-3, 57.8 µg m-3, 39.4 µg m-3, 0.9 mg m-3 and 38.8 µg m-3, respectively, which were below China National Ambient Air Quality Standard (level 2). However, model simulation showed that the weather conditions, such as weaker winds during the YOG, were adverse for better air quality and could increase SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5 and CO by 17.5, 16.9, 18.5, 18.8, 7.8 and 0.8 %. Taking account of local emission abatement only, the simulated SO2, NO2, PM10, PM2.5 and CO decreased by 24.6, 12.1, 15.1, 8.1 and 7.2 %. Consequently, stringent emission control measures can reduce the concentrations of air pollutants in the short term, and emission reduction is very important for air quality improvement during the YOG. A good example has been set for air quality protection for important social events.

Impact of emission control on regional air quality in the Pearl Delta River region, southern China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, N.; Xuejiao, D.

2017-12-01

The Pearl River Delta (PRD) in China has been suffering from air quality issues and the government has implemented a series of strategies in controlling emissions. In an attempt to provide scientific support for improving air quality, the paper investigates the concerning past-to-present air quality data and assesses air quality resulting from emission control. Statistical data revealed that energy consumption doubled from 2004 to 20014 and vehicle usage increased significantly from 2006 to 2014. Due to the effect of control efforts, primary emission of SO2, NOx and PM2.5 decreased resulting in ambient concentrations of SO2, NO2 and PM10 decreased by 66%, 20% and 24%, respectively. However, O3 increased 19% because of the increase of VOC emission. A chemical transport model, the Community Multi-scale Air Quality, was employed to evaluate the responses of nitrate, ammonium, SOA, PM2.5 and O3 to changes in NOx, VOC and NH3 emissions. Three scenarios, a baseline scenario, a CAP scenario (control strength followed as past tendency), and a REF scenario (strict control referred to latest policy and plans), were conducted to investigate the responses and mechanisms. NOx controlling scenarios showed that NOx, nitrate and PM2.5 reduced by 1.8%, 0.7% and 0.2% under CAP and reduced by 7.2%, 1.8% and 0.3% under REF, respectively. The results indicated that reducing NOx emission caused the increase of atmospheric oxidizability, which might result in a compensation of PM2.5 due to the increase of nitrate or sulfate. NH3 controlling scenarios showed that nitrate was sensitive to NH3 emission in PRD, with nitrate decreased by 0 - 10.6% and 0 - 48% under CAP and REF, respectively. Since controlling NH3 emissions not only reduced ammonium but also significantly reduced nitrate, the implement of NH3 controlling strategy was highly suggested. The VOC scenarios revealed that though SOA was not the major component of PM2.5, controlling VOC emission might take effect in southwestern PRD

Air Emissions Inventories

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This site provides access to emissions data, regulations and guidance, electronic system access, resources and tools to support trends analysis, regional, and local scale air quality modeling, regulatory impact assessments.

Impacts of Climate Policy on Regional Air Quality, Health, and Air Quality Regulatory Procedures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thompson, T. M.; Selin, N. E.

2011-12-01

Both the changing climate, and the policy implemented to address climate change can impact regional air quality. We evaluate the impacts of potential selected climate policies on modeled regional air quality with respect to national pollution standards, human health and the sensitivity of health uncertainty ranges. To assess changes in air quality due to climate policy, we couple output from a regional computable general equilibrium economic model (the US Regional Energy Policy [USREP] model), with a regional air quality model (the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions [CAMx]). USREP uses economic variables to determine how potential future U.S. climate policy would change emissions of regional pollutants (CO, VOC, NOx, SO2, NH3, black carbon, and organic carbon) from ten emissions-heavy sectors of the economy (electricity, coal, gas, crude oil, refined oil, energy intensive industry, other industry, service, agriculture, and transportation [light duty and heavy duty]). Changes in emissions are then modeled using CAMx to determine the impact on air quality in several cities in the Northeast US. We first calculate the impact of climate policy by using regulatory procedures used to show attainment with National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter. Building on previous work, we compare those results with the calculated results and uncertainties associated with human health impacts due to climate policy. This work addresses a potential disconnect between NAAQS regulatory procedures and the cost/benefit analysis required for and by the Clean Air Act.

Allometric scaling of UK urban emissions: interpretation and implications for air quality management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

MacKenzie, Rob; Barnes, Matt; Whyatt, Duncan; Hewitt, Nick

2016-04-01

Allometry uncovers structures and patterns by relating the characteristics of complex systems to a measure of scale. We present an allometric analysis of air quality for UK urban settlements, beginning with emissions and moving on to consider air concentrations. We consider both airshed-average 'urban background' concentrations (cf. those derived from satellites for NO2) and local pollution 'hotspots'. We show that there is a strong and robust scaling (with respect to population) of the non-point-source emissions of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide and methane, as well as the toxic pollutants nitrogen dioxide, PM2.5, and 1,3-butadiene. The scaling of traffic-related emissions is not simply a reflection of road length, but rather results from the socio-economic patterning of road-use. The recent controversy regarding diesel vehicle emissions is germane to our study but does not affect our overall conclusions. We next develop an hypothesis for the population-scaling of airshed-average air concentrations, with which we demonstrate that, although average air quality is expected to be worse in large urban centres compared to small urban centres, the overall effect is an economy of scale (i.e., large cities reduce the overall burden of emissions compared to the same population spread over many smaller urban settlements). Our hypothesis explains satellite-derived observations of airshed-average urban NO2 concentrations. The theory derived also explains which properties of nature-based solutions (urban greening) can make a significant contribution at city scale, and points to a hitherto unforeseen opportunity to make large cities cleaner than smaller cities in absolute terms with respect to their airshed-average pollutant concentration.

Effect of VOC emissions from vegetation on urban air quality during hot periods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Churkina, Galina; Kuik, Friderike; Bonn, Boris; Lauer, Axel; Grote, Ruediger; Butler, Tim

2016-04-01

Programs to plant millions of trees in cities around the world aim at the reduction of summer temperatures, increase of carbon storage, storm water control, and recreational space, as well as at poverty alleviation. These urban greening programs, however, do not take into account how closely human and natural systems are coupled in urban areas. Compared with the surroundings of cities, elevated temperatures together with high anthropogenic emissions of air and water pollutants are quite typical in urban systems. Urban and sub-urban vegetation respond to changes in meteorology and air quality and can react to pollutants. Neglecting this coupling may lead to unforeseen negative effects on air quality resulting from urban greening programs. The potential of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from vegetation combined with anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants to produce ozone has long been recognized. This ozone formation potential increases under rising temperatures. Here we investigate how emissions of VOC from urban vegetation affect corresponding ground-level ozone and PM10 concentrations in summer and especially during heat wave periods. We use the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with coupled atmospheric chemistry (WRF-CHEM) to quantify these feedbacks in the Berlin-Brandenburg region, Germany during the two summers of 2006 (heat wave) and 2014 (reference period). VOC emissions from vegetation are calculated by MEGAN 2.0 coupled online with WRF-CHEM. Our preliminary results indicate that the contribution of VOCs from vegetation to ozone formation may increase by more than twofold during heat wave periods. We highlight the importance of the vegetation for urban areas in the context of a changing climate and discuss potential tradeoffs of urban greening programs.

Atmospheric Ammonia Over China: Emission Estimates And Impact On Air Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, L.; Chen, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Henze, D. K.

2016-12-01

Ammonia (NH3) in the atmosphere is an important precursor of aerosols, and its deposition through wet and dry processes can cause adverse effects on ecosystems. The ammonia emissions over China are particularly large due to intensive agricultural activities, yet our current estimates of Chinese ammonia emissions and associated consequences on air quality are subject to large errors. We use the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model and its adjoint model to better quantify this issue. The TES satellite observations of ammonia concentrations and surface measurements of wet deposition fluxes are assimilated into the model to constrain the ammonia emissions over China. Optimized emissions show a strong seasonal variability with emissions in summer a factor of 3 higher than winter. This is consistent with an improved bottom-up estimate of Chinese ammonia emissions from fertilizer use by using more practical fertilizer application rates for different crop types. We further use the GEOS-Chem adjoint at 0.25x0.3125 degree resolution to examine the sources contributing to the PM2.5 air pollution over North China. We show that wintertime PM2.5 over Beijing is largely contributed by residential and industrial sources, and ammonia emissions from agriculture activities. PM2.5 concentrations over North China are particularly sensitive to emissions of ammonia and nitrogen oxides, reflecting strong formation of aerosol nitrate in the cold seasons.

Impacts of air pollutants from fire and non-fire emissions on the regional air quality in Southeast Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Hsiang-He; Iraqui, Oussama; Gu, Yefu; Hung-Lam Yim, Steve; Chulakadabba, Apisada; Yiu-Ming Tonks, Adam; Yang, Zhengyu; Wang, Chien

2018-05-01

Severe haze events in Southeast Asia caused by particulate pollution have become more intense and frequent in recent years. Widespread biomass burning occurrences and particulate pollutants from human activities other than biomass burning play important roles in degrading air quality in Southeast Asia. In this study, numerical simulations have been conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with a chemistry component (WRF-Chem) to quantitatively examine the contributions of aerosols emitted from fire (i.e., biomass burning) versus non-fire (including fossil fuel combustion, and road dust, etc.) sources to the degradation of air quality and visibility over Southeast Asia. These simulations cover a time period from 2002 to 2008 and are driven by emissions from (a) fossil fuel burning only, (b) biomass burning only, and (c) both fossil fuel and biomass burning. The model results reveal that 39 % of observed low-visibility days (LVDs) can be explained by either fossil fuel burning or biomass burning emissions alone, a further 20 % by fossil fuel burning alone, a further 8 % by biomass burning alone, and a further 5 % by a combination of fossil fuel burning and biomass burning. Analysis of an 24 h PM2.5 air quality index (AQI) indicates that the case with coexisting fire and non-fire PM2.5 can substantially increase the chance of AQI being in the moderate or unhealthy pollution level from 23 to 34 %. The premature mortality in major Southeast Asian cities due to degradation of air quality by particulate pollutants is estimated to increase from ˜ 4110 per year in 2002 to ˜ 6540 per year in 2008. In addition, we demonstrate the importance of certain missing non-fire anthropogenic aerosol sources including anthropogenic fugitive and industrial dusts in causing urban air quality degradation. An experiment of using machine learning algorithms to forecast the occurrence of haze events in Singapore is also explored in this study. All of these

Modeled Full-Flight Aircraft Emissions Impacts on Air Quality and Their Sensitivity to Grid Resolution

EPA Science Inventory

Aviation is a unique anthropogenic source with four-dimensional varying emissions, peaking at cruise altitudes (9–12 km). Aircraft emission budgets in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere region and their potential impacts on upper troposphere and surface air quality ar...

Impacts of flare emissions from an ethylene plant shutdown to regional air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Ziyuan; Wang, Sujing; Xu, Qiang; Ho, Thomas

2016-08-01

Critical operations of chemical process industry (CPI) plants such as ethylene plant shutdowns could emit a huge amount of VOCs and NOx, which may result in localized and transient ozone pollution events. In this paper, a general methodology for studying dynamic ozone impacts associated with flare emissions from ethylene plant shutdowns has been developed. This multi-scale simulation study integrates process knowledge of plant shutdown emissions in terms of flow rate and speciation together with regional air-quality modeling to quantitatively investigate the sensitivity of ground-level ozone change due to an ethylene plant shutdown. The study shows the maximum hourly ozone increments can vary significantly by different plant locations and temporal factors including background ozone data and solar radiation intensity. It helps provide a cost-effective air-quality control strategy for industries by choosing the optimal starting time of plant shutdown operations in terms of minimizing the induced ozone impact (reduced from 34.1 ppb to 1.2 ppb in the performed case studies). This study provides valuable technical supports for both CPI and environmental policy makers on cost-effective air-quality controls in the future.

On The Usage Of Fire Smoke Emissions In An Air Quality Forecasting System To Reduce Particular Matter Forecasting Error

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, H. C.; Pan, L.; McQueen, J.; Lee, P.; ONeill, S. M.; Ruminski, M.; Shafran, P.; DiMego, G.; Huang, J.; Stajner, I.; Upadhayay, S.; Larkin, N. K.

2016-12-01

Wildfires contribute to air quality problems not only towards primary emissions of particular matters (PM) but also emitted ozone precursor gases that can lead to elevated ozone concentration. Wildfires are unpredictable and can be ignited by natural causes such as lightning or accidently by human negligent behavior such as live cigarette. Although wildfire impacts on the air quality can be studied by collecting fire information after events, it is extremely difficult to predict future occurrence and behavior of wildfires for real-time air quality forecasts. Because of the time constraints of operational air quality forecasting, assumption of future day's fire behavior often have to be made based on observed fire information in the past. The United States (U.S.) NOAA/NWS built the National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) based on the U.S. EPA CMAQ to provide air quality forecast guidance (prediction) publicly. State and local forecasters use the forecast guidance to issue air quality alerts in their area. The NAQFC fine particulates (PM2.5) prediction includes emissions from anthropogenic and biogenic sources, as well as natural sources such as dust storms and fires. The fire emission input to the NAQFC is derived from the NOAA NESDIS HMS fire and smoke detection product and the emission module of the US Forest Service BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework. This study focuses on the error estimation of NAQFC PM2.5 predictions resulting from fire emissions. The comparisons between the NAQFC modeled PM2.5 and the EPA AirNow surface observation show that present operational NAQFC fire emissions assumption can lead to a huge error in PM2.5 prediction as fire emissions are sometimes placed at wrong location and time. This PM2.5 prediction error can be propagated from the fire source in the Northwest U.S. to downstream areas as far as the Southeast U.S. From this study, a new procedure has been identified to minimize the aforementioned error. An additional 24 hours

Updated emission inventories of power plants in simulating air quality during haze periods over East China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Lei; Zhao, Tianliang; Gong, Sunling; Kong, Shaofei; Tang, Lili; Liu, Duanyang; Wang, Yongwei; Jin, Lianji; Shan, Yunpeng; Tan, Chenghao; Zhang, Yingjie; Guo, Xiaomei

2018-02-01

Air pollutant emissions play a determinant role in deteriorating air quality. However, an uncertainty in emission inventories is still the key problem for modeling air pollution. In this study, an updated emission inventory of coal-fired power plants (UEIPP) based on online monitoring data in Jiangsu Province of East China for the year of 2012 was implemented in the widely used Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC). By employing the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), two simulation experiments were executed to assess the atmospheric environment change by using the original MEIC emission inventory and the MEIC inventory with the UEIPP. A synthetic analysis shows that power plant emissions of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and NOx were lower, and CO, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and NMVOCs (non-methane volatile organic compounds) were higher in UEIPP relative to those in MEIC, reflecting a large discrepancy in the power plant emissions over East China. In accordance with the changes in UEIPP, the modeled concentrations were reduced for SO2 and NO2, and increased for most areas of primary OC, BC, and CO. Interestingly, when the UEIPP was used, the atmospheric oxidizing capacity significantly reinforced. This was reflected by increased oxidizing agents, e.g., O3 and OH, thus directly strengthening the chemical production from SO2 and NOx to sulfate and nitrate, respectively, which offset the reduction of primary PM2.5 emissions especially on haze days. This study indicates the importance of updating air pollutant emission inventories in simulating the complex atmospheric environment changes with implications on air quality and environmental changes.

Maximizing sinter plant operating flexibility through emissions trading and air modeling

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schewe, G.J.; Wagner, J.A.; Heron, T.

1998-12-31

This paper provides details on the dispersion modeling analysis performed to demonstrate air quality impacts associated with an emission trading scheme for a sintering operation in Youngstown, Ohio. The emission trade was proposed to allow the sinter plant to expand its current allowable sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions while being offset with SO{sub 2} emissions from boilers at a nearby shutdown steel mill. While the emission trade itself was feasible and the emissions required for the offset were available (the boiler shutdown and their subsequent SO{sub 2} emission credits were never claimed, banked, or used elsewhere), the second criteria for determiningmore » compliance was a demonstration of minimal air quality impact. The air analysis combined the increased ambient SO{sub 2} concentrations of the relaxed sinter plant emissions with the offsetting air quality of the shutdown boilers to yield the net air quality impacts. To test this net air impact, dispersion modeling was performed treating the sinter plant SO{sub 2} emissions as positive and the shutdown boiler SO{sub 2} emissions as negative. The results of the modeling indicated that the ambient air concentrations due to the proposed emissions increase will be offset by the nearby boiler emissions to levels acceptable under EPA`s offset policy Level 2 significant impact concentrations. Therefore, the dispersion modeling demonstrated that the emission trading scheme would not result in significant air quality impacts and maximum operating flexibility was provided to the sintering facility.« less

Simulating smoke transport from wildland fires with a regional-scale air quality model: sensitivity to spatiotemporal allocation of fire emissions.

PubMed

Garcia-Menendez, Fernando; Hu, Yongtao; Odman, Mehmet T

2014-09-15

Air quality forecasts generated with chemical transport models can provide valuable information about the potential impacts of fires on pollutant levels. However, significant uncertainties are associated with fire-related emission estimates as well as their distribution on gridded modeling domains. In this study, we explore the sensitivity of fine particulate matter concentrations predicted by a regional-scale air quality model to the spatial and temporal allocation of fire emissions. The assessment was completed by simulating a fire-related smoke episode in which air quality throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area was affected on February 28, 2007. Sensitivity analyses were carried out to evaluate the significance of emission distribution among the model's vertical layers, along the horizontal plane, and into hourly inputs. Predicted PM2.5 concentrations were highly sensitive to emission injection altitude relative to planetary boundary layer height. Simulations were also responsive to the horizontal allocation of fire emissions and their distribution into single or multiple grid cells. Additionally, modeled concentrations were greatly sensitive to the temporal distribution of fire-related emissions. The analyses demonstrate that, in addition to adequate estimates of emitted mass, successfully modeling the impacts of fires on air quality depends on an accurate spatiotemporal allocation of emissions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Updating sea spray aerosol emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model

EPA Science Inventory

Sea spray aerosols (SSA) impact the particle mass concentration and gas-particle partitioning in coastal environments, with implications for human and ecosystem health. In this study, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is updated to enhance fine mode SSA emissions,...

75 FR 34670 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Revision to Emission...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-18

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland; Revision to Emission Limitations for R. Paul Smith... revision pertains to revised emission limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station located in Washington... R. Paul Smith Power Station in Washington County. This facility had annual nitrogen oxides (NOx...

INTEGRATION OF THE BIOGENIC EMISSIONS INVENTORY SYSTEM (BEIS3) INTO THE COMMUNITY MULTISCALE AIR QUALITY MODELING SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

The importance of biogenic emissions for regional air quality modeling is generally recognized [Guenther et al., 2000]. Since the 1980s, biogenic emission estimates have been derived from algorithms such as the Biogenic Emissions Inventory System (BEIS) [Pierce et. al., 1998]....

Emissions reduction policies and recent trends in Southern California's ambient air quality.

PubMed

Lurmann, Fred; Avol, Ed; Gilliland, Frank

2015-03-01

To assess accountability and effectiveness of air regulatory policies, we reviewed more than 20 years of monitoring data, emissions estimates, and regulatory policies across several southern California communities participating in a long-term study of children's health. Between 1994 and 2011, air quality improved for NO2 and PM2.5 in virtually all the monitored communities. Average NO2 declined 28% to 53%, and PM2.5 decreased 13% to 54%. Year-to-year PM2.5 variability at lower pollution sites was large compared to changes in long-term trends. PM10 and O3 decreases were largest in communities that were initially among the most polluted. Trends in annual average NO2, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations in higher pollution communities were generally consistent with NOx, ROG, SOx, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions decreases. Reductions observed at one of the higher PM2.5 sites, Mira Loma, were generally within the range expected from reductions observed in ROG, NOx, SOx, and PM2.5 emissions. Despite a 38% increase in regional motor vehicle activity, vigorous economic growth, and a 30% population increase, total estimated emissions of NOx, ROG, SOx, PM2.5, and PM10 decreased by 54%, 65%, 40%, 21%, and 15%, respectively, during the 20-year time period. Emission control strategies in California have achieved dramatic reductions in ambient NO2, O3, PM2.5, and PM10. However, additional reductions will still be needed to achieve current health-based clean air standards. For many cities facing the challenge of reducing air pollution to meet health-based standards, the emission control policies and pollution reduction programs adopted in southern California should serve as an example of the potential success of aggressive, comprehensive, and integrated approaches. Policies targeting on-road mobile emissions were the single most important element for observed improvements in the Los Angeles region. However, overall program success was the result of a much broader approach designed to

Development of EPA aircraft piston engine emission standards. [for air quality

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Houtman, W.

1976-01-01

Piston engine light aircraft are significant sources of carbon monoxide in the vicinity of high activity general aviation airports. Substantial reductions in carbon monoxide were achieved by fuel mixture leaning using improved fuel management systems. The air quality impact of the hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions from piston engine light aircraft were insufficient to justify the design constraints being confronted in present control system developments.

Gas and Particulate Aircraft Emissions Measurements: Impacts on local air quality.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jayne, J. T.; Onasch, T.; Northway, M.; Canagaratna, M.; Worsnop, D.; Timko, M.; Wood, E.; Miake-Lye, R.; Herndon, S.; Knighton, B.; Whitefield, P.; Hagen, D.; Lobo, P.; Anderson, B.

2007-12-01

Air travel and freight shipping by air are becoming increasingly important and are expected to continue to expand. The resulting increases in the local concentrations of pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and nitrogen oxides (NOX), can have negative impacts on regional air quality, human health and can impact climate change. In order to construct valid emission inventories, accurate measurements of aircraft emissions are needed. These measurements must be done both at the engine exit plane (certification) and downwind following the rapid cooling, dilution and initial atmospheric processing of the exhaust plume. We present here results from multiple field experiments which include the Experiment to Characterize Volatile Aerosol and Trace Species Emissions (EXCAVATE) and the four Aircraft Particle Emissions eXperiments (APEX- 1/Atlanta/2/3) which characterized gas and particle emissions from both stationary or in-use aircraft. Emission indices (EIs) for NOx and VOCs and for particle number concentration, refractory PM (black carbon soot) and volatile PM (primarily sulfate and organic) particles are reported. Measurements were made at the engine exit plane and at several downstream locations (10 and 30 meters) for a number of different engine types and engine thrust settings. A significant fraction of organic particle mass is composed of low volatility oil-related compounds and is not combustion related, potentially emitted by vents or heated surfaces within aircraft engines. Advected plumes measurements from in-use aircraft show that the practice of reduced thrust take-offs has a significant effect on total NOx and soot emitted in the vicinity of the airport. The measurements reported here represent a first observation of this effect and new insights have been gained with respect to the chemical processing of gases and particulates important to the urban airshed.

Simulating and Analyzing Long-Term Changes in Emissions, Air Quality, Aerosol Feedback Effects and Human Health

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation covers work performed by the authors to characterize changes in emissions over the 1990 – 2010 time period, quantify the effects of these emission changes on air quality and aerosol/radiation feedbacks using both observations and model simulations, and fin...

Constraining the uncertainty in emissions over India with a regional air quality model evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karambelas, Alexandra; Holloway, Tracey; Kiesewetter, Gregor; Heyes, Chris

2018-02-01

To evaluate uncertainty in the spatial distribution of air emissions over India, we compare satellite and surface observations with simulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. Seasonally representative simulations were completed for January, April, July, and October 2010 at 36 km × 36 km using anthropogenic emissions from the Greenhouse Gas-Air Pollution Interaction and Synergies (GAINS) model following version 5a of the Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants project (ECLIPSE v5a). We use both tropospheric columns from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and surface observations from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to closely examine modeled nitrogen dioxide (NO2) biases in urban and rural regions across India. Spatial average evaluation with satellite retrievals indicate a low bias in the modeled tropospheric column (-63.3%), which reflects broad low-biases in majority non-urban regions (-70.1% in rural areas) across the sub-continent to slightly lesser low biases reflected in semi-urban areas (-44.7%), with the threshold between semi-urban and rural defined as 400 people per km2. In contrast, modeled surface NO2 concentrations exhibit a slight high bias of +15.6% when compared to surface CPCB observations predominantly located in urban areas. Conversely, in examining extremely population dense urban regions with more than 5000 people per km2 (dense-urban), we find model overestimates in both the column (+57.8) and at the surface (+131.2%) compared to observations. Based on these results, we find that existing emission fields for India may overestimate urban emissions in densely populated regions and underestimate rural emissions. However, if we rely on model evaluation with predominantly urban surface observations from the CPCB, comparisons reflect model high biases, contradictory to the knowledge gained using satellite observations. Satellites thus

Urban scale air quality modelling using detailed traffic emissions estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borrego, C.; Amorim, J. H.; Tchepel, O.; Dias, D.; Rafael, S.; Sá, E.; Pimentel, C.; Fontes, T.; Fernandes, P.; Pereira, S. R.; Bandeira, J. M.; Coelho, M. C.

2016-04-01

The atmospheric dispersion of NOx and PM10 was simulated with a second generation Gaussian model over a medium-size south-European city. Microscopic traffic models calibrated with GPS data were used to derive typical driving cycles for each road link, while instantaneous emissions were estimated applying a combined Vehicle Specific Power/Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (VSP/EMEP) methodology. Site-specific background concentrations were estimated using time series analysis and a low-pass filter applied to local observations. Air quality modelling results are compared against measurements at two locations for a 1 week period. 78% of the results are within a factor of two of the observations for 1-h average concentrations, increasing to 94% for daily averages. Correlation significantly improves when background is added, with an average of 0.89 for the 24 h record. The results highlight the potential of detailed traffic and instantaneous exhaust emissions estimates, together with filtered urban background, to provide accurate input data to Gaussian models applied at the urban scale.

Source Emissions in Multipollutant Air Quality Management

EPA Science Inventory

Human activities and natural processes that emit pollutants into the ambient atmosphere are the underlying cause of all air quality problems. In a technical sense, we refer to these activities and processes as pollutant sources. Although air quality management is usually concerne...

A non-linear optimization programming model for air quality planning including co-benefits for GHG emissions.

PubMed

Turrini, Enrico; Carnevale, Claudio; Finzi, Giovanna; Volta, Marialuisa

2018-04-15

This paper introduces the MAQ (Multi-dimensional Air Quality) model aimed at defining cost-effective air quality plans at different scales (urban to national) and assessing the co-benefits for GHG emissions. The model implements and solves a non-linear multi-objective, multi-pollutant decision problem where the decision variables are the application levels of emission abatement measures allowing the reduction of energy consumption, end-of pipe technologies and fuel switch options. The objectives of the decision problem are the minimization of tropospheric secondary pollution exposure and of internal costs. The model assesses CO 2 equivalent emissions in order to support decision makers in the selection of win-win policies. The methodology is tested on Lombardy region, a heavily polluted area in northern Italy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Construction activity, emissions, and air quality impacts : real-world observations from an Arizona road-widening case study.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-10-22

The Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) sponsored this investigation, a field : study of emissions and air quality impacts generated from a road widening project, to gain : insight into construction-related emissions of particulate matter (PM...

Co-benefits of mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions for future air quality and human health

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

West, Jason; Smith, Steven J.; Silva, Raquel

2013-10-01

Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions also influences air quality. We simulate the co-benefits of global GHG reductions on air quality and human health via two mechanisms: a) reducing co-emitted air pollutants, and b) slowing climate change and its effect on air quality. Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG mitigation in the RCP4.5 scenario avoids 0.5±0.2, 1.3±0.6, and 2.2±1.6 million premature deaths in 2030, 2050, and 2100, from changes in fine particulate matter and ozone. Global average marginal co-benefits of avoided mortality are $40-400 (ton CO2)-1, exceeding marginal abatement costs in 2030 and 2050, and within the low range ofmore » costs in 2100. East Asian co-benefits are 10-80 times the marginal cost in 2030. These results indicate that transitioning to a low-carbon future might be justified by air quality and health co-benefits.« less

Agriculture: Agriculture and Air Quality

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Information on air emissions from agricultural practices, types of agricultural burning, air programs that may apply to agriculture, reporting requirements, and links to state and other federal air-quality information.

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Yunha; Shindell, Drew T.; Faluvegi, Greg; Pinder, Rob W.

2016-04-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that aims to reduce 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50 % below 2005 emissions. Using the NASA GISS ModelE2 general circulation model, we look at the impacts for year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL (MARKet ALlocation) for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions data sets and the rest of the world emissions data sets are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in year 2030 and 2055 but result in positive radiative forcing. Under this scenario, no more emission constraints are added after 2020, and the impacts on air quality and climate change are similar between year 2030 and 2055. Surface particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) is reduced by ˜ 2 µg m-3 on average over the USA, and surface ozone by ˜ 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the USA, mainly due to the PM2.5 reduction (˜ 74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduce the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading to a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) over the USA by both aerosols' direct and indirect forcing: the total RF is ˜ 0.04 W m-2 over the globe, and ˜ 0.8 W m-2 over the USA. Under the hypothetical climate policy, a future CO2 emissions cut is achieved in part by relying less on coal, and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it could lead to potential climate disbenefits over the USA. In 2055, the US mean total RF is +0.22 W m-2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing

Potential Impact of a US Climate Policy and Air Quality Regulations on Future Air Quality and Climate Change

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Y. H.; Faluvegi, Gregory S.

2016-01-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that aims to reduce 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50% below 2005 emissions. Using the NASA GISS ModelE2 general circulation model, we look at the impacts for year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL (MARKet ALlocation) for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions data sets and the rest of the world emissions data sets are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in year 2030 and 2055 but result in positive radiative forcing. Under this scenario, no more emission constraints are added after 2020, and the impacts on air quality and climate change are similar between year 2030 and 2055. Surface particulate matter with a diameter smaller than 2.5 micron PM(sub 2:5) is reduced by 2 approximately µg/m(sup -3) on average over the USA, and surface ozone by approximately 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the USA, mainly due to the PM(sub 2:5) reduction approximately (74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduce the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading to a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) over the USA by both aerosols' direct and indirect forcing: the total RF is approximately 0.04 W m(sup -2) over the globe, and approximately 0.8 W m(sup -2) over the USA. Under the hypothetical climate policy, a future CO2 emissions cut is achieved in part by relying less on coal, and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it could lead to potential climate disbenefits over the USA. In 2055, the US

Colorado Air Quality Control Regulations and Ambient Air Quality Standards.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colorado State Dept. of Health, Denver. Div. of Air Pollution Control.

Regulations and standards relative to air quality control in Colorado are defined in this publication. Presented first are definitions of terms, a statement of intent, and general provisions applicable to all emission control regulations adopted by the Colorado Air Pollution Control Commission. Following this, three regulations are enumerated: (1)…

Evaluation of emission control strategies to reduce ozone pollution in the Paso del Norte region using a photochemical air quality modeling system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valenzuela, Victor Hugo

Air pollution emissions control strategies to reduce ozone precursor pollutants are analyzed by applying a photochemical modeling system. Simulations of air quality conditions during an ozone episode which occurred in June, 2006 are undertaken by increasing or reducing area source emissions in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Two air pollutants are primary drivers in the formation of tropospheric ozone. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) undergo multiple chemical reactions under favorable meteorological conditions to form ozone, which is a secondary pollutant that irritates respiratory systems in sensitive individuals especially the elderly and young children. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to limit ambient air pollutants such as ozone by establishing an 8-hour average concentration of 0.075 ppm as the threshold at which a violation of the standard occurs. Ozone forms primarily due reactions in the troposphere of NOx and VOC emissions generated primarily by anthropogenic sources in urban regions. Data from emissions inventories indicate area sources account for ˜15 of NOx and ˜45% of regional VOC emissions. Area sources include gasoline stations, automotive paint bodyshops and nonroad mobile sources. Multiplicity of air pollution emissions sources provides an opportunity to investigate and potentially implement air quality improvement strategies to reduce emissions which contribute to elevated ozone concentrations. A baseline modeling scenario was established using the CAMx photochemical air quality model from which a series of sensitivity analyses for evaluating air quality control strategies were conducted. Modifications to area source emissions were made by varying NOx and / or VOC emissions in the areas of particular interest. Model performance was assessed for each sensitivity analysis. Normalized bias (NB) and normalized error (NE) were used to identify

ESTIMATION OF EMISSION ADJUSTMENTS FROM THE APPLICATION OF FOUR-DIMENSIONAL DATA ASSIMILATION TO PHOTOCHEMICAL AIR QUALITY MODELING. (R826372)

EPA Science Inventory

Four-dimensional data assimilation applied to photochemical air quality modeling is used to suggest adjustments to the emissions inventory of the Atlanta, Georgia metropolitan area. In this approach, a three-dimensional air quality model, coupled with direct sensitivity analys...

A multi-methodological approach to study the temporal and spatial distribution of air quality related to road transport emissions in Madrid, Spain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perez, Pedro; Miranda, Regina

2013-04-01

The traffic-related atmospheric emissions, composition and transport of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and air toxic pollutants (ATPs), are an important environmental problem that affect climate change and air pollution in Madrid, Spain. Carbon dioxide (CO2) affects the regional weather and particularly fine particle matter (PM) translocate to the people resulting in local health problems. As the main source of emissions comes from road transport, and subsequent combustion of fossil fuels, air quality deterioration may be elevated during weekdays and peak hours. We postulate that traffic-related air quality (CO2, methane CH4, PM, volatile organic compounds VOCs, nitrogen oxides NOx and carbon monoxide CO contents) impairs epidemiology in part via effects on health and disease development, likely increasing the external costs of transport in terms of climate change and air pollution. First, the paper intends to estimate the local air quality related to the road transport emissions of weeks over a domain covering Madrid (used as a case study). The local air quality model (LAQM) is based on gridded and shaped emission fields. The European Environmental Agency (EEA) COPERT modeling system will provide GHGs and ATPs gridded and shaped emission data and mobile source parameters, available for Madrid from preliminary emission inventory records of the Municipality of Madrid and from disaggregated traffic counts of the Traffic Engineering Company and the Metropolitan Company of Metro (METRO-Madrid). The paper intends to obtain estimates of GHGs and ATPs concentrations commensurate with available ground measurements, 24-hour average values, from the Municipality of Madrid. The comparison between estimated concentrations and measurements must show small errors (e.g. fractional error, fractional bias and coefficient of determination). The paper's expected results must determine spatial and temporal patterns in Madrid. The estimates will be used to cross check the primary local

AIR EMISSION INVENTORIES IN NORTH AMERICA: A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

Although emission inventories are the foundation of air quality management and have supported substantial improvements in North American air quality, they have a number of shortcomings that can potentially lead to ineffective air quality management strategies. New technologies fo...

PROJECTING FUTURE-YEAR POLLUTANT EMISSIONS: EMERGING APPROACHES FROM THE EPA ORD GLOBAL CHANGE AIR QUALITY ASSESSMENT

EPA Science Inventory

The U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development is exploring approaches for assessing the relative impacts of climate and emissions changes on future-year air quality. A challenge related to this effort is the development of emissions inventories out to the year 2050. This pap...

Potential impact of a US climate policy and air quality regulations on future air quality and climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Y. H.; Shindell, D. T.; Faluvegi, G.; Pinder, R. W.

2015-11-01

We have investigated how future air quality and climate change are influenced by the US air quality regulations that existed or were proposed in 2013 and a hypothetical climate mitigation policy that reduces 2050 CO2 emissions to be 50 % below 2005 emissions. Using NASA GISS ModelE2, we look at the impacts in year 2030 and 2055. The US energy-sector emissions are from the GLIMPSE project (GEOS-Chem LIDORT Integrated with MARKAL for the Purpose of Scenario Exploration), and other US emissions and the rest of the world emissions are based on the RCP4.5 scenario. The US air quality regulations are projected to have a strong beneficial impact on US air quality and public health in the future but result in positive radiative forcing. Surface PM2.5 is reduced by ~ 2 μg m-3 on average over the US, and surface ozone by ~ 8 ppbv. The improved air quality prevents about 91 400 premature deaths in the US, mainly due to the PM2.5 reduction (~ 74 200 lives saved). The air quality regulations reduces the light-reflecting aerosols (i.e., sulfate and organic matter) more than the light-absorbing species (i.e., black carbon and ozone), leading a strong positive radiative forcing (RF) by both aerosols direct and indirect forcing: total RF is ~ 0.04 W m-2 over the globe; ~ 0.8 W m-2 over the US. Under the hypothetical climate policy, future US energy relies less on coal and thus SO2 emissions are noticeably reduced. This provides air quality co-benefits, but it leads to climate dis-benefits over the US. In 2055, the US mean total RF is +0.22 W m-2 due to positive aerosol direct and indirect forcing, while the global mean total RF is -0.06 W m-2 due to the dominant negative CO2 RF (instantaneous RF). To achieve a regional-scale climate benefit via a climate policy, it is critical (1) to have multi-national efforts to reduce GHGs emissions and (2) to target emission reduction of light-absorbing species (e.g., BC and O3) on top of long-lived species. The latter is very desirable as the

Satellite-Derived NO2 as an Indicator of Urban Air Quality and Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holloway, T.; Penn, E.; Harkey, M.

2016-12-01

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is the satellite-derived constituent with the most direct connection to fossil fuel emissions. At present the Ozone Monitoring Instrument aboard the NASA Aura satellite offers the highest resolution NO2retrievals, and new missions under development (TropOMI, TEMPO, GEMS, Sentinel-4) offer the potential for improved data in coming years. We present results applying satellite-derived NO2data to characterize air quality and emissions in U.S. cities. We highlight research findings geared toward increasing the relevance of satellite data to evaluate urban-scale air quality issues. This work reflects activities under the NASA Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (AQAST), and emerging work under the NASA Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Team (H-AQAST). Among our results is a characterization of the diurnal cycle of nitrogen oxides using ground-based observations and satellite data. In situ monitoring from the U.S. EPA Air Quality System (AQS) shows that most locations have two daily peaks in NO2 (morning and evening) and a single daily peak in NO (morning). Spaced-based observations from the ESA Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2), with a mid-morning overpass, and the NASA OMI, with an early afternoon overpass, support a complementary analysis for characterizing diurnal variability in NO2. Both ground-based monitors and satellite data show a reduction in the amplitude of the diurnal NO2 cycle. In the Western U.S., satellite data showed evidence of higher NO2 in urban centers in the afternoon (OMI) and higher NO2 in suburban areas in the morning (GOME-2), consistent with diurnal traffic patterns associated with commuting. Some power plants in the Western U.S. showed an increase in NO2in the afternoon, consistent with peak power demand associated with building air conditioning use. We extend this city-focused analysis satellite-derived HCHO:NO2 ratios as an indicator of ozone production regime, comparing modeled and measured ratios

Modelling the emissions from ships in ports and their impact on air quality in the metropolitan area of Hamburg

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramacher, Martin; Karl, Matthias; Aulinger, Armin; Bieser, Johannes; Matthias, Volker; Quante, Markus

2016-04-01

Exhaust emissions from shipping contribute significantly to the anthropogenic burden of air pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOX) and particulate matter (PM). Ships emit not only when sailing on open sea, but also when approaching harbors, during port manoeuvers and at berth to produce electricity and heat for the ship's operations. This affects the population of harbor cities because long-term exposure to PM and NOX has significant effects on human health. The European Union has therefore has set air quality standards for air pollutants. Many port cities have problems meeting these standards. The port of Hamburg with around 10.000 ship calls per year is Germany's largest seaport and Europe's second largest container port. Air quality standard reporting in Hamburg has revealed problems in meeting limits for NO2 and PM10. The amount and contribution of port related ship emissions (38% for NOx and 17% for PM10) to the overall emissions in the metropolitan area in 2005 [BSU Hamburg (2012): Luftreinhalteplan für Hamburg. 1. Fortschreibung 2012] has been modelled with a bottom up approach by using statistical data of ship activities in the harbor, technical vessel information and specific emission algorithms [GAUSS (2008): Quantifizierung von gasförmigen Emissionen durch Maschinenanlagen der Seeschiffart an der deutschen Küste]. However, knowledge about the spatial distribution of the harbor ship emissions over the city area is crucial when it comes to air quality standards and policy decisions to protect human health. Hence, this model study examines the spatial distribution of harbor ship emissions (NOX, PM10) and their deposition in the Hamburg metropolitan area. The transport and chemical transformation of atmospheric pollutants is calculated with the well-established chemistry transport model TAPM (The Air Pollution Model). TAPM is a three-dimensional coupled prognostic meteorological and air pollution model with a condensed chemistry scheme including

Regional Modelling of Air Quality in the Canadian Arctic: Impact of marine shipping and North American wild fire emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gong, W.; Beagley, S. R.; Zhang, J.; Cousineau, S.; Sassi, M.; Munoz-Alpizar, R.; Racine, J.; Menard, S.; Chen, J.

2015-12-01

Arctic atmospheric composition is strongly influenced by long-range transport from mid-latitudes as well as processes occurring in the Arctic locally. Using an on-line air quality prediction model GEM-MACH, simulations were carried out for the 2010 northern shipping season (April - October) over a regional Arctic domain. North American wildfire emissions and Arctic shipping emissions were represented, along with other anthropogenic and biogenic emissions. Sensitivity studies were carried out to investigate the principal sources and processes affecting air quality in the Canadian Northern and Arctic regions. In this paper, we present an analysis of sources, transport, and removal processes on the ambient concentrations and atmospheric loading of various pollutants with air quality and climate implications, such as, O3, NOx, SO2, CO, and aerosols (sulfate, black carbon, and organic carbon components). Preliminary results from a model simulation of a recent summertime Arctic field campaign will also be presented.

[Study on emission standard system of air pollutants].

PubMed

Jiang, Mei; Zhang, Guo-Ning; Zhang, Ming-Hui; Zou, Lan; Wei, Yu-Xia; Ren, Chun

2012-12-01

Scientific and reasonable emission standard system of air pollutants helps to systematically control air pollution, enhance the protection of the atmospheric environment effect and improve the overall atmospheric environment quality. Based on the study of development, situation and characteristics of national air pollutants emission standard system, the deficiencies of system were pointed out, which were not supportive, harmonious and perfect, and the improvement measures of emission standard system were suggested.

Use of Air Quality Observations by the National Air Quality Forecast Capability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stajner, I.; McQueen, J.; Lee, P.; Stein, A. F.; Kondragunta, S.; Ruminski, M.; Tong, D.; Pan, L.; Huang, J. P.; Shafran, P.; Huang, H. C.; Dickerson, P.; Upadhayay, S.

2015-12-01

The National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) operational predictions of ozone and wildfire smoke for the United States (U.S.) and predictions of airborne dust for continental U.S. are available at http://airquality.weather.gov/. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) operational North American Mesoscale (NAM) weather predictions are combined with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to produce the ozone predictions and test fine particulate matter (PM2.5) predictions. The Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model provides smoke and dust predictions. Air quality observations constrain emissions used by NAQFC predictions. NAQFC NOx emissions from mobile sources were updated using National Emissions Inventory (NEI) projections for year 2012. These updates were evaluated over large U.S. cities by comparing observed changes in OMI NO2 observations and NOx measured by surface monitors. The rate of decrease in NOx emission projections from year 2005 to year 2012 is in good agreement with the observed changes over the same period. Smoke emissions rely on the fire locations detected from satellite observations obtained from NESDIS Hazard Mapping System (HMS). Dust emissions rely on a climatology of areas with a potential for dust emissions based on MODIS Deep Blue aerosol retrievals. Verification of NAQFC predictions uses AIRNow compilation of surface measurements for ozone and PM2.5. Retrievals of smoke from GOES satellites are used for verification of smoke predictions. Retrievals of dust from MODIS are used for verification of dust predictions. In summary, observations are the basis for the emissions inputs for NAQFC, they are critical for evaluation of performance of NAQFC predictions, and furthermore they are used in real-time testing of bias correction of PM2.5 predictions, as we continue to work on improving modeling and emissions important for representation of PM2.5.

75 FR 48894 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; New Mexico; Revisions to Emissions...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-12

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; New Mexico; Revisions to Emissions Inventory Reporting.... SUMMARY: The EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the New Mexico State Implementation Plan (SIP... Quality Standards that EPA has established for criteria pollutants such as ozone, particulate matter, and...

Investigating the Impact of Marine Ship Emissions on Regional Air Quality using OMI Satellite NO2 Observations and the CMAQ Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ring, A.; Canty, T. P.; He, H.; Vinciguerra, T.; Lamsal, L. N.; Dickerson, R. R.; Salawitch, R. J.; Cohen, M.; Montgomery, L. N.; Dreessen, J.

2015-12-01

Commercial marine vessels (CMVs) emit significant amounts of NOx, an ozone precursor, which may contribute to negative health consequences for people living in areas near shipping lanes. In coastal US states, many metropolitan areas such as Baltimore and New York City are located near ports with CMVs. Many studies estimate that ships account for ~15-30% of the global anthropogenic NOx emissions. EPA developed emissions inventories are widely used by states to construct model scenarios for testing air quality attainment strategies. Currently, CMV emissions are generated by simply applying growth factors to aggregated emissions data from much earlier years. Satellite retrievals from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) have been successfully used to improve the veracity of marine emissions by incorporating observational data from the inventory year. In this study we use OMI NO2 observations and Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model outputs to improve the EPA marine emission estimates for the Mid-Atlantic region. Back trajectories from the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory HYSPLIT model are used to identify days with minimal continental influence on OMI tropospheric column NO2 over shipping lanes. We perform sensitivity analyses to quantify the impact of marine emissions on air quality and suggest strategies to better meet the EPA mandated ozone standard.

Development of the GEM-MACH-FireWork System: An Air Quality Model with On-line Wildfire Emissions within the Canadian Operational Air Quality Forecast System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlovic, Radenko; Chen, Jack; Beaulieu, Paul-Andre; Anselmp, David; Gravel, Sylvie; Moran, Mike; Menard, Sylvain; Davignon, Didier

2014-05-01

A wildfire emissions processing system has been developed to incorporate near-real-time emissions from wildfires and large prescribed burns into Environment Canada's real-time GEM-MACH air quality (AQ) forecast system. Since the GEM-MACH forecast domain covers Canada and most of the U.S.A., including Alaska, fire location information is needed for both of these large countries. During AQ model runs, emissions from individual fire sources are injected into elevated model layers based on plume-rise calculations and then transport and chemistry calculations are performed. This "on the fly" approach to the insertion of the fire emissions provides flexibility and efficiency since on-line meteorology is used and computational overhead in emissions pre-processing is reduced. GEM-MACH-FireWork, an experimental wildfire version of GEM-MACH, was run in real-time mode for the summers of 2012 and 2013 in parallel with the normal operational version. 48-hour forecasts were generated every 12 hours (at 00 and 12 UTC). Noticeable improvements in the AQ forecasts for PM2.5 were seen in numerous regions where fire activity was high. Case studies evaluating model performance for specific regions and computed objective scores will be included in this presentation. Using the lessons learned from the last two summers, Environment Canada will continue to work towards the goal of incorporating near-real-time intermittent wildfire emissions into the operational air quality forecast system.

Co-benefits of mitigating global greenhouse gas emissions for future air quality and human health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, J. Jason; Smith, Steven J.; Silva, Raquel A.; Naik, Vaishali; Zhang, Yuqiang; Adelman, Zachariah; Fry, Meridith M.; Anenberg, Susan; Horowitz, Larry W.; Lamarque, Jean-Francois

2013-10-01

Actions to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions often reduce co-emitted air pollutants, bringing co-benefits for air quality and human health. Past studies typically evaluated near-term and local co-benefits, neglecting the long-range transport of air pollutants, long-term demographic changes, and the influence of climate change on air quality. Here we simulate the co-benefits of global GHG reductions on air quality and human health using a global atmospheric model and consistent future scenarios, via two mechanisms: reducing co-emitted air pollutants, and slowing climate change and its effect on air quality. We use new relationships between chronic mortality and exposure to fine particulate matter and ozone, global modelling methods and new future scenarios. Relative to a reference scenario, global GHG mitigation avoids 0.5+/-0.2, 1.3+/-0.5 and 2.2+/-0.8 million premature deaths in 2030, 2050 and 2100. Global average marginal co-benefits of avoided mortality are US$50-380 per tonne of CO2, which exceed previous estimates, exceed marginal abatement costs in 2030 and 2050, and are within the low range of costs in 2100. East Asian co-benefits are 10-70 times the marginal cost in 2030. Air quality and health co-benefits, especially as they are mainly local and near-term, provide strong additional motivation for transitioning to a low-carbon future.

Air quality management in China: issues, challenges, and options.

PubMed

Wang, Shuxiao; Hao, Jiming

2012-01-01

This article analyzed the control progress and current status of air quality, identified the major air pollution issues and challenges in future, proposed the long-term air pollution control targets, and suggested the options for better air quality in China. With the continuing growth of economy in the next 10-15 years, China will face a more severe situation of energy consumption, electricity generation and vehicle population leading to increase in multiple pollutant emissions. Controlling regional air pollution especially fine particles and ozone, as well as lowering carbon emissions from fossil fuel consumption will be a big challenge for the country. To protect public health and the eco-system, the ambient air quality in all Chinese cities shall attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) and ambient air quality guideline values set by the World Health Organization (WHO). To achieve the air quality targets, the emissions of SO2, NOx, PM10, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) should decrease by 60%, 40%, 50%, and 40%, respectively, on the basis of that in 2005. A comprehensive control policy focusing on multiple pollutants and emission sources at both the local and regional levels was proposed to mitigate the regional air pollution issue in China. The options include development of clean energy resources, promotion of clean and efficient coal use, enhancement of vehicle pollution control, implementation of synchronous control of multiple pollutants including SO2, NOx, VOC, and PM emissions, joint prevention and control of regional air pollution, and application of climate friendly air pollution control measures.

An emission processing system for air quality modelling in the Mexico City metropolitan area: Evaluation and comparison of the MOBILE6.2-Mexico and MOVES-Mexico traffic emissions.

PubMed

Guevara, M; Tena, C; Soret, A; Serradell, K; Guzmán, D; Retama, A; Camacho, P; Jaimes-Palomera, M; Mediavilla, A

2017-04-15

This article describes the High-Elective Resolution Modelling Emission System for Mexico (HERMES-Mex) model, an emission processing tool developed to transform the official Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) emission inventory into hourly, gridded (up to 1km 2 ) and speciated emissions used to drive mesoscale air quality simulations with the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The methods and ancillary information used for the spatial and temporal disaggregation and speciation of the emissions are presented and discussed. The resulting emission system is evaluated, and a case study on CO, NO 2 , O 3 , VOC and PM 2.5 concentrations is conducted to demonstrate its applicability. Moreover, resulting traffic emissions from the Mobile Source Emission Factor Model for Mexico (MOBILE6.2-Mexico) and the MOtor Vehicle Emission Simulator for Mexico (MOVES-Mexico) models are integrated in the tool to assess and compare their performance. NO x and VOC total emissions modelled are reduced by 37% and 26% in the MCMA when replacing MOBILE6.2-Mexico for MOVES-Mexico traffic emissions. In terms of air quality, the system composed by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) coupled with the HERMES-Mex and CMAQ models properly reproduces the pollutant levels and patterns measured in the MCMA. The system's performance clearly improves in urban stations with a strong influence of traffic sources when applying MOVES-Mexico emissions. Despite reducing estimations of modelled precursor emissions, O 3 peak averages are increased in the MCMA core urban area (up to 30ppb) when using MOVES-Mexico mobile emissions due to its VOC-limited regime, while concentrations in the surrounding suburban/rural areas decrease or increase depending on the meteorological conditions of the day. The results obtained suggest that the HERMES-Mex model can be used to provide model-ready emissions for air quality modelling in the MCMA. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Results of the air emission research study

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Air quality was monitored in beef mono-slope barns. The objectives of the study were 1) to gather baseline data for the levels of gas emissions and particulate matter from beef mono-slope facilities, 2) evaluate the effect of two different manure handling systems on air quality, and 3) provide infor...

ADVANCED EMISSIONS SPECIATION METHODOLOGIES FOR THE AUTO/OIL AIR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT RESEARCH PROGRAM - II. ALDEHYDES, KETONES, AND ALCOHOLS

EPA Science Inventory

Analytical methods for determining individual aldehyde, ketone, and alcohol emissions from gasoline-, methanol-, and variable-fueled vehicles are described. These methods were used in the Auto/Oil Air quality Improvement Research Program to provide emission data for comparison of...

Shipping emissions and their impacts on air quality in China.

PubMed

Zhang, Yan; Yang, Xin; Brown, Richard; Yang, Liping; Morawska, Lidia; Ristovski, Zoran; Fu, Qingyan; Huang, Cheng

2017-03-01

China has >400 ports, is home to 7 of 10 biggest ports in the world and its waterway infrastructure construction has been accelerating over the past years. But the increasing number of ports and ships means increasing emissions, and in turn, increasing impact on local and regional air pollution. This paper presents an overview of the broad field of ship emissions in China and their atmospheric impacts, including topics of ship engine emissions and control, ship emission factors and their measurements, developing of ship emission inventories, shipping and port emissions of the main shipping areas in China, and quantitative contribution of shipping emissions to the local and regional air pollution. There have been an increasing number of studies published on all the above aspects, yet, this review identified some critical research gaps, filling of which is necessary for better control of ship emissions, and for lowering their impacts. In particular, there are very few studies on inland ports and river ships, and there are few national scale ship emission inventories available for China. While advanced method to estimate ship emission based on ship AIS activities makes it now possible to develop high spatial- and temporal-resolution emission inventories, the ship emission factors used in Chinese studies have been based mainly on foreign measurements. Further, the contribution of ship emissions to air pollution in coastal cities, the dispersion of pollution plumes emitted by ships, or the chemical evolution process along the transmission path, have so far not been systematically studied in China. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Co-benefits of air quality and climate change policies on air quality of the Mediterranean

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pozzoli, Luca; Mert Gokturk, Ozan; Unal, Alper; Kindap, Tayfun; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet

2015-04-01

The Mediterranean basin is one of the regions of the world where significant impacts due to climate changes are predicted to occur in the future. Observations and model simulations are used to provide to the policy makers scientifically based estimates of the necessity to adjust national emission reductions needed to achieve air quality objectives in the context of a changing climate, which is not only driven by GHGs, but also by short lived climate pollutants, such as tropospheric ozone and aerosols. There is an increasing interest and need to design cost-benefit emission reduction strategies, which could improve both regional air quality and global climate change. In this study we used the WRF-CMAQ air quality modelling system to quantify the contribution of anthropogenic emissions to ozone and particulate matter concentrations in Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean and to understand how this contribution could change in different future scenarios. We have investigated four different future scenarios for year 2050 defined during the European Project CIRCE: a "business as usual" scenario (BAU) where no or just actual measures are taken into account; an "air quality" scenario (BAP) which implements the National Emission Ceiling directive 2001/81/EC member states of the European Union (EU-27); a "climate change" scenario (CC) which implements global climate policies decoupled from air pollution policies; and an "integrated air quality and climate policy" scenario (CAP) which explores the co-benefit of global climate and EU-27 air pollution policies. The BAP scenario largely decreases summer ozone concentrations over almost the entire continent, while the CC and CAP scenarios similarly determine lower decreases in summer ozone but extending all over the Mediterranean, the Middle East countries and Russia. Similar patterns are found for winter PM concentrations; BAP scenario improves pollution levels only in the Western EU countries, and the CAP scenario determines

Assessing Concentrations and Health Impacts of Air Quality Management Strategies: Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation (FRESH-EST)

PubMed Central

Milando, Chad W.; Martenies, Sheena E.; Batterman, Stuart A.

2017-01-01

In air quality management, reducing emissions from pollutant sources often forms the primary response to attaining air quality standards and guidelines. Despite the broad success of air quality management in the US, challenges remain. As examples: allocating emissions reductions among multiple sources is complex and can require many rounds of negotiation; health impacts associated with emissions, the ultimate driver for the standards, are not explicitly assessed; and long dispersion model run-times, which result from the increasing size and complexity of model inputs, limit the number of scenarios that can be evaluated, thus increasing the likelihood of missing an optimal strategy. A new modeling framework, called the "Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation" (FRESH-EST), is presented to respond to these challenges. FRESH-EST estimates concentrations and health impacts of alternative emissions scenarios at the urban scale, providing efficient computations from emissions to health impacts at the Census block or other desired spatial scale. In addition, FRESH-EST can optimize emission reductions to meet specified environmental and health constraints, and a convenient user interface and graphical displays are provided to facilitate scenario evaluation. The new framework is demonstrated in an SO2 non-attainment area in southeast Michigan with two optimization strategies: the first minimizes emission reductions needed to achieve a target concentration; the second minimizes concentrations while holding constant the cumulative emissions across local sources (e.g., an emissions floor). The optimized strategies match outcomes in the proposed SO2 State Implementation Plan without the proposed stack parameter modifications or shutdowns. In addition, the lower health impacts estimated for these strategies suggest the potential for FRESH-EST to identify pollution control alternatives for air quality management planning. PMID:27318620

Assessing concentrations and health impacts of air quality management strategies: Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation (FRESH-EST).

PubMed

Milando, Chad W; Martenies, Sheena E; Batterman, Stuart A

2016-09-01

In air quality management, reducing emissions from pollutant sources often forms the primary response to attaining air quality standards and guidelines. Despite the broad success of air quality management in the US, challenges remain. As examples: allocating emissions reductions among multiple sources is complex and can require many rounds of negotiation; health impacts associated with emissions, the ultimate driver for the standards, are not explicitly assessed; and long dispersion model run-times, which result from the increasing size and complexity of model inputs, limit the number of scenarios that can be evaluated, thus increasing the likelihood of missing an optimal strategy. A new modeling framework, called the "Framework for Rapid Emissions Scenario and Health impact ESTimation" (FRESH-EST), is presented to respond to these challenges. FRESH-EST estimates concentrations and health impacts of alternative emissions scenarios at the urban scale, providing efficient computations from emissions to health impacts at the Census block or other desired spatial scale. In addition, FRESH-EST can optimize emission reductions to meet specified environmental and health constraints, and a convenient user interface and graphical displays are provided to facilitate scenario evaluation. The new framework is demonstrated in an SO2 non-attainment area in southeast Michigan with two optimization strategies: the first minimizes emission reductions needed to achieve a target concentration; the second minimizes concentrations while holding constant the cumulative emissions across local sources (e.g., an emissions floor). The optimized strategies match outcomes in the proposed SO2 State Implementation Plan without the proposed stack parameter modifications or shutdowns. In addition, the lower health impacts estimated for these strategies suggest that FRESH-EST could be used to identify potentially more desirable pollution control alternatives in air quality management planning

Assessment of air quality benefits from national air pollution control policies in China. Part II: Evaluation of air quality predictions and air quality benefits assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Litao; Jang, Carey; Zhang, Yang; Wang, Kai; Zhang, Qiang; Streets, David; Fu, Joshua; Lei, Yu; Schreifels, Jeremy; He, Kebin; Hao, Jiming; Lam, Yun-Fat; Lin, Jerry; Meskhidze, Nicholas; Voorhees, Scott; Evarts, Dale; Phillips, Sharon

2010-09-01

Following the meteorological evaluation in Part I, this Part II paper presents the statistical evaluation of air quality predictions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA)'s Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (Models-3/CMAQ) model for the four simulated months in the base year 2005. The surface predictions were evaluated using the Air Pollution Index (API) data published by the China Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) for 31 capital cities and daily fine particulate matter (PM 2.5, particles with aerodiameter less than or equal to 2.5 μm) observations of an individual site in Tsinghua University (THU). To overcome the shortage in surface observations, satellite data are used to assess the column predictions including tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) column abundance and aerosol optical depth (AOD). The result shows that CMAQ gives reasonably good predictions for the air quality. The air quality improvement that would result from the targeted sulfur dioxide (SO 2) and nitrogen oxides (NO x) emission controls in China were assessed for the objective year 2010. The results show that the emission controls can lead to significant air quality benefits. SO 2 concentrations in highly polluted areas of East China in 2010 are estimated to be decreased by 30-60% compared to the levels in the 2010 Business-As-Usual (BAU) case. The annual PM 2.5 can also decline by 3-15 μg m -3 (4-25%) due to the lower SO 2 and sulfate concentrations. If similar controls are implemented for NO x emissions, NO x concentrations are estimated to decrease by 30-60% as compared with the 2010 BAU scenario. The annual mean PM 2.5 concentrations will also decline by 2-14 μg m -3 (3-12%). In addition, the number of ozone (O 3) non-attainment areas in the northern China is projected to be much lower, with the maximum 1-h average O 3 concentrations in the summer reduced by 8-30 ppb.

Southern Nevada air quality study

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

The Southern Nevada Air Quality Study (SNAQS) created cross-plume and in-plume measurement systems to quantify emissions distributions and source profiles from transportation emissions, specifically gasoline and diesel powered vehicles. The cross-plu...

Animals as indicators of ecosystem responses to air emissions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Newman, James R.; Schreiber, R. Kent

1984-01-01

With existing and proposed air-quality regulations, ecological disasters resulting from air emissions such as those observed at Copperhill, Tennessee, and Sudbury, Ontario, are unlikely. Current air-quality standards, however, may not protect ecosystems from subacute and chronic exposure to air emissions. The encouragement of the use of coal for energy production and the development of the fossil-fuel industries, including oil shales, tar sands, and coal liquification, point to an increase and spread of fossil-fuel emissions and the potential to influence a number of natural ecosystems. This paper reviews the reported responses of ecosystems to air-borne pollutants and discusses the use of animals as indicators of ecosystem responses to these pollutants. Animal species and populations can act as important indicators of biotic and abiotic responses of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. These responses can indicate long-term trends in ecosystem health and productivity, chemical cycling, genetics, and regulation. For short-term trends, fish and wildlife also serve as monitors of changes in community structure, signaling food-web contamination, as well as providing a measure of ecosystem vitality. Information is presented to show not only the importance of animals as indicators of ecosystem responses to air-quality degradation, but also their value as air-pollution indices, that is, as air-quality-related values (AQRV), required in current air-pollution regulation.

75 FR 43114 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Texas; Revisions to Emissions...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-23

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Texas; Revisions to Emissions Inventory Reporting... Consistent With the Cross Media Electronic Reporting Rule AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA... revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Governor of Texas and by the Texas...

Mapping Emissions that Contribute to Air Pollution Using Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bastien, L. A. J.; Mcdonald, B. C.; Brown, N. J.; Harley, R.

2014-12-01

The adjoint of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ) is used to map emissions that contribute to air pollution at receptors of interest. Adjoint tools provide an efficient way to calculate the sensitivity of a model response to a large number of model inputs, a task that would require thousands of simulations using a more traditional forward sensitivity approach. Initial applications of this technique, demonstrated here, are to benzene and directly-emitted diesel particulate matter, for which atmospheric reactions are neglected. Emissions of these pollutants are strongly influenced by light-duty gasoline vehicles and heavy-duty diesel trucks, respectively. We study air quality responses in three receptor areas where populations have been identified as especially susceptible to, and adversely affected by air pollution. Population-weighted air basin-wide responses for each pollutant are also evaluated for the entire San Francisco Bay area. High-resolution (1 km horizontal grid) emission inventories have been developed for on-road motor vehicle emission sources, based on observed traffic count data. Emission estimates represent diurnal, day of week, and seasonal variations of on-road vehicle activity, with separate descriptions for gasoline and diesel sources. Emissions that contribute to air pollution at each receptor have been mapped in space and time using the adjoint method. Effects on air quality of both relative (multiplicative) and absolute (additive) perturbations to underlying emission inventories are analyzed. The contributions of local versus upwind sources to air quality in each receptor area are quantified, and weekday/weekend and seasonal variations in the influence of emissions from upwind areas are investigated. The contribution of local sources to the total air pollution burden within the receptor areas increases from about 40% in the summer to about 50% in the winter due to increased atmospheric stagnation. The effectiveness of control

Quantifying Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Solvents and their Impacts on Urban Air Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mcdonald, B. C.; De Gouw, J. A.; Gilman, J.; Ahmadov, R.; Cappa, C. D.; Frost, G. J.; Goldstein, A. H.; Jathar, S.; Jimenez, J. L.; Kim, S. W.; McKeen, S. A.; Roberts, J. M.; Trainer, M.

2016-12-01

Solvents, which consist of personal care products, paints, degreasing agents, and other chemical products, are an important anthropogenic source of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Yet there are many unresolved questions related to their emission rates, chemical composition, and relative importance on urban air quality problems. Using atmospheric measurements of speciated VOCs collected at a ground site located in the Los Angeles basin during the California Nexus (CalNex) Study in 2010, and utilizing data on the composition of solvent emissions from the California Air Resources Board (CARB), we are able to reconcile solvent emissions with ambient observations. Our analysis indicates that solvent emissions are underestimated by a factor of 2-3 in the CARB inventory. We then estimate the reactivity of solvent emissions with the hydroxyl (OH) radical, and also estimate the propensity of solvent emissions to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Solvents contain significant fractions of oxygenated compounds, including intermediate volatility compounds, which if released to the atmosphere are potentially reactive and can lead to the formation of SOA. Overall, our results suggest that in the Los Angeles basin, solvents are now the largest anthropogenic source of VOC emissions, OH reactivity, and SOA formation, and larger than the contribution from motor vehicles. This suggests that more research is needed in better constraining this potentially important source of urban VOC emissions.

VOLATILE ORGANIC COMPOUND EMISSIONS FROM LATEX PAINT-PART 2. TEST HOUSE STUDIES AND INDOOR AIR QUALITY (IAQ) MODELING

EPA Science Inventory

Emission models developed using small chamber data were combined with an Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) model to analyze the impact of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from latex paint on indoor environments. Test house experiments were conducted to verify the IAQ model's pred...

Linking Air Quality and Human Health Effects Models: An Application to the Los Angeles Air Basin.

PubMed

Stewart, Devoun R; Saunders, Emily; Perea, Roberto A; Fitzgerald, Rosa; Campbell, David E; Stockwell, William R

2017-01-01

Proposed emission control strategies for reducing ozone and particulate matter are evaluated better when air quality and health effects models are used together. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is the US Environmental Protection Agency's model for determining public policy and forecasting air quality. CMAQ was used to forecast air quality changes due to several emission control strategies that could be implemented between 2008 and 2030 for the South Coast Air Basin that includes Los Angeles. The Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program-Community Edition (BenMAP-CE) was used to estimate health and economic impacts of the different emission control strategies based on CMAQ simulations. BenMAP-CE is a computer program based on epidemiologic studies that link human health and air quality. This modeling approach is better for determining optimum public policy than approaches that only examine concentration changes.

Emissions Reduction Policies and Recent Trends in Southern California’s Ambient Air Quality

PubMed Central

Lurmann, Fred; Gilliland, Frank

2017-01-01

To assess accountability and effectiveness of air regulatory policies, we reviewed over 20 years of monitoring data, emissions estimates, and regulatory policies across several Southern California communities participating in a long-term study of children’s health. Between 1994 and 2011, air quality improved for NO2 and PM2.5 in virtually all the monitored communities. Average NO2 declined 28% to 53%, and PM2.5 decreased 13% to 54%. Year-to-year PM2.5 variability at lower-pollution sites was large compared to changes in long-term trends. PM10 and O3 decreases were largest in communities that were initially among the most polluted. Trends in annual average NO2, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations in higher pollution communities were generally consistent with NOx, ROG, SOx, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions decreases. Reductions observed at one of the higher PM2.5 sites, Mira Loma, was generally within the range expected from reductions observed in ROG, NOx, SOx, and PM2.5 emissions. Despite a 38% increase in regional motor vehicle activity, vigorous economic growth, and a 30% population increase, total estimated emissions of NOx, ROG, SOx, PM2.5, and PM10 decreased by 54%, 65%, 40%, 21%, and 15%, respectively, during the 20-year time period. Emission control strategies in California have achieved dramatic reductions in ambient NO2, O3, PM2.5, and PM10. However, additional reductions will still be needed to achieve current health-based clean air standards. PMID:25947128

Data Quality Objectives for Regulatory Requirements for Hazardous and Radioactive Air Emissions Sampling and Analysis

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MULKEY, C.H.

1999-07-06

This document describes the results of the data quality objective (DQO) process undertaken to define data needs for state and federal requirements associated with toxic, hazardous, and/or radiological air emissions under the jurisdiction of the River Protection Project (RPP). Hereafter, this document is referred to as the Air DQO. The primary drivers for characterization under this DQO are the regulatory requirements pursuant to Washington State regulations, that may require sampling and analysis. The federal regulations concerning air emissions are incorporated into the Washington State regulations. Data needs exist for nonradioactive and radioactive waste constituents and characteristics as identified through themore » DQO process described in this document. The purpose is to identify current data needs for complying with regulatory drivers for the measurement of air emissions from RPP facilities in support of air permitting. These drivers include best management practices; similar analyses may have more than one regulatory driver. This document should not be used for determining overall compliance with regulations because the regulations are in constant change, and this document may not reflect the latest regulatory requirements. Regulatory requirements are also expected to change as various permits are issued. Data needs require samples for both radionuclides and nonradionuclide analytes of air emissions from tanks and stored waste containers. The collection of data is to support environmental permitting and compliance, not for health and safety issues. This document does not address health or safety regulations or requirements (those of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health) or continuous emission monitoring systems. This DQO is applicable to all equipment, facilities, and operations under the jurisdiction of RPP that emit or have the potential to emit regulated air pollutants.« less

75 FR 77798 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Limiting Emissions of...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-14

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Delaware; Limiting Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds... Organic Compounds (VOC) from Consumer and Commercial Products, Section 3.0, Portable Fuel Containers. In... second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time...

Analysis of air quality management with emphasis on transportation sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

English, T. D.; Divita, E.; Lees, L.

1980-01-01

The current environment and practices of air quality management were examined for three regions: Denver, Phoenix, and the South Coast Air Basin of California. These regions were chosen because the majority of their air pollution emissions are related to mobile sources. The impact of auto exhaust on the air quality management process is characterized and assessed. An examination of the uncertainties in air pollutant measurements, emission inventories, meteorological parameters, atmospheric chemistry, and air quality simulation models is performed. The implications of these uncertainties to current air quality management practices is discussed. A set of corrective actions are recommended to reduce these uncertainties.

Linking Air Quality and Human Health Effects Models: An Application to the Los Angeles Air Basin

PubMed Central

Stewart, Devoun R; Saunders, Emily; Perea, Roberto A; Fitzgerald, Rosa; Campbell, David E; Stockwell, William R

2017-01-01

Proposed emission control strategies for reducing ozone and particulate matter are evaluated better when air quality and health effects models are used together. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is the US Environmental Protection Agency’s model for determining public policy and forecasting air quality. CMAQ was used to forecast air quality changes due to several emission control strategies that could be implemented between 2008 and 2030 for the South Coast Air Basin that includes Los Angeles. The Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program—Community Edition (BenMAP-CE) was used to estimate health and economic impacts of the different emission control strategies based on CMAQ simulations. BenMAP-CE is a computer program based on epidemiologic studies that link human health and air quality. This modeling approach is better for determining optimum public policy than approaches that only examine concentration changes. PMID:29162976

Development of On-line Wildfire Emissions for the Operational Canadian Air Quality Forecast System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlovic, R.; Menard, S.; Chen, J.; Anselmo, D.; Paul-Andre, B.; Gravel, S.; Moran, M. D.; Davignon, D.

2013-12-01

An emissions processing system has been developed to incorporate near-real-time emissions from wildfires and large prescribed burns into Environment Canada's real-time GEM-MACH air quality (AQ) forecast system. Since the GEM-MACH forecast domain covers Canada and most of the USA, including Alaska, fire location information is needed for both of these large countries. Near-real-time satellite data are obtained and processed separately for the two countries for organizational reasons. Fire location and fuel consumption data for Canada are provided by the Canadian Forest Service's Canadian Wild Fire Information System (CWFIS) while fire location and emissions data for the U.S. are provided by the SMARTFIRE (Satellite Mapping Automated Reanalysis Tool for Fire Incident Reconciliation) system via the on-line BlueSky Gateway. During AQ model runs, emissions from individual fire sources are injected into elevated model layers based on plume-rise calculations and then transport and chemistry calculations are performed. This 'on the fly' approach to the insertion of emissions provides greater flexibility since on-line meteorology is used and reduces computational overhead in emission pre-processing. An experimental wildfire version of GEM-MACH was run in real-time mode for the summers of 2012 and 2013. 48-hour forecasts were generated every 12 hours (at 00 and 12 UTC). Noticeable improvements in the AQ forecasts for PM2.5 were seen in numerous regions where fire activity was high. Case studies evaluating model performance for specific regions, computed objective scores, and subjective evaluations by AQ forecasters will be included in this presentation. Using the lessons learned from the last two summers, Environment Canada will continue to work towards the goal of incorporating near-real-time intermittent wildfire emissions within the operational air quality forecast system.

Modelling Southern Africa Air Quality and Atmosphere: Importance and Interplay of Natural and Anthropogenic Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garland, R. M.; Naidoo, M.; Dedekind, Z.; Sibiya, B.; Piketh, S.; Engelbrecht, C. J.; Engelbrecht, F.

2017-12-01

Many parts of the southern hemisphere are linked in part due to the strong impact that emissions from natural sources, such as large biomass burning events and marine sources, as well as growing anthropogenic emission sources. Most of southern Africa has an arid to semi-arid climate that is strongly impacted by biomass burning, biogenic and dust emissions. In addition, there are areas of growing industrialization and urbanization that contributes to poor air quality. This air pollution can impact not only human health, but also agriculture, ecosystems, and the climate. This presentation will highlight on-going research to simulate the southern Africa atmosphere and impacts, with a focus on the interplay and relative importance of natural and anthropogenic emissions. The presentation will discuss the simulated sensitivity of the southern African climate to aerosol particles to highlight the importance of natural sources. These historical simulations (1979-2012) were performed with CCAM and are towards the development of the first Africa-led earth systems model. The analysis focused on the simulated sensitivity of the climate and clouds off the southwestern coast of Africa to aerosol particles. The interplay between natural and anthropogenic sources on air pollution will be highlighted using the Waterberg region of South Africa as a case study. CAMx was run at 2km resolution for 2013 using local emission inventories and meteorological output from CCAM to simulate the air quality of the region. These simulations estimate that, on average in the summer, up to 20% of ozone in and around a power plant plume is attributable to biogenic sources of VOCs, with ozone peaks of up to 120ppb; highlighting the importance of understanding the mix of pollutants in this area. In addition to presenting results from this study, the challenges in modelling will be highlighted. These challenges include very few or no measurements that are important to understand, and then accurately

Influence of future anthropogenic emissions on climate, natural emissions, and air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jacobson, Mark Z.; Streets, David G.

2009-04-01

This study examines the effects of future anthropogenic emissions on climate, and the resulting feedback to natural emissions and air quality. Speciated sector- and region-specific 2030 emission factors were developed to produce gas and particle emission inventories that followed Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) A1B and B1 emission trajectories. Current and future climate model simulations were run, in which anthropogenic emission changes affected climate, which fed back to natural emissions from lightning (NO, NO2, HONO, HNO3, N2O, H2O2, HO2, CO), soils (dust, bacteria, NO, N2O, H2, CH4, H2S, DMS, OCS, CS2), the ocean (bacteria, sea spray, DMS, N2O, H2, CH4), vegetation (pollen, spores, isoprene, monoterpenes, methanol, other VOCs), and photosynthesis/respiration. New methods were derived to calculate lightning flash rates as a function of size-resolved collisions and other physical principles and pollen, spore, and bacteria emissions. Although the B1 scenario was "cleaner" than the A1B scenario, global warming increased more in the B1 scenario because much A1B warming was masked by additional reflective aerosol particles. Thus neither scenario is entirely beneficial from a climate and health perspective, and the best control measure is to reduce warming gases and warming/cooling particles together. Lightning emissions declined by ˜3% in the B1 scenario and ˜12% in the A1B scenario as the number of ice crystals, thus charge-separating bounceoffs, decreased. Net primary production increased by ˜2% in both scenarios. Emissions of isoprene and monoterpenes increased by ˜1% in the A1B scenario and 4-5% in the B1 scenario. Near-surface ozone increased by ˜14% in the A1B scenario and ˜4% in the B1 scenario, reducing ambient isoprene in the latter case. Gases from soils increased in both scenarios due to higher temperatures. Near-surface PM2.5 mass increased by ˜2% in the A1B scenario and decreased by ˜2% in the B1 scenario. The resulting 1.4% higher

Importance of transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions to regional air quality in Southeast Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aouizerats, B.; van der Werf, G. R.; Balasubramanian, R.; Betha, R.

2014-05-01

Smoke from biomass and peat burning has a notable impact on ambient air quality and climate in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. We modeled the largest fire-induced haze episode in the past decade (2006) in Indonesia using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). We focused mainly on the evolution of the fire plume composition and its interaction with the urbanized area of the city-state of Singapore, and on comparisons of modeled and measured aerosol and CO concentrations. Two simulations were run with the model using the complex Volatility Basis Set (VBS) scheme to reproduce primary and secondary aerosol evolution and concentration. The first simulation referred to as WRF-FIRE included anthropogenic, biogenic, and b iomass burning emissions from the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED3) while the second simulation referred to as WRF-NOFIRE was run without emissions from biomass burning. To test model performance, we used three independent datasets for comparison including airborne measurements of Particulate Matter with a diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10) in Singapore, CO measurements in Sumatra, and Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) column observations from 4 satellite-based sensors. We found reasonable agreement of the model runs with both ground-based measurements of CO and PM10. The comparison with AOD was less favorable and indicated the model underestimated AOD, although the degree of mismatch varied between different satellite data sets. During our study period, forest and peat fires in Sumatra were the main cause of enhanced aerosol concentrations from regional transport over Singapore. Analysis of the biomass burning plume showed high concentrations of primary organic aerosols (POA) with values up to 600 μg m-3 over the fire locations. The concentration of POA remained quite stable within the plume between the main burning region and Singapore while secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentration slightly increased. The

Importance and Challenges in Use and Uptake of Air Quality Modelling in Developing Countries: Use of CAMx for Air Quality Management in the City of Johannesburg.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garland, R. M.; Naidoo, M.; Sibiya, B.; Naidoo, S.; Bird, T.; von Gruenewaldt, R.; Liebenberg-Enslin, H.; Nekhwalivhe, M.; Netshandama, J.; Mahlatji, M.

2017-12-01

Ambient air pollution levels are regulated in South Africa; however in many areas pollution concentrations exceed these levels. The South African Air Quality Act also stipulates that government across all levels must have Air Quality Management Plans (AQMP) in place that outline the current state of air quality and emissions, as well as the implementable plan to manage, and where necessary improve, air quality. Historically, dispersion models have been used to support air quality management decisions, including in AQMPs. However, with the focus of air quality management shifting from focusing on industrial point sources to a more integrated and holistic management of all sources, chemical transport models are needed. CAMx was used in the review and development of the City of Johannesburg's AQMP to simulate hot spots of air pollution, as well as to model intervention scenarios. As the pollutants of concern in Johannesburg are ozone and particulate matter, it is critical to use a model that can simulate chemistry. CAMx was run at 1 km with a locally derived emissions inventory for 2014. The sources of pollution in the City are diverse (including, industrial, vehicles, domestic burning, natural), and many sources have large uncertainties in estimating emissions due to lack of necessary data and local emission factors. These uncertainties, together with a lack of measurements to validate the model against, hinder the performance of the model to simulate air quality and thus inform air quality management. However, as air quality worsens in Africa, it is critical for decision makers to have a strong evidence base on the state of air quality and impact of interventions in order to improve air quality effectively. This presentation will highlight the findings from using a chemical transport model for air quality management in the largest city in South Africa, the use and limitations of these for decision-makers, and proposed way forward.

Development of a high-resolution emission inventory and its evaluation and application through air quality modeling for Jiangsu Province, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Yu; Zhou, Yaduan; Mao, Pan; Zhang, Jie

2017-04-01

Improved emission inventories combining detailed source information are crucial for better understanding the atmospheric chemistry and effectively making emission control policies using air quality simulation, particularly at regional or local scales. With the downscaled inventories directly applied, chemical transport model might not be able to reproduce the authentic evolution of atmospheric pollution processes at small spatial scales. Using the bottom-up approach, a high-resolution emission inventory was developed for Jiangsu China, including SO2, NOx, CO, NH3, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), total suspended particulates (TSP), PM10, PM2.5, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and CO2. The key parameters relevant to emission estimation for over 6000 industrial sources were investigated, compiled and revised at plant level based on various data sources and on-site survey. As a result, the emission fractions of point sources were significantly elevated for most species. The improvement of this provincial inventory was evaluated through comparisons with other inventories at larger spatial scales, using satellite observation and air quality modeling. Compared to the downscaled Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), the spatial distribution of NOX emissions in our provincial inventory was more consistent with summer tropospheric NO2 VCDs observed from OMI, particularly for the grids with moderate emission levels, implying the improved emission estimation for small and medium industrial plants by this work. Three inventories (national, regional, and provincial by this work) were applied in the Models-3/Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) system for southern Jiangsu October 2012, to evaluate the model performances with different emission inputs. The best agreement between available ground observation and simulation was found when the provincial inventory was applied, indicated by the smallest normalized mean bias (NMB) and normalized mean

Emissions of CO2 and criteria air pollutants from mobile sources: Insights from integrating real-time traffic data into local air quality models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gately, Conor; Hutyra, Lucy

2016-04-01

In 2013, on-road mobile sources were responsible for over 26% of U.S. fossil fuel carbon dioxide (ffCO2) emissions, and over 34% of both CO and NOx emissions. However, accurate representations of these emissions at the scale of urban areas remains a difficult challenge. Quantifying emissions at the scale of local streets and highways is critical to provide policymakers with the information needed to develop appropriate mitigation strategies and to guide research into the underlying process that drive mobile emissions. Quantification of vehicle ffCO2 emissions at high spatial and temporal resolutions requires a detailed synthesis of data on traffic activity, roadway attributes, fleet characteristics and vehicle speeds. To accurately characterize criteria air pollutant emissions, information on local meteorology is also critical, as the temperature and relative humidity can affect emissions rates of these pollutants by as much as 400%. As the health impacts of air pollutants are more severe for residents living in close proximity (<500m) to road sources, it is critical that inventories of these emissions rely on highly resolved source data to locate potential hot-spots of exposure. In this study we utilize real-time GPS estimates of vehicle speeds to estimate ffCO2 and criteria air pollutant emissions at multiple spatial and temporal scales across a large metropolitan area. We observe large variations in emissions associated with diurnal activity patterns, congestion, sporting and civic events, and weather anomalies. We discuss the advantages and challenges of using highly-resolved source data to quantify emissions at a roadway scale, and the potential of this methodology for forecasting the air quality impacts of changes in infrastructure, urban planning policies, and regional climate.

Emissions of CO2 and criteria air pollutants from mobile sources: Insights from integrating real-time traffic data into local air quality models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gately, C.; Hutyra, L.; Sue Wing, I.; Peterson, S.; Janetos, A.

2015-12-01

In 2013, on-road mobile sources were responsible for over 26% of U.S. fossil fuel carbon dioxide (ffCO2) emissions, and over 34% of both CO and NOx emissions. However, accurate representations of these emissions at the scale of urban areas remains a difficult challenge. Quantifying emissions at the scale of local streets and highways is critical to provide policymakers with the information needed to develop appropriate mitigation strategies and to guide research into the underlying process that drive mobile emissions. Quantification of vehicle ffCO2 emissions at high spatial and temporal resolutions requires a detailed synthesis of data on traffic activity, roadway attributes, fleet characteristics and vehicle speeds. To accurately characterize criteria air pollutant emissions, information on local meteorology is also critical, as the temperature and relative humidity can affect emissions rates of these pollutants by as much as 400%. As the health impacts of air pollutants are more severe for residents living in close proximity (<500m) to road sources, it is critical that inventories of these emissions rely on highly resolved source data to locate potential hot-spots of exposure. In this study we utilize real-time GPS estimates of vehicle speeds to estimate ffCO2 and criteria air pollutant emissions at multiple spatial and temporal scales across a large metropolitan area. We observe large variations in emissions associated with diurnal activity patterns, congestion, sporting and civic events, and weather anomalies. We discuss the advantages and challenges of using highly-resolved source data to quantify emissions at a roadway scale, and the potential of this methodology for forecasting the air quality impacts of changes in infrastructure, urban planning policies, and regional climate.

Evaluation of the impact of SO₂ and NO₂ emissions on the ambient air-quality in the Çan-Bayramiç region of northwest Turkey during 2007-2008.

PubMed

Ozkurt, Nesimi; Sari, Deniz; Akalin, Nuray; Hilmioglu, Bilgin

2013-07-01

The characterization and assessment of air-quality in this region are essential steps for the implementation of the "Clean Air Action Plan" as this is set by the Turkish Regulation on Ambient Air-Quality Assessment and Management. This study area intends to shed a light on use of modeling tools as an alternative method for the assessment of local atmospheric pollution and the determination of the importance of local emissions. This modeling approach can be also used for the consistent geographic representation of air-quality concentration as well as for assessing the future air-quality condition after the implementation of emission reduction measures in a certain area. With this article we evaluate the impact of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide emissions on the ambient air-quality in the Çan-Bayramiç region of Turkey. The emission rates of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were calculated by using the CALPUFF model. The concentration of these pollutants had also been monitored at ten air-quality locations during 2007-2008 in the research area. The measured data were also utilized for testing the model performance. Results showed that the air-quality in this important rural region of Turkey can be evaluated effectively by using the current numerical modeling system. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

New Zealand traffic and local air quality.

PubMed

Irving, Paul; Moncrieff, Ian

2004-12-01

Since 1996 the New Zealand Ministry of Transport (MOT) has been investigating the effects of road transport on local air quality. The outcome has been the government's Vehicle Fleet Emissions Control Strategy (VFECS). This is a programme of measures designed to assist with the improvement in local air quality, and especially in the appropriate management of transport sector emissions. Key to the VFECS has been the development of tools to assess and predict the contribution of vehicle emissions to local air pollution, in a given urban situation. Determining how vehicles behave as an emissions source, and more importantly, how the combined traffic flows contribute to the total emissions within a given airshed location was an important element of the programme. The actual emissions output of a vehicle is more than that determined by a certified emission standard, at the point of manufacture. It is the engine technology's general performance capability, in conjunction with the local driving conditions, that determines its actual emissions output. As vehicles are a mobile emissions source, to understand the effect of vehicle technology, it is necessary to work with the average fleet performance, or "fleet-weighted average emissions rate". This is the unit measure of performance of the general traffic flow that could be passing through a given road corridor or network, as an average, over time. The flow composition can be representative of the national fleet population, but also may feature particular vehicle types in a given locality, thereby have a different emissions 'signature'. A summary of the range of work that has been completed as part of the VFECS programme is provided. The NZ Vehicle Fleet Emissions Model and the derived data set available in the NZ Traffic Emission Rates provide a significant step forward in the consistent analysis of practical, sustainable vehicle emissions policy and air-quality management in New Zealand.

Air quality concerns of unconventional oil and natural gas production.

PubMed

Field, R A; Soltis, J; Murphy, S

2014-05-01

Increased use of hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") in unconventional oil and natural gas (O & NG) development from coal, sandstone, and shale deposits in the United States (US) has created environmental concerns over water and air quality impacts. In this perspective we focus on how the production of unconventional O & NG affects air quality. We pay particular attention to shale gas as this type of development has transformed natural gas production in the US and is set to become important in the rest of the world. A variety of potential emission sources can be spread over tens of thousands of acres of a production area and this complicates assessment of local and regional air quality impacts. We outline upstream activities including drilling, completion and production. After contrasting the context for development activities in the US and Europe we explore the use of inventories for determining air emissions. Location and scale of analysis is important, as O & NG production emissions in some US basins account for nearly 100% of the pollution burden, whereas in other basins these activities make up less than 10% of total air emissions. While emission inventories are beneficial to quantifying air emissions from a particular source category, they do have limitations when determining air quality impacts from a large area. Air monitoring is essential, not only to validate inventories, but also to measure impacts. We describe the use of measurements, including ground-based mobile monitoring, network stations, airborne, and satellite platforms for measuring air quality impacts. We identify nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC), ozone, hazardous air pollutants (HAP), and methane as pollutants of concern related to O & NG activities. These pollutants can contribute to air quality concerns and they may be regulated in ambient air, due to human health or climate forcing concerns. Close to well pads, emissions are concentrated and exposure to a wide range of

Characterization of Emissions and Air Quality Modeling for Predicting the Impacts of Prescribed Burns at DoD Lands

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

Sum of NOx and its oxidation products NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration O3 Ozone OAQPS Office of Air Quality Planning and...Emission related parameters such as emission strength, timing, and vertical distribution (plume fraction penetrating into the free troposphere ) proved to...emissions and the effect of PB on ozone levels in Columbus-Phenix City metropolitan areas are also of concern. Forest fires produce nitrogen oxides

The Regional Impacts of Cooking and Heating Emissions on Ambient Air Quality and Disease Burden in China.

PubMed

Archer-Nicholls, Scott; Carter, Ellison; Kumar, Rajesh; Xiao, Qingyang; Liu, Yang; Frostad, Joseph; Forouzanfar, Mohammad H; Cohen, Aaron; Brauer, Michael; Baumgartner, Jill; Wiedinmyer, Christine

2016-09-06

Exposure to air pollution is a major risk factor globally and particularly in Asia. A large portion of air pollutants result from residential combustion of solid biomass and coal fuel for cooking and heating. This study presents a regional modeling sensitivity analysis to estimate the impact of residential emissions from cooking and heating activities on the burden of disease at a provincial level in China. Model surface PM2.5 fields are shown to compare well when evaluated against surface air quality measurements. Scenarios run without residential sector and residential heating emissions are used in conjunction with the Global Burden of Disease 2013 framework to calculate the proportion of deaths and disability adjusted life years attributable to PM2.5 exposure from residential emissions. Overall, we estimate that 341 000 (306 000-370 000; 95% confidence interval) premature deaths in China are attributable to residential combustion emissions, approximately a third of the deaths attributable to all ambient PM2.5 pollution, with 159 000 (142 000-172 000) and 182 000 (163 000-197 000) premature deaths from heating and cooking emissions, respectively. Our findings emphasize the need to mitigate emissions from both residential heating and cooking sources to reduce the health impacts of ambient air pollution in China.

Air Quality Response Modeling for Decision Support | Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Air quality management relies on photochemical models to predict the responses of pollutant concentrations to changes in emissions. Such modeling is especially important for secondary pollutants such as ozone and fine particulate matter which vary nonlinearly with changes in emissions. Numerous techniques for probing pollutant-emission relationships within photochemical models have been developed and deployed for a variety of decision support applications. However, atmospheric response modeling remains complicated by the challenge of validating sensitivity results against observable data. This manuscript reviews the state of the science of atmospheric response modeling as well as efforts to characterize the accuracy and uncertainty of sensitivity results. The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL′s) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD′s research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the Nation′s air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being use

DYNAMIC EVALUATION OF REGIONAL AIR QUALITY MODELS: ASSESSING CHANGES TO O 3 STEMMING FROM CHANGES IN EMISSIONS AND METEOROLOGY

EPA Science Inventory

Regional-scale air quality models are used to estimate the response of air pollutants to potential emission control strategies as part of the decision-making process. Traditionally, the model predicted pollutant concentrations are evaluated for the “base case” to assess a model’s...

Impacts of transportation sector emissions on future U.S. air quality in a changing climate. Part II: Air quality projections and the interplay between emissions and climate change.

PubMed

Campbell, Patrick; Zhang, Yang; Yan, Fang; Lu, Zifeng; Streets, David

2018-07-01

In Part II of this work we present the results of the downscaled offline Weather Research and Forecasting/Community Multiscale Air Quality (WRF/CMAQ) model, included in the "Technology Driver Model" (TDM) approach to future U.S. air quality projections (2046-2050) compared to a current-year period (2001-2005), and the interplay between future emission and climate changes. By 2046-2050, there are widespread decreases in future concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x  = NO + NO 2 ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH 3 ), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) due mainly to decreasing on-road vehicle (ORV) emissions near urban centers as well as decreases in other transportation modes that include non-road engines (NRE). However, there are widespread increases in daily maximum 8-hr ozone (O 3 ) across the U.S., which are due to enhanced greenhouse gases (GHG) including methane (CH 4 ) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A1B scenario, and isolated areas of larger reduction in transportation emissions of NO x compared to that of VOCs over regions with VOC-limited O 3 chemistry. Other notable future changes are reduced haze and improved visibility, increased primary organic to elemental carbon ratio, decreases in PM 2.5 and its species, decreases and increases in dry deposition of SO 2 and O 3 , respectively, and decreases in total nitrogen (TN) deposition. There is a tendency for transportation emission and CH 4 changes to dominate the increases in O 3 , while climate change may either enhance or mitigate these increases in the west or east U.S., respectively. Climate change also decreases PM 2.5 in the future. Other variable changes exhibit stronger susceptibility to either emission (e.g., CO, NO x , and TN deposition) or climate changes (e.g., VOC, NH 3 , SO 2 , and total sulfate deposition), which also have a strong

Modeling the Dynamic Change of Air Quality and its Response to Emission Trends

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Wei

This thesis focuses on evaluating atmospheric chemistry and transport models' capability in simulating the chemistry and dynamics of power plant plumes, evaluating their strengths and weaknesses in predicting air quality trends at regional scales, and exploring air quality trends in an urban area. First, the Community Mutlti-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is applied to simulate the physical and chemical evolution of power plant plumes (PPPs) during the second Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) in 2006. SO2 and NOy were observed to be rapidly removed from PPPs on cloudy days but not on cloud-free days, indicating efficient aqueous processing of these compounds in clouds, while the model fails to capture the rapid loss of SO2 and NOy in some plumes on the cloudy day. Adjustments to cloud liquid water content (QC) and the default metal concentrations in the cloud module could explain some of the SO 2 loss while NOy in the model was insensitive to QC. Second, CMAQ is applied to simulate the ozone (O3) change after the NO x SIP Call and mobile emission controls in the eastern U.S. from 2002 to 2006. Observed downward changes in 8-hour O3 concentrations in the NOx SIP Call region were under-predicted by 26%--66%. The under-prediction in O3 improvements could be alleviated by 5%--31% by constraining NOx emissions in each year based on observed NOx concentrations while temperature biases or uncertainties in chemical reactions had minor impact on simulated O3 trends. Third, changes in ozone production in the Houston area is assessed with airborne measurements from TexAQS 2000 and 2006. Simultaneous declines in nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) and highly reactive Volatile Organic Compounds (HRVOCs) were observed in the Houston Ship Channel (HSC). The reduction in HRVOCs led to the decline in total radical concentration by 20-50%. Rapid ozone production rates in the Houston area declined by 40-50% from 2000 to 2006, to which the reduction in NOx and HRVOCs had the similar

Impact of reduced mass of light commercial vehicles on fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, air quality, and socio-economic costs.

PubMed

Cecchel, S; Chindamo, D; Turrini, E; Carnevale, C; Cornacchia, G; Gadola, M; Panvini, A; Volta, M; Ferrario, D; Golimbioschi, R

2018-02-01

This study presents a modelling system to evaluate the impact of weight reduction in light commercial vehicles with diesel engines on air quality and greenhouse gas emissions. The PROPS model assesses the emissions of one vehicle in the aforementioned category and its corresponding reduced-weight version. The results serve as an input to the RIAT+ tool, an air quality integrated assessment modelling system. This paper applies the tools in a case study in the Lombardy region (Italy) and discusses the input data pre-processing, the PROPS-RIAT+ modelling system runs, and the results. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Improving Indoor Air Quality

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Usually the most effective way to improve indoor air quality is to eliminate individual sources of pollution or to reduce their emissions. Some sources, like those that contain asbestos, can be sealed or enclosed.

Updating sea spray aerosol emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model version 5.0.2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gantt, B.; Kelly, J. T.; Bash, J. O.

2015-11-01

Sea spray aerosols (SSAs) impact the particle mass concentration and gas-particle partitioning in coastal environments, with implications for human and ecosystem health. Model evaluations of SSA emissions have mainly focused on the global scale, but regional-scale evaluations are also important due to the localized impact of SSAs on atmospheric chemistry near the coast. In this study, SSA emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model were updated to enhance the fine-mode size distribution, include sea surface temperature (SST) dependency, and reduce surf-enhanced emissions. Predictions from the updated CMAQ model and those of the previous release version, CMAQv5.0.2, were evaluated using several coastal and national observational data sets in the continental US. The updated emissions generally reduced model underestimates of sodium, chloride, and nitrate surface concentrations for coastal sites in the Bay Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment (BRACE) near Tampa, Florida. Including SST dependency to the SSA emission parameterization led to increased sodium concentrations in the southeastern US and decreased concentrations along parts of the Pacific coast and northeastern US. The influence of sodium on the gas-particle partitioning of nitrate resulted in higher nitrate particle concentrations in many coastal urban areas due to increased condensation of nitric acid in the updated simulations, potentially affecting the predicted nitrogen deposition in sensitive ecosystems. Application of the updated SSA emissions to the California Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change (CalNex) study period resulted in a modest improvement in the predicted surface concentration of sodium and nitrate at several central and southern California coastal sites. This update of SSA emissions enabled a more realistic simulation of the atmospheric chemistry in coastal environments where marine air mixes with urban pollution.

Development of a high-resolution emission inventory and its evaluation and application through air quality modeling for Jiangsu Province, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Yaduan; Zhao, Yu; Mao, Pan; Zhang, Qiang; Zhang, Jie; Qiu, Liping; Yang, Yang

2017-01-01

Improved emission inventories combining detailed source information are crucial for better understanding of the atmospheric chemistry and effectively making emission control policies using air quality simulation, particularly at regional or local scales. With the downscaled inventories directly applied, chemical transport models might not be able to reproduce the authentic evolution of atmospheric pollution processes at small spatial scales. Using the bottom-up approach, a high-resolution emission inventory was developed for Jiangsu China, including SO2, NOx, CO, NH3, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), total suspended particulates (TSP), PM10, PM2.5, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), and CO2. The key parameters relevant to emission estimation for over 6000 industrial sources were investigated, compiled, and revised at plant level based on various data sources and on-site surveys. As a result, the emission fractions of point sources were significantly elevated for most species. The improvement of this provincial inventory was evaluated through comparisons with other inventories at larger spatial scales, using satellite observation and air quality modeling. Compared to the downscaled Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), the spatial distribution of NOx emissions in our provincial inventory was more consistent with summer tropospheric NO2 VCDs observed from OMI, particularly for the grids with moderate emission levels, implying the improved emission estimation for small and medium industrial plants by this work. Three inventories (national, regional, and provincial by this work) were applied in the Models-3 Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) system for southern Jiangsu October 2012, to evaluate the model performances with different emission inputs. The best agreement between available ground observation and simulation was found when the provincial inventory was applied, indicated by the smallest normalized mean bias (NMB) and normalized

Impact of the 2008 Global Recession on Air Quality over the United States: Implications for Surface Ozone Levels from Changes in NOx Emissions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tong, Daniel; Pan, Li; Chen, Weiwei; Lamsal, Lok; Lee, Pius; Tang, Youhua; Kim, Hyuncheol; Kondragunta, Shobha; Stajner, Ivanka

2016-01-01

Satellite and ground observations detected large variability in nitrogen oxides (NOx) during the 2008 economic recession, but the impact of the recession on air quality has not been quantified. This study combines observed NOx trends and a regional chemical transport model to quantify the impact of the recession on surface ozone (O3) levels over the continental United States. The impact is quantified by simulating O3 concentrations under two emission scenarios: business-as-usual (BAU) and recession. In the BAU case, the emission projection from the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule is used to estimate the would-be NOx emission level in 2011. In the recession case, the actual NO2 trends observed from Air Quality System ground monitors and the Ozone Monitoring Instrument on the Aura satellite are used to obtain realistic changes in NOx emissions. The model prediction with the recession effect agrees better with ground O3 observations over time and space than the prediction with the BAU emission. The results show that the recession caused a 12ppbv decrease in surface O3 concentration over the eastern United States, a slight increase (0.51ppbv) over the Rocky Mountain region, and mixed changes in the Pacific West. The gain in air quality benefits during the recession, however, could be quickly offset by the much slower emission reduction rate during the post-recession period.

Characterization of Early Stage Marcellus Shale Development Atmospheric Emissions and Regional Air Quality Impacts using Fast Mobile Measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goetz, J. D.; Floerchinger, C. R.; Fortner, E.; Wormhoult, J.; Massoli, P.; Herndon, S. C.; Kolb, C. E., Jr.; Knighton, W. B.; Shaw, S. L.; Knipping, E. M.; DeCarlo, P. F.

2014-12-01

The Marcellus shale is the largest shale gas resource in the United States and is found in the Appalachian region. Rapid large-scale development, and the scarcity of direct air measurements make the impact of Marcellus shale development on local and regional air quality and the global climate highly uncertain. Air pollutant and greenhouse gas emission sources include transitory emission from well pad development as well as persistent sources including the processing and distribution of natural gas. In 2012, the Aerodyne Inc. Mobile Laboratory was equipped with a suite of real-time (~ 1 Hz) instrumentation to measure source emissions associated with Marcellus shale development and to characterize regional air quality in the Marcellus basin. The Aerodyne Inc. Mobile Laboratory was equipped to measure methane, ethane, N2O (tracer gas), C2H2 (tracer gas), CO2, CO, NOx, aerosols (number, mass, and composition), and VOC including light aromatic compounds and constituents of natural gas. Site-specific emissions from Marcellus shale development were quantified using tracer release ratio methods. Emissions of sub-micron aerosol mass and VOC were generally not observed at any tracer release site, although particle number concentrations were often enhanced. Compressor stations were found to have the largest emission rates of combustion products with NOx emissions ranging from 0.01 to 1.6 tons per day (tpd) and CO emissions ranging from 0.03 to 0.42 tpd. Transient sources, including a well site in the drill phase, were observed to be large emitters of natural gas. The largest methane emissions observed in the study were at a flowback well completion with a value of 7.7 tpd. Production well pads were observed to have the lowest emissions of natural gas and the emission of combustion products was only observed at one of three well pads investigated. Regional background measurements of all measured species were made while driving between tracer release sites and while stationary

Probe into Gaseous Pollution and Assessment of Air Quality Benefit under Sector Dependent Emission Control Strategies over Megacities in Yangtze River Delta, China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dong, Xinyi; Gao, Yang; Fu, Joshua S.

On February 29th 2012, China published its new National Ambient Air Quality Standard (CH-NAAQS) aiming at revising the standards and measurements for both gaseous pollutants including ozone (O3), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), and also particle pollutants including PM10 and PM2.5. In order to understand the air pollution status regarding this new standard, the integrated MM5/CMAQ modeling system was applied over Yangtze River Delta (YRD) within this study to examine the criteria gaseous pollutants listed in the new CH-NAAQS. Sensitivity simulations were also conducted to assess the responses of gaseous pollutants under 8 different sector-dependent emission reduction scenariosmore » in order to evaluate the potential control strategies. 2006 was selected as the simulation year in order to review the air quality condition at the beginning of China’s 11th Five-Year-Plan (FYP, from 2006 to 2010), and also compared with air quality status in 2010 as the end of 11th FYP to probe into the effectiveness of the national emission control efforts. Base case simulation showed distinct seasonal variation for gaseous pollutants: SO2, and NO2 were found to have higher surface concentrations in winter while O3 was found to have higher concentrations in spring and summer than other seasons. According to the analyses focused on 3 megacities within YRD, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Hangzhou, we found different air quality conditions among the cities: NO2 was the primary pollutant that having the largest number of days exceeding the CH-NAAQS daily standard (80 μg/m3) in Shanghai (59 days) and Nanjing (27 days); SO2 was the primary pollutant with maximum number of days exceeding daily air quality standard (150 μg/m3) in Hangzhou (28 days), while O3 exceeding the daily maximum 8-hour standard (160 μg/m3) for relatively fewer days in all the three cities (9 days in Shanghai, 14 days in Nanjing, and 11 days in Hangzhou). Simulation results from predefined potential

Determining the Uncertainties in Prescribed Burn Emissions Through Comparison of Satellite Estimates to Ground-based Estimates and Air Quality Model Evaluations in Southeastern US

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odman, M. T.; Hu, Y.; Russell, A. G.

2016-12-01

Prescribed burning is practiced throughout the US, and most widely in the Southeast, for the purpose of maintaining and improving the ecosystem, and reducing the wildfire risk. However, prescribed burn emissions contribute significantly to the of trace gas and particulate matter loads in the atmosphere. In places where air quality is already stressed by other anthropogenic emissions, prescribed burns can lead to major health and environmental problems. Air quality modeling efforts are under way to assess the impacts of prescribed burn emissions. Operational forecasts of the impacts are also emerging for use in dynamic management of air quality as well as the burns. Unfortunately, large uncertainties exist in the process of estimating prescribed burn emissions and these uncertainties limit the accuracy of the burn impact predictions. Prescribed burn emissions are estimated by using either ground-based information or satellite observations. When there is sufficient local information about the burn area, the types of fuels, their consumption amounts, and the progression of the fire, ground-based estimates are more accurate. In the absence of such information satellites remain as the only reliable source for emission estimation. To determine the level of uncertainty in prescribed burn emissions, we compared estimates derived from a burn permit database and other ground-based information to the estimates by the Biomass Burning Emissions Product derived from a constellation of NOAA and NASA satellites. Using these emissions estimates we conducted simulations with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and predicted trace gas and particulate matter concentrations throughout the Southeast for two consecutive burn seasons (2015 and 2016). In this presentation, we will compare model predicted concentrations to measurements at monitoring stations and evaluate if the differences are commensurate with our emission uncertainty estimates. We will also investigate if

Reduced-form air quality modeling for community-scale ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Transportation plays an important role in modern society, but its impact on air quality has been shown to have significant adverse effects on public health. Numerous reviews (HEI, CDC, WHO) summarizing findings of hundreds of studies conducted mainly in the last decade, conclude that exposures to traffic emissions near roads are a public health concern. The Community LINE Source Model (C-LINE) is a web-based model designed to inform the community user of local air quality impacts due to roadway vehicles in their region of interest using a simplified modeling approach. Reduced-form air quality modeling is a useful tool for examining what-if scenarios of changes in emissions, such as those due to changes in traffic volume, fleet mix, or vehicle speed. Examining various scenarios of air quality impacts in this way can identify potentially at-risk populations located near roadways, and the effects that a change in traffic activity may have on them. C-LINE computes dispersion of primary mobile source pollutants using meteorological conditions for the region of interest and computes air-quality concentrations corresponding to these selected conditions. C-LINE functionality has been expanded to model emissions from port-related activities (e.g. ships, trucks, cranes, etc.) in a reduced-form modeling system for local-scale near-port air quality analysis. This presentation describes the Community modeling tools C-LINE and C-PORT that are intended to be used by local gove

The impacts of rapid land use changes on regional climate, air quality and atmospheric sensitivities to emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yim, S. H. L.; Wong, M.; Wang, Y.; Chan, A.

2016-12-01

The Pearl River Delta region has undergone a rapid urbanization in recent several decades. Literature has found significant impacts on climate and air quality. Previous studies however mainly investigated the impacts on climate and ozone concentration in a relatively short time period. None of them investigated the monthly variation in impacts on ozone (O3) and fine particulate matters (PM2.5), and the atmospheric sensitivity to emissions, which are particularly important for atmospheric scientists and policy makers. In this study, we used the state-of-the-art atmospheric regional models with the technique of high-order decoupled direct method to quantify the impacts of urbanization on not only the regional climate and O3 concentration but also the O3 sensitivities to emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compound. Our preliminary results show that the urbanization shifts the energy budget from latent heat to sensible heat and ground heat storage. These changes cause an increase in ground level temperature and planetary boundary layer with a maximum annual change of 1.7ºC and 330m, respectively, and a reduction of relative humidity and wind speed up to 9.6% and 0.5m/s, respectively. Such changes are favorable to air pollution. Compared to the two land-use scenarios, we found that O3 increases by 14.2%, while PM2.5 decreases by 16.9% in urban areas. Due to urbanization, the O3 sensitivities to nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compound (VOC) change by 2.4% and 47.5%, respectively. This indicates that the atmospheric response in the region tends to be more sensitive to emission changes after urbanization. Our findings pinpoint that urbanization can significantly affect not only the regional climate and air quality but also the atmospheric responses to emission changes, highlighting the significant interactions between land-use policies, and climate and air quality policies.

Updating sea spray aerosol emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model version 5.0.2

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The uploaded data consists of the BRACE Na aerosol observations paired with CMAQ model output, the updated model's parameterization of sea salt aerosol emission size distribution, and the model's parameterization of the sea salt emission factor as a function of sea surface temperature. This dataset is associated with the following publication:Gantt , B., J. Kelly , and J. Bash. Updating sea spray aerosol emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model version 5.0.2. Geoscientific Model Development. Copernicus Publications, Katlenburg-Lindau, GERMANY, 8: 3733-3746, (2015).

Estimating criteria pollutant emissions using the California Regional Multisector Air Quality Emissions (CA-REMARQUE) model v1.0

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zapata, Christina B.; Yang, Chris; Yeh, Sonia; Ogden, Joan; Kleeman, Michael J.

2018-04-01

The California Regional Multisector Air Quality Emissions (CA-REMARQUE) model is developed to predict changes to criteria pollutant emissions inventories in California in response to sophisticated emissions control programs implemented to achieve deep greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reductions. Two scenarios for the year 2050 act as the starting point for calculations: a business-as-usual (BAU) scenario and an 80 % GHG reduction (GHG-Step) scenario. Each of these scenarios was developed with an energy economic model to optimize costs across the entire California economy and so they include changes in activity, fuels, and technology across economic sectors. Separate algorithms are developed to estimate emissions of criteria pollutants (or their precursors) that are consistent with the future GHG scenarios for the following economic sectors: (i) on-road, (ii) rail and off-road, (iii) marine and aviation, (iv) residential and commercial, (v) electricity generation, and (vi) biorefineries. Properly accounting for new technologies involving electrification, biofuels, and hydrogen plays a central role in these calculations. Critically, criteria pollutant emissions do not decrease uniformly across all sectors of the economy. Emissions of certain criteria pollutants (or their precursors) increase in some sectors as part of the overall optimization within each of the scenarios. This produces nonuniform changes to criteria pollutant emissions in close proximity to heavily populated regions when viewed at 4 km spatial resolution with implications for exposure to air pollution for those populations. As a further complication, changing fuels and technology also modify the composition of reactive organic gas emissions and the size and composition of particulate matter emissions. This is most notably apparent through a comparison of emissions reductions for different size fractions of primary particulate matter. Primary PM2.5 emissions decrease by 4 % in the GHG-Step scenario vs

A cost-efficiency and health benefit approach to improve urban air quality.

PubMed

Miranda, A I; Ferreira, J; Silveira, C; Relvas, H; Duque, L; Roebeling, P; Lopes, M; Costa, S; Monteiro, A; Gama, C; Sá, E; Borrego, C; Teixeira, J P

2016-11-01

When ambient air quality standards established in the EU Directive 2008/50/EC are exceeded, Member States are obliged to develop and implement Air Quality Plans (AQP) to improve air quality and health. Notwithstanding the achievements in emission reductions and air quality improvement, additional efforts need to be undertaken to improve air quality in a sustainable way - i.e. through a cost-efficiency approach. This work was developed in the scope of the recently concluded MAPLIA project "Moving from Air Pollution to Local Integrated Assessment", and focuses on the definition and assessment of emission abatement measures and their associated costs, air quality and health impacts and benefits by means of air quality modelling tools, health impact functions and cost-efficiency analysis. The MAPLIA system was applied to the Grande Porto urban area (Portugal), addressing PM10 and NOx as the most important pollutants in the region. Four different measures to reduce PM10 and NOx emissions were defined and characterized in terms of emissions and implementation costs, and combined into 15 emission scenarios, simulated by the TAPM air quality modelling tool. Air pollutant concentration fields were then used to estimate health benefits in terms of avoided costs (external costs), using dose-response health impact functions. Results revealed that, among the 15 scenarios analysed, the scenario including all 4 measures lead to a total net benefit of 0.3M€·y(-1). The largest net benefit is obtained for the scenario considering the conversion of 50% of open fire places into heat recovery wood stoves. Although the implementation costs of this measure are high, the benefits outweigh the costs. Research outcomes confirm that the MAPLIA system is useful for policy decision support on air quality improvement strategies, and could be applied to other urban areas where AQP need to be implemented and monitored. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Modeled Full-Flight Aircraft Emissions Impacts on Air Quality and Their Sensitivity to Grid Resolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vennam, L. P.; Vizuete, W.; Talgo, K.; Omary, M.; Binkowski, F. S.; Xing, J.; Mathur, R.; Arunachalam, S.

2017-12-01

Aviation is a unique anthropogenic source with four-dimensional varying emissions, peaking at cruise altitudes (9-12 km). Aircraft emission budgets in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere region and their potential impacts on upper troposphere and surface air quality are not well understood. Our key objective is to use chemical transport models (with prescribed meteorology) to predict aircraft emissions impacts on the troposphere and surface air quality. We quantified the importance of including full-flight intercontinental emissions and increased horizontal grid resolution. The full-flight aviation emissions in the Northern Hemisphere contributed 1.3% (mean, min-max: 0.46, 0.3-0.5 ppbv) and 0.2% (0.013, 0.004-0.02 μg/m3) of total O3 and PM2.5 concentrations at the surface, with Europe showing slightly higher impacts (1.9% (O3 0.69, 0.5-0.85 ppbv) and 0.5% (PM2.5 0.03, 0.01-0.05 μg/m3)) than North America (NA) and East Asia. We computed seasonal aviation-attributable mass flux vertical profiles and aviation perturbations along isentropic surfaces to quantify the transport of cruise altitude emissions at the hemispheric scale. The comparison of coarse (108 × 108 km2) and fine (36 × 36 km2) grid resolutions in NA showed 70 times and 13 times higher aviation impacts for O3 and PM2.5 in coarser domain. These differences are mainly due to the inability of the coarse resolution simulation to capture nonlinearities in chemical processes near airport locations and other urban areas. Future global studies quantifying aircraft contributions should consider model resolution and perhaps use finer scales near major aviation source regions.

Modeled Full-Flight Aircraft Emissions Impacts on Air Quality and Their Sensitivity to Grid Resolution

PubMed Central

Vennam, L. P.; Vizuete, W.; Talgo, K.; Omary, M.; Binkowski, F. S.; Xing, J.; Mathur, R.; Arunachalam, S.

2018-01-01

Aviation is a unique anthropogenic source with four-dimensional varying emissions, peaking at cruise altitudes (9–12 km). Aircraft emission budgets in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere region and their potential impacts on upper troposphere and surface air quality are not well understood. Our key objective is to use chemical transport models (with prescribed meteorology) to predict aircraft emissions impacts on the troposphere and surface air quality. We quantified the importance of including full-flight intercontinental emissions and increased horizontal grid resolution. The full-flight aviation emissions in the Northern Hemisphere contributed ~1.3% (mean, min–max: 0.46, 0.3–0.5 ppbv) and 0.2% (0.013, 0.004–0.02 μg/m3) of total O3 and PM2.5 concentrations at the surface, with Europe showing slightly higher impacts (1.9% (O3 0.69, 0.5–0.85 ppbv) and 0.5% (PM2.5 0.03, 0.01–0.05 μg/m3)) than North America (NA) and East Asia. We computed seasonal aviation-attributable mass flux vertical profiles and aviation perturbations along isentropic surfaces to quantify the transport of cruise altitude emissions at the hemispheric scale. The comparison of coarse (108 × 108 km2) and fine (36 × 36 km2) grid resolutions in NA showed ~70 times and ~13 times higher aviation impacts for O3 and PM2.5 in coarser domain. These differences are mainly due to the inability of the coarse resolution simulation to capture nonlinearities in chemical processes near airport locations and other urban areas. Future global studies quantifying aircraft contributions should consider model resolution and perhaps use finer scales near major aviation source regions. PMID:29707471

Modeled Full-Flight Aircraft Emissions Impacts on Air Quality and Their Sensitivity to Grid Resolution.

PubMed

Vennam, L P; Vizuete, W; Talgo, K; Omary, M; Binkowski, F S; Xing, J; Mathur, R; Arunachalam, S

2017-01-01

Aviation is a unique anthropogenic source with four-dimensional varying emissions, peaking at cruise altitudes (9-12 km). Aircraft emission budgets in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere region and their potential impacts on upper troposphere and surface air quality are not well understood. Our key objective is to use chemical transport models (with prescribed meteorology) to predict aircraft emissions impacts on the troposphere and surface air quality. We quantified the importance of including full-flight intercontinental emissions and increased horizontal grid resolution. The full-flight aviation emissions in the Northern Hemisphere contributed ~1.3% (mean, min-max: 0.46, 0.3-0.5 ppbv) and 0.2% (0.013, 0.004-0.02 μg/m 3 ) of total O 3 and PM 2.5 concentrations at the surface, with Europe showing slightly higher impacts (1.9% (O 3 0.69, 0.5-0.85 ppbv) and 0.5% (PM 2.5 0.03, 0.01-0.05 μg/m 3 )) than North America (NA) and East Asia. We computed seasonal aviation-attributable mass flux vertical profiles and aviation perturbations along isentropic surfaces to quantify the transport of cruise altitude emissions at the hemispheric scale. The comparison of coarse (108 × 108 km 2 ) and fine (36 × 36 km 2 ) grid resolutions in NA showed ~70 times and ~13 times higher aviation impacts for O 3 and PM 2.5 in coarser domain. These differences are mainly due to the inability of the coarse resolution simulation to capture nonlinearities in chemical processes near airport locations and other urban areas. Future global studies quantifying aircraft contributions should consider model resolution and perhaps use finer scales near major aviation source regions.

The congestion mitigation and air quality improvement program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-01-01

Clean air is an important part of a healthy environment. Unfortunately, many industrial and transportation activities that sustain our economy can also produce air pollutant emissions as by-products, degrading our air quality. Safeguarding our air fr...

Assessment of regional air quality resulting from emission control in the Pearl River Delta region, southern China.

PubMed

Wang, N; Lyu, X P; Deng, X J; Guo, H; Deng, T; Li, Y; Yin, C Q; Li, F; Wang, S Q

2016-12-15

To evaluate the impact of emission control measures on the air quality in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of South China, statistic data including atmospheric observations, emissions and energy consumptions during 2006-2014 were analyzed, and a Weather Research and Forecasting - Community Multi-scale Air Quality (WRF-CMAQ) model was used for various scenario simulations. Although energy consumption doubled from 2004 to 2014 and vehicle number significantly increased from 2006 to 2014, ambient SO 2 , NO 2 and PM 10 were reduced by 66%, 20% and 24%, respectively, mainly due to emissions control efforts. In contrast, O 3 increased by 19%. Model simulations of three emission control scenarios, including a baseline (a case in 2010), a CAP (a case in 2020 assuming control strength followed past control tendency) and a REF (a case in 2020 referring to the strict control measures based on recent policy/plans) were conducted to investigate the variations of air pollutants to the changes in NO x , VOCs and NH 3 emissions. Although the area mean concentrations of NO x , nitrate and PM 2.5 decreased under both NO x CAP (reduced by 1.8%, 0.7% and 0.2%, respectively) and NO x REF (reduced by 7.2%, 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively), a rising of PM 2.5 was found in certain areas as reducing NO x emissions elevated the atmospheric oxidizability. Furthermore, scenarios with NH 3 emission reductions showed that nitrate was sensitive to NH 3 emissions, with decreasing percentages of 0-10.6% and 0-48% under CAP and REF, respectively. Controlling emissions of VOCs reduced PM 2.5 in the southwestern PRD where severe photochemical pollution frequently occurred. It was also found that O 3 formation in PRD was generally VOCs-limited while turned to be NO x -limited in the afternoon (13:00-17:00), suggesting that cutting VOCs emissions would reduce the overall O 3 concentrations while mitigating NO x emissions in the afternoon could reduce the peak O 3 levels. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B

Impact of emissions from natural gas production facilities on ambient air quality in the Barnett Shale area: a pilot study.

PubMed

Zielinska, Barbara; Campbell, Dave; Samburova, Vera

2014-12-01

Rapid and extensive development of shale gas resources in the Barnett Shale region of Texas in recent years has created concerns about potential environmental impacts on water and air quality. The purpose of this study was to provide a better understanding of the potential contributions of emissions from gas production operations to population exposure to air toxics in the Barnett Shale region. This goal was approached using a combination of chemical characterization of the volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from active wells, saturation monitoring for gaseous and particulate pollutants in a residential community located near active gas/oil extraction and processing facilities, source apportionment of VOCs measured in the community using the Chemical Mass Balance (CMB) receptor model, and direct measurements of the pollutant gradient downwind of a gas well with high VOC emissions. Overall, the study results indicate that air quality impacts due to individual gas wells and compressor stations are not likely to be discernible beyond a distance of approximately 100 m in the downwind direction. However, source apportionment results indicate a significant contribution to regional VOCs from gas production sources, particularly for lower-molecular-weight alkanes (< C6). Although measured ambient VOC concentrations were well below health-based safe exposure levels, the existence of urban-level mean concentrations of benzene and other mobile source air toxics combined with soot to total carbon ratios that were high for an area with little residential or commercial development may be indicative of the impact of increased heavy-duty vehicle traffic related to gas production. Implications: Rapid and extensive development of shale gas resources in recent years has created concerns about potential environmental impacts on water and air quality. This study focused on directly measuring the ambient air pollutant levels occurring at residential properties located near

Air pollution in Latin America: Bottom-up Vehicular Emissions Inventory and Atmospheric Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibarra Espinosa, S.; Vela, A. V.; Calderon, M. G.; Carlos, G.; Ynoue, R.

2016-12-01

Air pollution is a global environmental and health problem. Population of Latin America are facing air quality risks due to high level of air pollution. According to World Health Organization (WHO; 2016), several Latin American cities have high level of pollution. Emissions inventories are a key tool for air quality, however they normally present lack of quality and adequate documentation in developing countries. This work aims to develop air quality assessments in Latin American countries by 1) develop a high resolution emissions inventory of vehicles, and 2) simulate air pollutant concentrations. The bottom-up vehicular emissions inventory used was obtained with the REMI model (Ibarra et al., 2016) which allows to interpolate traffic over road network of Open Street Map to estimate vehicular emissions 24-h, each day of the week. REMI considers several parameters, among them the average age of fleet which was associated with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. The estimated pollutants are CO, NOx, HC, PM2.5, NO, NO2, CO2, N2O, COV, NH3 and Fuel Consumption. The emissions inventory was performed at the biggest cities, including every capital of Latin America's countries. Initial results shows that the cities with most CO emissions are Buenos Aires 162800 (t/year), São Paulo 152061 (t/year), Campinas 151567 (t/year) and Brasilia 144332 (t/year). The results per capita shows that the city with most CO emissions per capita is Campinas, with 130 (kgCO/hab/year), showed in figure 1. This study also cover high resolution air quality simulations with WRF-Chem main cities in Latin America. Results will be assessed comparing: fuel estimates with local fuel sales, traffic count interpolation with available traffic data set at each city, and comparison between air pollutant simulations with air monitoring observation data. Ibarra, S., R. Ynoue, and S. Mhartain. 2016: "High Resolution Vehicular Emissions Inventory for the Megacity of São Paulo." Manuscript submitted to

Assessment of the impacts of vehicular pollution on urban air quality.

PubMed

Ghose, Mrinal K; Paul, R; Banerjee, S K

2004-01-01

Air quality crisis in cities is mainly due to vehicular emissions. Owing to the expanding economic base Indian cities are growing at a faster rate. Transportation systems are increasing everywhere and the improved technology is insufficient to counteract growth. The effect of vehicular emission on urban air quality and human health has been described. A survey has been conducted in an Indian mega city to evaluate the status of air pollution at traffic intersections and the unique problem arising out of vehicular emissions in the study area has been narrated. Approach for the selection of the air monitoring stations, methodology adopted for data collection and the results have been discussed. Vulnerability analysis (VA) has been carried out to identify the zones at what pollution stress. Options for reducing mobile source emission have been discussed and a strategic air quality management plan has been proposed to mitigate the air pollution in the city.

Influence of Ship Emissions on Urban Air Quality: A Comprehensive Study Using Highly Time-Resolved Online Measurements and Numerical Simulation in Shanghai.

PubMed

Liu, Zhanmin; Lu, Xiaohui; Feng, Junlan; Fan, Qianzhu; Zhang, Yan; Yang, Xin

2017-01-03

Shanghai has become an international shipping center in the world. In this study, the multiyear measurements and the high resolution air quality model with hourly ship emission inventory were combined to determine the influence of ship emissions on urban Shanghai. The aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS) measurements were carried out at an urban site from April 2009 to January 2013. During the entire sampling time, most of the half-hourly averaged number fractions of primary ship emitted particles varied between 1.0-10.0%. However, the number fraction could reach up to 50% during the ship plume cases. Ship-plume-influenced periods usually occurred in spring and summer. The simulation of Weather Research and Forecasting/Community Multiscale Air Quality model (WRF/CMAQ) with hourly ship emission inventory provided the highly time-resolved concentrations of ship-related air pollutants during a ship plume case. It showed ships could contribute 20-30% (2-7 μg/m 3 ) of the total PM 2.5 within tens of kilometers of coastal and riverside Shanghai during ship-plume-influenced periods. Our results showed that ship emissions have substantial contribution to the air pollution in urban Shanghai. The control measures of ship emission should be taken considering its negative environment and human health effects.

Air quality and future energy system planning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobral Mourao, Zenaida; Konadu, Dennis; Lupton, Rick

2016-04-01

Ambient air pollution has been linked to an increasing number of premature deaths throughout the world. Projected increases in demand for food, energy resources and manufactured products will likely contribute to exacerbate air pollution with an increasing impact on human health, agricultural productivity and climate change. Current events such as tampering emissions tests by VW car manufacturers, failure to comply with EU Air Quality directives and WHO guidelines by many EU countries, the problem of smog in Chinese cities and new industrial emissions regulations represent unique challenges but also opportunities for regulators, local authorities and industry. However current models and practices of energy and resource use do not consider ambient air impacts as an integral part of the planing process. Furthermore the analysis of drivers, sources and impacts of air pollution is often fragmented, difficult to understand and lacks effective visualization tools that bring all of these components together. This work aims to develop a model that links impacts of air quality on human health and ecosystems to current and future developments in the energy system, industrial and agricultural activity and patterns of land use. The model will be added to the ForeseerTM tool, which is an integrated resource analysis platform that has been developed at the University of Cambridge initially with funding from BP and more recently through the EPSRC funded Whole Systems Energy Modeling (WholeSEM) project. The basis of the tool is a set of linked physical models for energy, water and land, including the technologies that are used to transform these resources into final services such as housing, food, transport and household goods. The new air quality model will explore different feedback effects between energy, land and atmospheric systems with the overarching goal of supporting better communication about the drivers of air quality and to incorporate concerns about air quality into

Sensitivity of air quality simulation to smoke plume rise

Treesearch

Yongqiang Liu; Gary Achtemeier; Scott Goodrick

2008-01-01

Plume rise is the height smoke plumes can reach. This information is needed by air quality models such as the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to simulate physical and chemical processes of point-source fire emissions. This study seeks to understand the importance of plume rise to CMAQ air quality simulation of prescribed burning to plume rise. CMAQ...

Air quality impact assessment of at-berth ship emissions: Case-study for the project of a new freight port.

PubMed

Lonati, Giovanni; Cernuschi, Stefano; Sidi, Shelina

2010-12-01

This work is intended to assess the impact on local air quality due to atmospheric emissions from port area activities for a new port in project in the Mediterranean Sea. The sources of air pollutants in the harbour area are auxiliary engines used by ships at berth during loading/offloading operations. A fleet activity-based methodology is first applied to evaluate annual pollutant emissions (NO(X), SO(X), PM, CO and VOC) based on vessel traffic data, ships tonnage and in-port hotelling time for loading/offloading operations. The 3-dimensional Calpuff transport and dispersion model is then applied for the subsequent assessment of the ground level spatial distribution of atmospheric pollutants for both long-term and short-term averaging times. Compliance with current air quality standards in the port area is finally evaluated and indications for port operation are provided. Some methodological aspects of the impact assessment procedure, namely those concerning the steps of emission scenario definitions and model simulations set-up at the project stage, are specifically addressed, suggesting a pragmatic approach for similar evaluations for small new ports in project. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impact of Trans-Boundary Emissions on Modelled Air Pollution in Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pavlovic, Radenko; Moran, Mike; Zhang, Junhua; Zheng, Qiong; Menard, Sylvain; Anselmo, David; Davignon, Didier

2014-05-01

The operational air quality model GEM-MACH is run twice daily at the Canadian Meteorological Centre in Montreal, Quebec to produce 48-hour forecasts of hourly O3, NO2, and PM2.5 fields over a North American domain. The hourly gridded anthropogenic emissions fields needed by GEM-MACH are currently based on the 2006 Canadian emissions inventory, a 2012 projected U.S. inventory, and the 1999 Mexican inventory. The Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) processing package was used to process these three national emissions inventories to create the GEM-MACH emissions fields. While Canada is the second-largest country in the world by total area, its population and its emissions of criteria contaminants are both only about one-tenth of U.S. values and roughly 80% of the Canadian population lives within 150 km of the international border with the U.S. As a consequence, transboundary transport of air pollution has a major impact on air quality in Canada. To quantify the impact of non-Canadian emissions on forecasted pollutant levels in Canada, the following two tests were performed: (a) all U.S. and Mexican anthropogenic emissions were switched off; and (b) anthropogenic emissions from the southernmost tier of U.S. states and Mexico were switched off. These sensitivity tests were performed for the summer and winter periods of 2012 or 2011. The results obtained show that the impact of non-Canadian sources on forecasted pollution is generally larger in summer than in winter, especially in south-eastern parts of Canada. For the three pollutants considered in the Canadian national Air Quality Health Index, PM2.5 is impacted the most (up to 80%) and NO2 the least (<10%). Emissions from the southern U.S. and Mexico do impact Canadian air quality, but the sign may change depending on the season (i.e., increase vs. decrease), reflecting chemical processing en route.

ROLE OF MODELS IN AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

EPA Science Inventory

Within the frame of the US-India bilateral agreement on environmental cooperation, a team of US scientists have been helping India in designing emission control policies to address urban air quality problems. This presentation discusses how air quality models need to be used for ...

An air quality emission inventory of offshore operations for the exploration and production of petroleum by the Mexican oil industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Villasenor, R.; Magdaleno, M.; Quintanar, A.; Gallardo, J. C.; López, M. T.; Jurado, R.; Miranda, A.; Aguilar, M.; Melgarejo, L. A.; Palmerín, E.; Vallejo, C. J.; Barchet, W. R.

An air quality screening study was performed to assess the impacts of emissions from the offshore operations of the oil and gas exploration and production by Mexican industry in the Campeche Sound, which includes the states of Tabasco and Campeche in southeast Mexico. The major goal of this study was the compilation of an emission inventory (EI) for elevated, boom and ground level flares, processes, internal combustion engines and fugitive emissions. This inventory is so far the most comprehensive emission register that has ever been developed for the Mexican petroleum industry in this area. The EI considered 174 offshore platforms, the compression station at Atasta, and the Maritime Ports at Dos Bocas and Cayo Arcas. The offshore facilities identified as potential emitters in the area were the following: (1) trans-shipment stations, (2) a maritime floating port terminal, (3) drilling platforms, (4) crude oil recovering platforms, (5) crude oil production platforms, (6) linking platforms, (7) water injection platforms, (8) pumping platforms, (9) shelter platforms, (10) telecommunication platforms, (11) crude oil measurement platforms, and (12) flaring platforms. Crude oil storage tanks, helicopters and marine ship tankers were also considered to have an EI accurate enough for air quality regulations and mesoscale modeling of atmospheric pollutants. Historical ambient data measure at two onshore petroleum facilities were analyzed to measure air quality impacts on nearby inhabited coastal areas, and a source-receptor relationship for flares at the Ixtoc marine complex was performed to investigate health-based standards for offshore workers. A preliminary air quality model simulation was performed to observe the transport and dispersion patterns of SO 2, which is the main pollutant emitted from the offshore platforms. The meteorological wind and temperature fields were generated with CALMET, a diagnostic meteorological model that used surface observations and upper

Integrating Measurement Based New Knowledge on Wildland Fire Emissions and Chemistry into the AIRPACT Air Quality Forecasting for the Pacific Northwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nergui, T.; Lee, Y.; Chung, S. H.; Lamb, B. K.; Yokelson, R. J.; Barsanti, K.

2017-12-01

A number of chamber and field measurements have shown that atmospheric organic aerosols and their precursors produced from wildfires are significantly underestimated in the emission inventories used for air quality models for various applications such as regulatory strategy development, impact assessments of air pollutants, and air quality forecasting for public health. The AIRPACT real-time air quality forecasting system consistently underestimates surface level fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in the summer at both urban and rural locations in the Pacific Northwest, primarily result of errors in organic particulate matter. In this work, we implement updated chemical speciation and emission factors based on FLAME-IV (Fourth Fire Lab at Missoula Experiment) and other measurements in the Blue-Sky fire emission model and the SMOKE emission preprocessor; and modified parameters for the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) module in CMAQ chemical transport model of the AIRPACT modeling system. Simulation results from CMAQ version 5.2 which has a better treatment for anthropogenic SOA formation (as a base case) and modified parameterization used for fire emissions and chemistry in the model (fire-soa case) are evaluated against airborne measurements downwind of the Big Windy Complex Fire and the Colockum Tarps Fire, both of which occurred in the Pacific Northwest in summer 2013. Using the observed aerosol chemical composition and mass loadings for organics, nitrate, sulfate, ammonium, and chloride from aircraft measurements during the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds, and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) and the Biomass Burning Observation Project (BBOP), we assess how new knowledge gained from wildfire measurements improve model predictions for SOA and its contribution to the total mass of PM2.5 concentrations.

MODELING ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSION REDUCTIONS ON OZONE AIR QUALITY IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES: OFFSETTING INCREASES IN ENERGY USE

EPA Science Inventory

The objective of this study is to examine changes in ambient ozone concentrations estimated by a photochemical air quality model in response to the NOx emission reductions imposed on the utility sector. To accomplish this task, CMAQ air quality model simulations were performe...

Impact on air quality of measures to reduce CO2 emissions from road traffic in Basel, Rotterdam, Xi'an and Suzhou

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keuken, M. P.; Jonkers, S.; Verhagen, H. L. M.; Perez, L.; Trüeb, S.; Okkerse, W.-J.; Liu, J.; Pan, X. C.; Zheng, L.; Wang, H.; Xu, R.; Sabel, C. E.

2014-12-01

Two traffic scenarios to reduce CO2 emissions from road traffic in two European cities (Basel and Rotterdam) and two Chinese cities (Xi'an and Suzhou) were evaluated in terms of their impact on air quality. The two scenarios, one modelling a reduction of private vehicle kilometres driven by 10% on urban streets and the other modelling the introduction of 50% electric-powered private vehicle kilometres on urban streets, were both compared to a scenario following “business-as-usual”: 2020-BAU. The annual average concentrations of NO2, PM2.5, PM10 and elemental carbon (EC) were modelled separately in busy street canyons, near urban motorways and in the remainder of the urban area. It was concluded that traffic-related CO2 emissions in 2020-BAU could be expected to remain at the levels of 2010 in Basel and Rotterdam, while in Xi'an and Suzhou to increase 30-50% due to growth in the traffic volume. Traffic-related CO2 emissions may be reduced by up to 5% and 25%, respectively using the first and second scenarios. Air pollution in the Chinese cities is a factor 3 to 5 higher than in the European cities in 2010 and 2020-BAU. The impact of both CO2 reduction scenarios on air quality in 2020-BAU is limited. In Europe, due to implementation of stringent emission standards in all sectors, air quality is expected to improve at both the urban background and near busy road traffic. In China, the regional background is expected to improve for EC, stabilize for PM2.5 and PM10, and decrease for NO2. The urban background follows this regional trend, while near busy road traffic, air pollution will remain elevated due to the considerable growth in traffic volume. A major constraint for modelling air quality in China is access to the input data required and lack of measurements at ground level for validation.

Air quality improvements following implementation of Lisbon's Low Emission Zone

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, F.; Gomes, P.; Tente, H.; Carvalho, A. C.; Pereira, P.; Monjardino, J.

2015-12-01

Air pollution levels within Lisbon city limits have been exceeding the limit values established in European Union and national legislation since 2001, with the most problematic cases related to the levels of fine particles (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mainly originated by road traffic. With the objective of answering this public health issue, an Air Quality Action Plan was developed in 2006 and the respective Enforcement Plan was published in 2009. From the overall strategy, one of the major measures presented in this strategy was the creation of a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Lisbon, which has been operating since July 2011. Implemented at different stages it has progressively expanded its area, including more vehicle types and adopting more stringent requirements in terms of minimum emission standards (currently LEZ phase 2 with EURO 2 in the city center - zone 1 and EURO 1 in the rest of the LEZ area - zone 2). At the same time the road axis comprised of Marquês de Pombal square and Avenida da Liberdade was subjected to profound changes in its traffic circulation model, reducing road traffic volumes. The analysis of the air quality data before and after the LEZ phase 2 has shown positive evolution when comparing the period between 2011 (before measures) and 2013 (after measures). In 2013, there was a reduction in PM10 annual average concentration of 23% and NO2 annual average concentrations of 12%, compared with the year 2011. Although PM10 reductions were more significant inside the LEZ area, the same was not valid for NO2, suggesting that the implementation of these measures was not as effective in reducing NO2 levels as shown by results in other cities like Berlin and London. The results from road traffic characterization indicate a relevant effect on fleet renewal with an overall decrease in the relative weight of pre-EURO 2 vehicles in 2012/2013, compared with data from 2011. An important increase in the share of EURO 4 and EURO 5 vehicles was also

Air quality impacts from prescribed forest fires under different management practices.

PubMed

Tian, Di; Wang, Yuhang; Bergin, Michelle; Hu, Yongtao; Liu, Yongqiang; Russell, Armistead G

2008-04-15

Large amounts of air pollutants are emitted during prescribed forest fires. Such emissions and corresponding air quality impacts can be modulated by different forest management practices. The impacts of changing burning seasons and frequencies and of controlling emissions during smoldering on regional air quality in Georgia are quantified using source-oriented air quality modeling, with modified emissions from prescribed fires reflecting effects of each practice. Equivalent fires in the spring and winter are found to have a greater impact on PM2.5 than those in summer, though ozone impacts are larger from spring and summer fires. If prescribed fires are less frequent more biofuel is burnt in each fire, leading to larger emissions and air quality impacts per fire. For example, emissions from a fire with a 5-year fire return interval (FRI) are 72% larger than those from a fire of the same acreage with a 2-year FRI. However, corresponding long-term regional impacts are reduced with the longer FRI since the annual burned area is reduced. Total emissions for fires in Georgia with a 5-year FRI are 32% less than those with a 2-year FRI. Smoldering emissions can lead to approximately 1.0 or 1.9 microg/m3 of PM2.5 in the Atlanta PM2.5 nonattainment area during March 2002.

Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Dairy Farming and their effect on San Joaquin Valley Air Quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blake, D. R.; Yang, M.; Meinardi, S.; Krauter, C.; Rowland, F. S.

2009-05-01

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District of California issued a report identifying dairies as a main source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). A dairy study funded by the California Air Resources Board commenced shortly after the report was issued. Our University of California Irvine group teamed with California State University Fresno to determine the major sources of VOCs from various dairy operations and from a variety of dairy types. This study identified ethanol and methanol as two gases produced in major quantities throughout the dairies in the San Joaquin valley as by-products of yeast fermentation of silage. Three different types of sampling protocols were employed in order to determine the degree of enhancement of the target oxygenates in the valley air shed. Their sources, emission profiles, and emission rates were determined from whole air samples collected at various locations at the six dairies studied. An assessment of the impact of dairy emissions in the valley was achieved by using data obtained on low altitude NASA DC-8 flights through the valley, and from ground level samples collected though out the valley in a grid like design. Our data suggest that a significant amount of O3 production in the valley may come from methanol, ethanol, and acetaldehyde (a photochemical by-product ethanol oxidation). Our findings indicate that improvement to valley air quality may be obtained by focusing on instituting new silage containment practices and regulations.

Emissions of terpenoids, benzenoids, and other biogenic gas-phase organic compounds from agricultural crops and their potential implications for air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gentner, D. R.; Ormeño, E.; Fares, S.; Ford, T. B.; Weber, R.; Park, J.-H.; Brioude, J.; Angevine, W. M.; Karlik, J. F.; Goldstein, A. H.

2013-11-01

Agriculture comprises a substantial fraction of land cover in many regions of the world, including California's San Joaquin Valley, which is out of compliance with state and federal standards for tropospheric ozone and particulate matter (PM2.5). Emissions from vegetation and other biogenic and anthropogenic sources react in the atmosphere to produce ozone and secondary organic aerosol, which comprises a substantial fraction of PM2.5. Using data from three measurement campaigns, we examine emissions of reactive gas-phase organic carbon from agricultural crops and their potential to impact regional air quality relative to anthropogenic emissions in California's San Joaquin Valley. Emission rates for a suite of biogenic terpenoid compounds were measured in a greenhouse for 25 representative crops from California in 2008, and ambient measurements of terpenoids and other biogenic compounds in the volatile and intermediate-volatility organic compound range were made over an orange orchard in a rural area of the San Joaquin Valley during two seasons in 2010: summer and spring flowering. When accounting for both emissions of reactive precursors and the deposition of ozone to an orange orchard, the net effect of the orange trees is a net source of ozone in the springtime during flowering, and relatively neutral for most of the summer until the fall when it becomes a sink. Flowering was a major emission event and caused a large increase in emissions including a suite of compounds that had not been measured in the atmosphere before. Such biogenic emission events need to be better parameterized in models as they have significant potential to impact regional air quality since emissions increase by an order of magnitude. In regions like the San Joaquin Valley, the mass of biogenic emissions from agricultural crops during the summer (without flowering) and the potential ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation from these emissions are on the same order as anthropogenic

Description of Latvian Metal Production and Processing Enterprises' Air Emissions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pubule, Jelena; Zahare, Dace; Blumberga, Dagnija

2010-01-01

The metal production and processing sector in Latvia has acquired a stable position in the national economy. Smelting of ferrous and nonferrous metals, production of metalware, galvanisation, etc. are developed in Latvia. The metal production and processing sector has an impact on air quality due to polluting substances which are released in the air from metal treatment processes. Therefore it is necessary to determine the total volume of emissions produced by the metal production and processing sector in Latvia. This article deals with the air polluting emissions of the Latvian metal production and processing industry, and sets the optimum sector emission volumes using the emissions benchmark methodology.

Air quality in Delhi during the Commonwealth Games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrapu, P.; Cheng, Y.; Beig, G.; Sahu, S.; Srinivas, R.; Carmichael, G. R.

2014-10-01

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

Emission Reduction Potential of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Program

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1997-05-19

The Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) provides : funds to states for projects designed to help attain and maintain the national : ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) set under the Clean Air Act (CAA). CMAQ : was creat...

Analyzing the efficiency of short-term air quality plans in European cities, using the CHIMERE air quality model.

PubMed

Thunis, P; Degraeuwe, B; Pisoni, E; Meleux, F; Clappier, A

2017-01-01

Regional and local authorities have the obligation to design air quality plans and assess their impacts when concentration levels exceed the limit values. Because these limit values cover both short- (day) and long-term (year) effects, air quality plans also follow these two formats. In this work, we propose a methodology to analyze modeled air quality forecast results, looking at emission reduction for different sectors (residential, transport, agriculture, etc.) with the aim of supporting policy makers in assessing the impact of short-term action plans. Regarding PM 10 , results highlight the diversity of responses across European cities, in terms of magnitude and type that raises the necessity of designing area-specific air quality plans. Action plans extended from 1 to 3 days (i.e., emissions reductions applied for 24 and 72 h, respectively) point to the added value of trans-city coordinated actions. The largest benefits are seen in central Europe (Vienna, Prague) while major cities (e.g., Paris) already solve a large part of the problem on their own. Eastern Europe would particularly benefit from plans based on emission reduction in the residential sectors; while in northern cities, agriculture seems to be the key sector on which to focus attention. Transport is playing a key role in most cities whereas the impact of industry is limited to a few cities in south-eastern Europe. For NO 2 , short-term action plans focusing on traffic emission reductions are efficient in all cities. This is due to the local character of this type of pollution. It is important, however, to stress that these results remain dependent on the selected months available for this study.

Environmental Quality and the U.S. Power Sector: Air Quality, Land Use and Environmental Justice

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Massetti, Emanuele; Brown, Marilyn Ann; Lapsa, Melissa Voss

This baseline report summarizes key environmental quality issues associated with electricity generation, transmission, distribution, and end use in the United States. Its scope includes non-greenhouse gas air pollution (i.e., sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and hazardous air pollutants), land use, water pollution, ecological impacts, human health, and environmental justice. The discussion characterizes both current impacts and recent trends, as well as assessments of key drivers of change. For example, the air emissions section includes a quantitative decomposition analysis of the drivers of change in sulfur dioxide emissions reductions from coal-fired power plants. The report is divided into four topicalmore » sections: air emissions, land use and ecology, water quality, and environmental justice.« less

EMISSIONS PROCESSING FOR THE ETA/ CMAQ AIR QUALITY FORECAST SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

NOAA and EPA have created an Air Quality Forecast (AQF) system. This AQF system links an adaptation of the EPA's Community Multiscale Air Quality Model with the 12 kilometer ETA model running operationally at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Predication (NCEP). One of the...

Air quality real-time forecast before and during the G-20 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The 2016 G-20 Hangzhou summit, the eleventh annual meeting of the G-20 heads of government, will be held during September 3-5, 2016 in Hangzhou, China. For a successful summit, it is important to ensure good air quality. To achieve this goal, governments of Hangzhou and its surrounding provinces will enforce a series of emission reductions, such as a forced closure of major highly-polluting industries and also limiting car and construction emissions in the cities and surroundings during the 2016 G-20 Hangzhou summit. Air quality forecast systems consisting of the two-way coupled WRF-CMAQ and online-coupled WRF-Chem have been applied to forecast air quality in Hangzhou regularly. This study will present the results of real-time forecasts of air quality over eastern China using 12-km grid spacing and for Hangzhou area using 4-km grid spacing with these two modeling systems using emission inventories for base and 2016 G-20 scenarios before and during the 2016 G-20 Hangzhou summit. Evaluations of models’ performance for both cases for PM2.5, PM10, O3, SO2, NO2, CO, air quality index (AQI), and aerosol optical depth (AOD) are carried out by comparing them with observations obtained from satellites, such as MODIS, and surface monitoring networks. The effects of the emission reduction efforts on expected air quality improvements during the2016 G-20 Hangzhou summit will be studied in depth. This study provides insights on how air quality will be improved by a plan

Air quality assessment of Estarreja, an urban industrialized area, in a coastal region of Portugal.

PubMed

Figueiredo, M L; Monteiro, A; Lopes, M; Ferreira, J; Borrego, C

2013-07-01

Despite the increasing concern given to air quality in urban and industrial areas in recent years, particular emphasis on regulation, control, and reduction of air pollutant emissions is still necessary to fully characterize the chain emissions-air quality-exposure-dose-health effects, for specific sources. The Estarreja region was selected as a case study because it has one of the largest chemical industrial complexes in Portugal that has been recently expanded, together with a growing urban area with an interesting location in the Portuguese coastland and crossed by important road traffic and rail national networks. This work presents the first air quality assessment for the region concerning pollutant emissions and meteorological and air quality monitoring data analysis, over the period 2000-2009. This assessment also includes a detailed investigation and characterization of past air pollution episodes for the most problematic pollutants: ozone and PM10. The contribution of different emission sources and meteorological conditions to these episodes is investigated. The stagnant meteorological conditions associated with local emissions, namely industrial activity and road traffic, are the major contributors to the air quality degradation over the study region. A set of measures to improve air quality--regarding ozone and PM10 levels--is proposed as an air quality management strategy for the study region.

Impact of emissions from the Los Angeles port region on San Diego air quality during regional transport events.

PubMed

Ault, Andrew P; Moore, Meagan J; Furutani, Hiroshi; Prather, Kimberly A

2009-05-15

Oceangoing ships emit an estimated 1.2-1.6 million metric tons (Tg) of PM10 per year and represent a significant source of air pollution to coastal communities. As shown herein, ship and other emissions near the Los Angeles and Long Beach Port region strongly influence air pollution levels in the San Diego area. During time periods with regional transport, atmospheric aerosol measurements in La Jolla, California show an increase in 0.5-1 microm sized single particles with unique signatures including soot, metals (i.e., vanadium, iron, and nickel), sulfate, and nitrate. These particles are attributed to primary emissions from residual oil sourcessuch as ships and refineries, as well as traffic in the port region, and secondary processing during transport. During regional transport events, particulate matter concentrations were 2-4 times higher than typical average concentrations from local sources, indicating the health, environmental, and climate impacts from these emission sources must be taken into consideration in the San Diego region. Unless significant regulations are imposed on shipping-related activities, these emission sources will become even more important to California air quality as cars and truck emissions undergo further regulations and residual oil sources such as shipping continue to expand.

Changes in future air quality, deposition, and aerosol-cloud interactions under future climate and emission scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glotfelty, Timothy; Zhang, Yang; Karamchandani, Prakash; Streets, David G.

2016-08-01

The prospect of global climate change will have wide scale impacts, such as ecological stress and human health hazards. One aspect of concern is future changes in air quality that will result from changes in both meteorological forcing and air pollutant emissions. In this study, the GU-WRF/Chem model is employed to simulate the impact of changing climate and emissions following the IPCC AR4 SRES A1B scenario. An average of 4 future years (2020, 2030, 2040, and 2050) is compared against an average of 2 current years (2001 and 2010). Under this scenario, by the Mid-21st century global air quality is projected to degrade with a global average increase of 2.5 ppb in the maximum 8-hr O3 level and of 0.3 μg m-3 in 24-hr average PM2.5. However, PM2.5 changes are more regional due to regional variations in primary aerosol emissions and emissions of gaseous precursor for secondary PM2.5. Increasing NOx emissions in this scenario combines with a wetter climate elevating levels of OH, HO2, H2O2, and the nitrate radical and increasing the atmosphere's near surface oxidation state. This differs from findings under the RCP scenarios that experience declines in OH from reduced NOx emissions, stratospheric recovery of O3, and increases in CH4 and VOCs. Increasing NOx and O3 levels enhances the nitrogen and O3 deposition, indicating potentially enhanced crop damage and ecosystem stress under this scenario. The enhanced global aerosol level results in enhancements in aerosol optical depth, cloud droplet number concentration, and cloud optical thickness. This leads to dimming at the Earth's surface with a global average reduction in shortwave radiation of 1.2 W m-2. This enhanced dimming leads to a more moderate warming trend and different trends in radiation than those found in NCAR's CCSM simulation, which does not include the advanced chemistry and aerosol treatment of GU-WRF/Chem and cannot simulate the impacts of changing climate and emissions with the same level of detailed

Impacts of transportation sector emissions on future U.S. air quality in a changing climate. Part I: Projected emissions, simulation design, and model evaluation.

PubMed

Campbell, Patrick; Zhang, Yang; Yan, Fang; Lu, Zifeng; Streets, David

2018-07-01

Emissions from the transportation sector are rapidly changing worldwide; however, the interplay of such emission changes in the face of climate change are not as well understood. This two-part study examines the impact of projected emissions from the U.S. transportation sector (Part I) on ambient air quality in the face of climate change (Part II). In Part I of this study, we describe the methodology and results of a novel Technology Driver Model (see graphical abstract) that includes 1) transportation emission projections (including on-road vehicles, non-road engines, aircraft, rail, and ship) derived from a dynamic technology model that accounts for various technology and policy options under an IPCC emission scenario, and 2) the configuration/evaluation of a dynamically downscaled Weather Research and Forecasting/Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system. By 2046-2050, the annual domain-average transportation emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH 3 ), and sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) are projected to decrease over the continental U.S. The decreases in gaseous emissions are mainly due to reduced emissions from on-road vehicles and non-road engines, which exhibit spatial and seasonal variations across the U.S. Although particulate matter (PM) emissions widely decrease, some areas in the U.S. experience relatively large increases due to increases in ship emissions. The on-road vehicle emissions dominate the emission changes for CO, NO x , VOC, and NH 3 , while emissions from both the on-road and non-road modes have strong contributions to PM and SO 2 emission changes. The evaluation of the baseline 2005 WRF simulation indicates that annual biases are close to or within the acceptable criteria for meteorological performance in the literature, and there is an overall good agreement in the 2005 CMAQ simulations of chemical variables against both surface and satellite observations. Copyright © 2018

Impact of High Resolution Land-Use Data in Meteorology and Air Quality Modeling Systems

EPA Science Inventory

Accurate land use information is important in meteorology for land surface exchanges, in emission modeling for emission spatial allocation, and in air quality modeling for chemical surface fluxes. Currently, meteorology, emission, and air quality models often use outdated USGS Gl...

Re-entrained road dust PM10 emission from selected streets of Krakow and its impact on air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bogacki, Marek; Mazur, Marian; Oleniacz, Robert; Rzeszutek, Mateusz; Szulecka, Adriana

2018-01-01

Scientific research studies conducted in various parts of the world confirm that PM10 concentrations in urban air depend to a great extent on the resuspension processes of the dust deposited on the road surface. The paper presents the results of the study related to the determination of the re-entrained PM10 emissions from four selected streets of Krakow (Southern Poland) together with the assessment of its impact on air quality. Examined streets are characterised by different traffic intensity (from 500 to over 20 000 vehicles per day) and individual vehicle structure. Dust material sampling and estimation of the PM10 emission were conducted according to the U.S. EPA methodology (AP 42 Fifth Edition). Two variants of sample collection were applied: from the road surface including the area at the curb (4 streets) and from the road surface alone (1 street). The estimates of resuspended road dust emission as well as the reference values derived from the U.S. EPA guidelines were used to assess the impact of this emission on the PM10 levels in the air at the location of one of the analysed streets. This assessment was conducted using the CALINE4 mathematical model. The study showed that the PM10 emissions from the re-entrained road dust can be responsible for up to 25 % in the winter and 50 % in the summer of the total PM10 concentrations in the air near the roads.

Cost analysis of impacts of climate change on regional air quality.

PubMed

Liao, Kuo-Jen; Tagaris, Efthimios; Russell, Armistead G; Amar, Praveen; He, Shan; Manomaiphiboon, Kasemsan; Woo, Jung-Hun

2010-02-01

Climate change has been predicted to adversely impact regional air quality with resulting health effects. Here a regional air quality model and a technology analysis tool are used to assess the additional emission reductions required and associated costs to offset impacts of climate change on air quality. Analysis is done for six regions and five major cities in the continental United States. Future climate is taken from a global climate model simulation for 2049-2051 using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A1B emission scenario, and emission inventories are the same as current ones to assess impacts of climate change alone on air quality and control expenses. On the basis of the IPCC A1B emission scenario and current control technologies, least-cost sets of emission reductions for simultaneously offsetting impacts of climate change on regionally averaged 4th highest daily maximum 8-hr average ozone and yearly averaged PM2.5 (particulate matter [PM] with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microm) for the six regions examined are predicted to range from $36 million (1999$) yr(-1) in the Southeast to $5.5 billion yr(-1) in the Northeast. However, control costs to offset climate-related pollutant increases in urban areas can be greater than the regional costs because of the locally exacerbated ozone levels. An annual cost of $4.1 billion is required for offsetting climate-induced air quality impairment in 2049-2051 in the five cities alone. Overall, an annual cost of $9.3 billion is estimated for offsetting climate change impacts on air quality for the six regions and five cities examined. Much of the additional expense is to reduce increased levels of ozone. Additional control costs for offsetting the impacts everywhere in the United States could be larger than the estimates in this study. This study shows that additional emission controls and associated costs for offsetting climate impacts could significantly increase currently estimated

Impact of Marcellus Shale natural gas development in southwest Pennsylvania on volatile organic compound emissions and regional air quality.

PubMed

Swarthout, Robert F; Russo, Rachel S; Zhou, Yong; Miller, Brandon M; Mitchell, Brittney; Horsman, Emily; Lipsky, Eric; McCabe, David C; Baum, Ellen; Sive, Barkley C

2015-03-03

The Marcellus Shale is the largest natural gas deposit in the U.S. and rapid development of this resource has raised concerns about regional air pollution. A field campaign was conducted in the southwestern Pennsylvania region of the Marcellus Shale to investigate the impact of unconventional natural gas (UNG) production operations on regional air quality. Whole air samples were collected throughout an 8050 km(2) grid surrounding Pittsburgh and analyzed for methane, carbon dioxide, and C1-C10 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Elevated mixing ratios of methane and C2-C8 alkanes were observed in areas with the highest density of UNG wells. Source apportionment was used to identify characteristic emission ratios for UNG sources, and results indicated that UNG emissions were responsible for the majority of mixing ratios of C2-C8 alkanes, but accounted for a small proportion of alkene and aromatic compounds. The VOC emissions from UNG operations accounted for 17 ± 19% of the regional kinetic hydroxyl radical reactivity of nonbiogenic VOCs suggesting that natural gas emissions may affect compliance with federal ozone standards. A first approximation of methane emissions from the study area of 10.0 ± 5.2 kg s(-1) provides a baseline for determining the efficacy of regulatory emission control efforts.

Enhanced Representation of Soil NO Emissions in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Version 5.0.2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rasool, Quazi Z.; Zhang, Rui; Lash, Benjamin; Cohan, Daniel S.; Cooter, Ellen J.; Bash, Jesse O.; Lamsal, Lok N.

2016-01-01

Modeling of soil nitric oxide (NO) emissions is highly uncertain and may misrepresent its spatial and temporal distribution. This study builds upon a recently introduced parameterization to improve the timing and spatial distribution of soil NO emission estimates in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. The parameterization considers soil parameters, meteorology, land use, and mineral nitrogen (N) availability to estimate NO emissions. We incorporate daily year-specific fertilizer data from the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) agricultural model to replace the annual generic data of the initial parameterization, and use a 12km resolution soil biome map over the continental USA. CMAQ modeling for July 2011 shows slight differences in model performance in simulating fine particulate matter and ozone from Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) and Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTNET) sites and NO2 columns from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite retrievals. We also simulate how the change in soil NO emissions scheme affects the expected O3 response to projected emissions reductions.

AIR QUALITY AND GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE (PHASE 1)

EPA Science Inventory

Predicted changes in the global climate over the coming decades could alter weather patterns and, thus, impact land use, source emissions, and tropospheric air quality. The United States has a series of standards for criteria air pollutants and other air pollutants in place to s...

Air Quality Improvements of Increased Integration of Renewables: Solar Photovoltaics Penetration Scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duran, P.; Holloway, T.; Brinkman, G.; Denholm, P.; Littlefield, C. M.

2011-12-01

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are an attractive technology because they can be locally deployed and tend to yield high production during periods of peak electric demand. These characteristics can reduce the need for conventional large-scale electricity generation, thereby reducing emissions of criteria air pollutants (CAPs) and improving ambient air quality with regard to such pollutants as nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides and fine particulates. Such effects depend on the local climate, time-of-day emissions, available solar resources, the structure of the electric grid, and existing electricity production among other factors. This study examines the air quality impacts of distributed PV across the United States Eastern Interconnection. In order to accurately model the air quality impact of distributed PV in space and time, we used the National Renewable Energy Lab's (NREL) Regional Energy Deployment System (ReEDS) model to form three unique PV penetration scenarios in which new PV construction is distributed spatially based upon economic drivers and natural solar resources. Those scenarios are 2006 Eastern Interconnection business as usual, 10% PV penetration, and 20% PV penetration. With the GridView (ABB, Inc) dispatch model, we used historical load data from 2006 to model electricity production and distribution for each of the three scenarios. Solar PV electric output was estimated using historical weather data from 2006. To bridge the gap between dispatch and air quality modeling, we will create emission profiles for electricity generating units (EGUs) in the Eastern Interconnection from historical Continuous Emissions Monitoring System (CEMS) data. Via those emissions profiles, we will create hourly emission data for EGUs in the Eastern Interconnect for each scenario during 2006. Those data will be incorporated in the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model using the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) model. Initial results indicate that PV

Emission factors of air toxics from semiconductor manufacturing in Korea.

PubMed

Eom, Yun-Sung; Hong, Ji-Hyung; Lee, Suk-Jo; Lee, Eun-Jung; Cha, Jun-Seok; Lee, Dae-Gyun; Bang, Sun-Ae

2006-11-01

The development of local, accurate emission factors is very important for the estimation of reliable national emissions and air quality management. For that, this study is performed for pollutants released to the atmosphere with source-specific emission tests from the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The semiconductor manufacturing industry is one of the major sources of air toxics or hazardous air pollutants (HAPs); thus, understanding the emission characteristics of the emission source is a very important factor in the development of a control strategy. However, in Korea, there is a general lack of information available on air emissions from the semiconductor industry. The major emission sources of air toxics examined from the semiconductor manufacturing industry were wet chemical stations, coating applications, gaseous operations, photolithography, and miscellaneous devices in the wafer fabrication and semiconductor packaging processes. In this study, analyses of emission characteristics, and the estimations of emission data and factors for air toxics, such as acids, bases, heavy metals, and volatile organic compounds from the semiconductor manufacturing process have been performed. The concentration of hydrogen chloride from the packaging process was the highest among all of the processes. In addition, the emission factor of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) for the packaging process was higher than that of the wafer fabrication process. Emission factors estimated in this study were compared with those of Taiwan for evaluation, and they were found to be of similar level in the case of TVOCs and fluorine compounds.

The state of ambient air quality in Pakistan--a review.

PubMed

Colbeck, Ian; Nasir, Zaheer Ahmad; Ali, Zulfiqar

2010-01-01

Pakistan, during the last decade, has seen an extensive escalation in population growth, urbanization, and industrialization, together with a great increase in motorization and energy use. As a result, a substantial rise has taken place in the types and number of emission sources of various air pollutants. However, due to the lack of air quality management capabilities, the country is suffering from deterioration of air quality. Evidence from various governmental organizations and international bodies has indicated that air pollution is a significant risk to the environment, quality of life, and health of the population. The Government has taken positive steps toward air quality management in the form of the Pakistan Clean Air Program and has recently established a small number of continuous monitoring stations. However, ambient air quality standards have not yet been established. This paper reviews the data being available on the criteria air pollutants: particulate matter (PM), sulfur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and lead. Air pollution studies in Pakistan published in both scientific journals and by the Government have been reviewed and the reported concentrations of PM, SO(2), O(3), CO, NO(2), and Pb collated. A comparison of the levels of these air pollutants with the World Health Organization air quality guidelines was carried out. Particulate matter was the most serious air pollutant in the country. NO(2) has emerged as the second high-risk pollutant. The reported levels of PM, SO(2), CO, NO(2), and Pb were many times higher than the World Health Organization air quality guidelines. Only O(3) concentrations were below the guidelines. The current state of air quality calls for immediate action to tackle the poor air quality. The establishment of ambient air quality standards, an extension of the continuous monitoring sites, and the development of emission control strategies are essential.

Emissions of terpenoids, benzenoids, and other biogenic gas-phase organic compounds from agricultural crops and their potential implications for air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gentner, D. R.; Ormeño, E.; Fares, S.; Ford, T. B.; Weber, R.; Park, J.-H.; Brioude, J.; Angevine, W. M.; Karlik, J. F.; Goldstein, A. H.

2014-06-01

Agriculture comprises a substantial, and increasing, fraction of land use in many regions of the world. Emissions from agricultural vegetation and other biogenic and anthropogenic sources react in the atmosphere to produce ozone and secondary organic aerosol, which comprises a substantial fraction of particulate matter (PM2.5). Using data from three measurement campaigns, we examine the magnitude and composition of reactive gas-phase organic carbon emissions from agricultural crops and their potential to impact regional air quality relative to anthropogenic emissions from motor vehicles in California's San Joaquin Valley, which is out of compliance with state and federal standards for tropospheric ozone PM2.5. Emission rates for a suite of terpenoid compounds were measured in a greenhouse for 25 representative crops from California in 2008. Ambient measurements of terpenoids and other biogenic compounds in the volatile and intermediate-volatility organic compound ranges were made in the urban area of Bakersfield and over an orange orchard in a rural area of the San Joaquin Valley during two 2010 seasons: summer and spring flowering. We combined measurements from the orchard site with ozone modeling methods to assess the net effect of the orange trees on regional ozone. When accounting for both emissions of reactive precursors and the deposition of ozone to the orchard, the orange trees are a net source of ozone in the springtime during flowering, and relatively neutral for most of the summer until the fall, when it becomes a sink. Flowering was a major emission event and caused a large increase in emissions including a suite of compounds that had not been measured in the atmosphere before. Such biogenic emission events need to be better parameterized in models as they have significant potential to impact regional air quality since emissions increase by several factors to over an order of magnitude. In regions like the San Joaquin Valley, the mass of biogenic

Data Quality Objectives Supporting Radiological Air Emissions Monitoring for the PNNL Richland Campus

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Snyder, Sandra F.; Moleta, Donna Grace L.; Meier, Kirsten M.

This is the second revision of the DQO Supporting Radiological Air Emissions Monitoring for the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Richland Campus. In January 2017, the PNNL Richland Campus expanded to the north by 0.35 km 2 (85.6 acres). Under the requirements of Washington State Department of Health Radioactive Air Emissions License (RAEL)-005, the PNNL Campus operates and maintains a radiological air monitoring program. This revision documents and evaluates the newly acquired acreage while also removing recreational land at the southwest, and also re-examines all active radioactive emission units on the PNNL Campus. No buildings are located on this new Campusmore » land, which was transferred from the U.S. DOE Hanford Site. Additionally, this revision includes information regarding the background monitoring station PNL-5 in Benton City, Washington, which became active in October 2016. The key purpose of this revision is to determine the adequacy of the existing environmental surveillance stations to monitor radiological air emissions in light of this northern boundary change.« less

The influence of ocean halogen and sulfur emissions in the air quality of a coastal megacity: The case of Los Angeles.

PubMed

Muñiz-Unamunzaga, Maria; Borge, Rafael; Sarwar, Golam; Gantt, Brett; de la Paz, David; Cuevas, Carlos A; Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso

2018-01-01

The oceans are the main source of natural halogen and sulfur compounds, which have a significant influence on the oxidizing capacity of the marine atmosphere; however, their impact on the air quality of coastal cities is currently unknown. We explore the effect of marine halogens (Cl, Br and I) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) on the air quality of a large coastal city through a set of high-resolution (4-km) air quality simulations for the urban area of Los Angeles, US, using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ model). The results indicate that marine halogen emissions decrease ozone and nitrogen dioxide levels up to 5ppbv and 2.5ppbv, respectively, in the city of Los Angeles. Previous studies suggested that the inclusion of chlorine in air quality models leads to the generation of ozone in urban areas through photolysis of nitryl chloride (ClNO 2 ). However, we find that when considering the chemistry of Cl, Br and I together the net effect is a reduction of surface ozone concentrations. Furthermore, combined ocean emissions of halogens and DMS cause substantial changes in the levels of key urban atmospheric oxidants such as OH, HO 2 and NO 3 , and in the composition and mass of fine particles. Although the levels of ozone, NO 3 and HO x are reduced, we find a 10% increase in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mean concentration, attributed to the increase in aerosol acidity and sulfate aerosol formation when combining DMS and bromine. Therefore, this new pathway for enhanced SOA formation may potentially help with current model under predictions of urban SOA. Although further observations and research are needed to establish these preliminary conclusions, this first city-scale investigation suggests that the inclusion of oceanic halogens and DMS in air quality models may improve regional air quality predictions over coastal cities around the world. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Air Quality Data Analysis System for Interrelating Effects, Standards and Needed Source Reductions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larsen, Ralph I.

1973-01-01

Makes recommendations for a single air quality data system (using average time) for interrelating air pollution effects, air quality standards, air quality monitoring, diffusion calculations, source-reduction calculations, and emission standards. (JR)

EVALUATING AND USING AIR QUALITY MODELS

EPA Science Inventory

Grid-based models are being used to assess the magnitude of the pollution problem and to design emission control strategies to achieve compliance with the relevant air quality standards in the United States.

Spatial Allocator for air quality modeling

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Spatial Allocator is a set of tools that helps users manipulate and generate data files related to emissions and air quality modeling without requiring the use of a commercial Geographic Information System.

Summary Report for the Workshop on Integrating Climate Change Adaption into Air Quality Decision Making

EPA Science Inventory

Over the past few decades, air quality planners have forecasted future air pollution levels based on information about changing emissions from stationary and mobile sources, population trends, transportation demand, natural sources of emissions, and other pressures on air quality...

Likelihood of achieving air quality targets under model uncertainties.

PubMed

Digar, Antara; Cohan, Daniel S; Cox, Dennis D; Kim, Byeong-Uk; Boylan, James W

2011-01-01

Regulatory attainment demonstrations in the United States typically apply a bright-line test to predict whether a control strategy is sufficient to attain an air quality standard. Photochemical models are the best tools available to project future pollutant levels and are a critical part of regulatory attainment demonstrations. However, because photochemical models are uncertain and future meteorology is unknowable, future pollutant levels cannot be predicted perfectly and attainment cannot be guaranteed. This paper introduces a computationally efficient methodology for estimating the likelihood that an emission control strategy will achieve an air quality objective in light of uncertainties in photochemical model input parameters (e.g., uncertain emission and reaction rates, deposition velocities, and boundary conditions). The method incorporates Monte Carlo simulations of a reduced form model representing pollutant-precursor response under parametric uncertainty to probabilistically predict the improvement in air quality due to emission control. The method is applied to recent 8-h ozone attainment modeling for Atlanta, Georgia, to assess the likelihood that additional controls would achieve fixed (well-defined) or flexible (due to meteorological variability and uncertain emission trends) targets of air pollution reduction. The results show that in certain instances ranking of the predicted effectiveness of control strategies may differ between probabilistic and deterministic analyses.

Advanced emissions-speciation methodologies for the auto/oil air-quality improvement research program. 2. Aldehydes, ketones, and alcohols. SAE technical paper series

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Swarin, S.J.; Loo, J.F.; Chladek, E.

1992-01-01

Analytical methods for determining individual aldehyde, ketone, and alcohol emissions from gasoline-, methanol-, and variable-fueled vehicles are described. These methods were used in the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program to provide emission data for comparison of individual reformulated fuels, individual vehicles, and for air modeling studies. The emission samples are collected in impingers which contain either 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine solution for the aldehydes and ketones or deionized water for the alcohols. Subsequent analyses by liquid chromatography for the aldehydes and ketones and gas chromatography for the alcohols utilized auto injectors and computerized data systems which permit high sample throughput with minimalmore » operator intervention. The quality control procedures developed and interlaboratory comparisons conducted as part of the program are also described. (Copyright (c) 1992 Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc.)« less

Quantifying Co-benefits of Renewable Energy through Integrated Electricity and Air Quality Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abel, D.

2016-12-01

This work focuses on the coordination of electricity sector changes with air quality and health improvement strategies through the integration of electricity and air quality models. Two energy models are used to calculate emission perturbations associated with changes in generation technology (20% generation from solar photovoltaics) and demand (future electricity use under a warmer climate). Impacts from increased solar PV penetration are simulated with the electricity model GridView, in collaboration with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Generation results are used to scale power plant emissions from an inventory developed by the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO). Perturbed emissions and are used to calculate secondary particulate matter with the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. We find that electricity NOx and SO2 emissions decrease at a rate similar to the total fraction of electricity supplied by solar. Across the Eastern U.S. region, average PM2.5 is reduced 5% over the summer, with highest reduction in regions and on days of greater PM2.5. A similar approach evaluates the air quality impacts of elevated electricity demand under a warmer climate. Meteorology is selected from the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP) and input to a building energy model, eQUEST, to assess electricity demand as a function of ambient temperature. The associated generation and emissions are calculated on a plant-by-plant basis by the MyPower power sector model. These emissions are referenced to the 2011 National Emissions Inventory to be modeled in CMAQ for the Eastern U.S. and extended to health impact evaluation with the Environmental Benefits Mapping and Analysis Program (BenMAP). All results focus on the air quality and health consequences of energy system changes, considering grid-level changes to meet climate and air quality goals.

Air quality in Delhi during the CommonWealth Games

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marrapu, P.; Cheng, Y.; Beig, G.; Sahu, S.; Srinivas, R.; Carmichael, G. R.

2014-04-01

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

Evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model version 5.1

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) of the U.S. Environment...

Quantifying the effectiveness of air quality mitigation measures.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-01-01

Before Caltrans can deliver any transportation project, the potential air quality impacts from the operation : of the project must be disclosed in its environmental document. If the air emissions are deemed : significant or would contribute to a viol...

Emissions Inventory of Anthropogenic PM2.5 and PM10 in Mega city, Delhi, India for Air Quality Forecasting during CWG- 2010

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sahu, S.; Beig, G.; Schultz, M.; Parkhi, N.; Stein, O.

2012-04-01

The mega city of Delhi is the second largest urban agglomeration in India with 16.7 mio. inhabitants. Delhi has the highest per capita power consumption of electricity in India and the demand has risen by more than 50% during the last decade. Emissions from commercial, power, domestic and industrial sectors have strongly increased causing more and more environmental problems due to air pollution and its adverse impacts on human health. Particulate matter (PM) of size less than 2.5-micron (PM2.5) and 10 micron (PM10) have emerged as primary pollutants of concern due to their adverse impact on human health. As part of the System of Air quality Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) project developed for air quality forecasting during the Commonwealth Games (CWG) - 2010, a high resolution Emission Inventory (EI) of PM10 and PM2.5 has been developed for the metropolitan city Delhi for the year 2010. The comprehensive inventory involves detailed activity data and has been developed for a domain of 70km×65km with a 1.67km×1.67km resolution covering Delhi and its surrounding region (i.e. National Capital Region (NCR)). In creating this inventory, Geographical Information System (GIS) based techniques were used for the first time in India. The major sectors considered are, transport, thermal power plants, industries, residential and commercial cooking along with windblown road dust which is found to play a major role for the megacity environment. Extensive surveys were conducted among the Delhi slum dwellers (Jhuggi) in order to obtain more robust estimates for the activity data related to domestic cooking and heating. Total emissions of PM10 and PM2.5 including wind blown dust over the study area are found to be 236 Gg/yr and 94 Gg/yr respectively. About half of the PM10 emissions stem from windblown road dust. The new emission inventory has been used for regional air quality forecasts in the Delhi region during the Commonwealth games (SAFAR project), and they will soon be

"Changes in US Regional Air Quality at 2030 Simulated Using RCP 6.0"

EPA Science Inventory

Recent improvements in air quality in the United States have been due to significant reductions in emissions of ozone and particulate matter (PM) precursors, and these downward emissions trends are expected to continue in the next few decades. To ensure that planned air quality ...

The impact of traffic emissions on air quality in the Berlin-Brandenburg region - a case study on cycling scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuik, F.; Lauer, A.; von Schneidemesser, E.; Butler, T. M.

2016-12-01

Many European cities continue to struggle with exceedances of NO2 limit values at measurement sites near roads, of which a large contribution is attributed to emissions from traffic. In this study, we explore how urban air quality can be improved with different traffic measures using the example of the Berlin-Brandenburg region. In order to simulate urban background air quality we use the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry (WRF-Chem) at a horizontal resolution of 1km. We use emission input data at a horizontal resolution of 1km obtained by downscaling TNO-MACC III emissions based on local proxy data including population and traffic densities. In addition we use a statistical approach combining the simulated urban background concentrations with information on traffic densities to estimate NO2 at street level. This helps assessing whether the emission scenarios studied here can lead to significant reductions in NO2 concentrations at street level. The emission scenarios in this study represent a range of scenarios in which car traffic is replaced with bicycle traffic. Part of this study was an initial discussion phase with stakeholders, including policy makers and NGOs. The discussions have shown that the different stakeholders are interested in a scientific assessment of the impact of replacing car traffic with bicycle traffic in the Berlin-Brandenburg urban area. Local policy makers responsible for city planning and implementing traffic measures can make best use of scientific modeling results if input data and scenarios are as realistic as possible. For these reasons, the scenarios cover very idealized optimistic ("all passenger cars are replaced by bicycles") and pessimistic ("all cyclists are replaced by cars") scenarios to explore the sensitivity of simulated urban background air quality to these changes, as well as additional scenarios based on city-specific data to analyze more realistic situations. Of particular interest is how these impact

Observational Needs for Four-Dimensional Air Quality Characterization

EPA Science Inventory

Surface-based monitoring programs provide the foundation for associating air pollution and causal effects in human health studies, and they support the development of air quality standards and the preparation of emission reduction strategies. While surface oriented networks remai...

Global Scenarios of Air Pollution until 2030: Combining Air Quality, Climate Change and Energy Access Policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rao, S.; Dentener, F. J.; Klimont, Z.; Riahi, K.

2011-12-01

Outdoor air pollution is increasingly recognized as a significant contributor to global health outcomes. This has led to the implementation of a number of air quality policies worldwide, with total air pollution control costs in 2005 estimated at US$195 billion. More than 80% of the world's population is still found to be exposed to PM2.5 concentrations exceeding WHO air quality guidelines and health impacts resulting from these exposures estimated at around 2-5% of the global disease burden. Key questions to answer are 1) How will pollutant emissions evolve in the future given developments in the energy system and how will energy and environmental policies influence such emission trends. 2) What implications will this have for resulting exposures and related health outcomes. In order to answer these questions, varying levels of stringency of air quality legislation are analyzed in combination with policies on universal access to clean cooking fuels and limiting global temperature change to 2°C in 2100. Bottom-up methodologies using energy emissions modeling are used to derive sector-based pollutant emission trajectories until 2030. Emissions are spatially downscaled and used in combination with a global transport chemistry model to derive ambient concentrations of PM2.5. Health impacts of these exposures are further estimated consistent with WHO data and methodology. The results indicate that currently planned air quality legislation combined with rising energy demand will be insufficient in controlling future emissions growth in developing countries. In order to achieve significant reductions in pollutant emissions of the order of more than 50% from 2005 levels and reduce exposures to levels consistent with WHO standards, it will be necessary to increase the stringency of such legislations and combine them with policies on energy access and climate change. Combined policies also result in reductions in air pollution control costs as compared to those associated

Impact of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) for ship traffic on the future air quality in the Baltic Sea region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karl, Matthias; Geyer, Beate; Bieser, Johannes; Matthias, Volker; Quante, Markus; Jalkanen, Jukka-Pekka; Johansson, Lasse; Fridell, Erik

2017-04-01

Deposition of nitrogen compounds originating from shipping activities contribute to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and coastal areas in the Baltic Sea region. Emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from shipping on the Baltic Sea are comparable to the combined land-based emissions of NOx from Finland and Sweden and have been relatively stable over the last decade. However, expected future growth of maritime transport will result in higher fuel consumption and, if not compensated by increased transport efficiency or other measures, lead to higher total emissions of NOx from shipping. For the Baltic Sea a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) will become effective in 2021 - permitting only new built ships that are compliant with stringent Tier III emission limits - with the target of reducing NOx-emissions. In order to study the effect of implementing a Baltic Sea NECA-2021 on air quality and nitrogen deposition two future scenarios were designed; one with implementation of a NECA for the Baltic Sea starting in 2021 and another with no NECA implemented. The same increase of ship traffic was assumed for both future scenarios. Since complete fleet renewal with low NOx-emitting engines is not expected until 20-30 years after the NECA entry date, year 2040 was chosen as future scenario year. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate the current and future air quality situation. The nested simulation runs with CMAQ were performed on a horizontal resolution of 4 km × 4 km for the entire Baltic Sea region. The meteorological year 2012 was chosen for the simulation of the current and future air quality situation since the 2m-temperature and precipitation anomalies of 2012 are closely aligned to the 2004-2014 decadal average over Baltic Proper. High-resolution meteorology obtained from COSMO-CLM was used for the regional simulations. Ship emissions were generated with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM) by the Finnish Meteorological

Derivation of a New Smoke Emissions Inventory using Remote Sensing, and Its Implications for Near Real-Time Air Quality Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ellison, Luke; Ichoku, Charles

2012-01-01

A new emissions inventory of particulate matter (PM) is being derived mainly from remote sensing data using fire radiative power (FRP) and aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, as well as wind data from the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) reanalysis dataset, which spans the satellite era. This product is generated using a coefficient of emission, C(sub e), that has been produced on a 1x1 degree global grid such that, when it is multiplied with satellite measurements of FRP or its time-integrated equivalent fire radiative energy (FRE) retrieved over a given area and time period, the corresponding PM emissions are estimated. This methodology of using C(sub e) to derive PM emissions is relatively new and advantageous for near real-time air quality applications compared to current methods based on post-fire burned area that may not provide emissions in a timely manner. Furthermore, by using FRP to characterize a fire s output, it will represent better accuracy than the use of raw fire pixel counts, since fires in individual pixels can differ in size and strength by orders of magnitude, resulting in similar differences in emission rates. Here we will show examples of this effect and how this new emission inventory can properly account for the differing emission rates from fires of varying strengths. We also describe the characteristics of the new emissions inventory, and propose the process chain of incorporating it into models for air quality applications.

Increasing Anthropogenic Emissions in China Offset Air Quality Policy Efforts in Western United States: A Satellite and Modelling Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boersma, F. F.; Verstraeten, W. W.; Williams, J. E.; Neu, J. L.; Bowman, K. W.; Worden, J.

2014-12-01

Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas and a global air pollutant originating from photo-chemical oxidation of ozone precursors in the presence of NOX. Eastern Asia has the fastest growing anthropogenic emissions in the world, possibly affecting both the pollution in the local troposphere as well as in the trans-Pacific region. Local measurements over Asia show that tropospheric ozone has increased by 1 to 3% per year since the start of the millennium. This increase is often invoked to explain positive ozone trends observed in western United States, but to date there is no unambiguous evidence showing that enhanced Asian pollution is responsible for these trends. Here we interpret satellite measurements of tropospheric ozone and its precursor nitrate dioxide from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) using the TM5 global chemistry-transport model to directly show that tropospheric ozone over China has increased by ~10% from 2005-2010 in response to both a ~15% rise in Chinese emissions and an increased downward ozone transport from the stratosphere. What is more, we demonstrate that Chinese export of ozone and its precursors have offset one-third of the reduction in free tropospheric ozone over the western United States that should have occurred during 2005-2010 via emissions reductions associated with air quality policies in the United States. The issue of export and long-range transport of pollution from other countries indicates that global efforts may be required to address both the global as well as the regional air quality and climate change.

75 FR 11461 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Minnesota

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-11

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Minnesota AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.... Because the PM 10 emission limits are being reduced, the air quality of Ramsey County will be protected... culpable source in the Childs Road area's nonattainment of the PM 10 National Ambient Air Quality Standards...

Analysis of air quality in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

PubMed

Kasim, Oluwasinaayomi Faith; Woldetisadik Abshare, Muluneh; Agbola, Samuel Babatunde

2017-12-07

Ambient air quality was monitored and analyzed to develop air quality index and its implications for livability and climate change in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia. Using survey research design, 16 georeferenced locations, representing different land uses, were randomly selected and assessed for sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO),volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and meteorological parameters (temperature and relative humidity). The study found mean concentrations across all land uses for SO 2 of 0.37 ± 0.08 ppm, NO 2 of 0.13 ± 0.17 ppm, CO 2 of 465.65 ± 28.63 ppm, CO of 3.35 ± 2.04 ppm, and VOCs of 1850.67 ± 402 ppm. An air quality index indicated that ambient air quality for SO 2 was very poor, NO 2 ranged from moderate to very poor, whereas CO rating was moderate. Significant positive correlations existed between temperature and NO 2 , CO 2 , and CO and between humidity and VOCs. Significant relationships were also recorded between CO 2 and NO 2 and between CO and CO 2 . Poor urban planning, inadequate pollution control measure, and weak capacity to monitor air quality have implications for energy usage, air quality, and local meteorological parameters, with subsequent feedback into global climate change. Implementation of programs to monitor and control emissions in order to reduce air pollution will provide health, economic, and environmental benefits to the city. The need to develop and implement emission control programs to reduce air pollution in Dire Dawa City is urgent. This will provide enormous economic, health, and environmental benefits. It is expected that economic effects of air quality improvement will offset the expenditures for pollution control. Also, strategies that focus on air quality and climate change present a unique opportunity to engage different stakeholders in providing inclusive and sustainable development agenda for Dire Dawa.

75 FR 15648 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Texas; Revisions to the Discrete...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-30

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Texas; Revisions to the Discrete Emission Credit Banking and... Air Quality Rules, Subchapter H--Emissions Banking and Trading, Division 4--Discrete Emission Credit Banking and Trading, referred to elsewhere in this notice as the Discrete Emission Reduction Credit (DERC...

Impact of inherent meteorology uncertainty on air quality model predictions

EPA Science Inventory

It is well established that there are a number of different classifications and sources of uncertainties in environmental modeling systems. Air quality models rely on two key inputs, namely, meteorology and emissions. When using air quality models for decision making, it is impor...

Mississippi SIP: Title 11, Part 2, Chapter 1 - Air Emission Regulations for the Prevention, Abatement and Control of Air Contaminents

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Air Emission Regulations for the Prevention, Abatement and Control of Air Contaminents for areas involved in ambient air quality standards & regulations in MS + where to obtain copies of referenced federal regulations

A review of biomass burning: Emissions and impacts on air quality, health and climate in China.

PubMed

Chen, Jianmin; Li, Chunlin; Ristovski, Zoran; Milic, Andelija; Gu, Yuantong; Islam, Mohammad S; Wang, Shuxiao; Hao, Jiming; Zhang, Hefeng; He, Congrong; Guo, Hai; Fu, Hongbo; Miljevic, Branka; Morawska, Lidia; Thai, Phong; Lam, Yun Fat; Pereira, Gavin; Ding, Aijun; Huang, Xin; Dumka, Umesh C

2017-02-01

Biomass burning (BB) is a significant air pollution source, with global, regional and local impacts on air quality, public health and climate. Worldwide an extensive range of studies has been conducted on almost all the aspects of BB, including its specific types, on quantification of emissions and on assessing its various impacts. China is one of the countries where the significance of BB has been recognized, and a lot of research efforts devoted to investigate it, however, so far no systematic reviews were conducted to synthesize the information which has been emerging. Therefore the aim of this work was to comprehensively review most of the studies published on this topic in China, including literature concerning field measurements, laboratory studies and the impacts of BB indoors and outdoors in China. In addition, this review provides insights into the role of wildfire and anthropogenic BB on air quality and health globally. Further, we attempted to provide a basis for formulation of policies and regulations by policy makers in China. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Air quality co-benefits of carbon pricing in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Mingwei; Zhang, Da; Li, Chiao-Ting; Mulvaney, Kathleen M.; Selin, Noelle E.; Karplus, Valerie J.

2018-05-01

Climate policies targeting energy-related CO2 emissions, which act on a global scale over long time horizons, can result in localized, near-term reductions in both air pollution and adverse human health impacts. Focusing on China, the largest energy-using and CO2-emitting nation, we develop a cross-scale modelling approach to quantify these air quality co-benefits, and compare them to the economic costs of climate policy. We simulate the effects of an illustrative climate policy, a price on CO2 emissions. In a policy scenario consistent with China's recent pledge to reach a peak in CO2 emissions by 2030, we project that national health co-benefits from improved air quality would partially or fully offset policy costs depending on chosen health valuation. Net health co-benefits are found to rise with increasing policy stringency.

75 FR 76332 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Illinois

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-08

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Illinois AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA... attaining the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The State's NO X RACT waiver... classification of an area. The air quality planning and control requirements for the reduction of NO X emissions...

Air pollution response to changing weather and power plant emissions in the eastern United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bloomer, Bryan Jaye

Air pollution in the eastern United States causes human sickness and death as well as damage to crops and materials. NOX emission reduction is observed to improve air quality. Effectively reducing pollution in the future requires understanding the connections between smog, precursor emissions, weather, and climate change. Numerical models predict global warming will exacerbate smog over the next 50 years. My analysis of 21 years of CASTNET observations quantifies a climate change penalty. I calculate, for data collected prior to 2002, a climate penalty factor of ˜3.3 ppb O3/°C across the power plant dominated receptor regions in the rural, eastern U.S. Recent reductions in NOX emissions decreased the climate penalty factor to ˜2.2 ppb O3/°C. Prior to 1995, power plant emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOX were estimated with fuel sampling and analysis methods. Currently, emissions are measured with continuous monitoring equipment (CEMS) installed directly in stacks. My comparison of the two methods show CO 2 and SO2 emissions are ˜5% lower when inferred from fuel sampling; greater differences are found for NOX emissions. CEMS are the method of choice for emission inventories and commodity trading and should be the standard against which other methods are evaluated for global greenhouse gas trading policies. I used CEMS data and applied chemistry transport modeling to evaluate improvements in air quality observed by aircraft during the North American electrical blackout of 2003. An air quality model produced substantial reductions in O3, but not as much as observed. The study highlights weaknesses in the model as commonly used for evaluating a single day event and suggests areas for further investigation. A new analysis and visualization method quantifies local-daily to hemispheric-seasonal scale relationships between weather and air pollution, confirming improved air quality despite increasing temperatures across the eastern U.S. Climate penalty factors indicate

Health effects of SRS non-radiological air emissions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stewart, J.

1997-06-16

This report examines the potential health effects of non radiological emissions to the air resulting from operations at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The scope of this study was limited to the 55 air contaminants for which the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has quantified risk by determining unit risk factors (excess cancer risks) and/or reference concentrations (deleterious non cancer risks). Potential health impacts have been assessed in relation to the maximally exposed individual. This is a hypothetical person who resides for a lifetime at the SRS boundary. The most recent (1994) quality assured SRS emissions data available were used.more » Estimated maximum site boundary concentrations of the air contaminants were calculated using air dispersion modeling and 24-hour and annual averaging times. For the emissions studied, the excess cancer risk was found to be less than the generally accepted risk level of 1 in 100,000 and, in most cases, was less than 1 in 1,000,000. Deleterious non cancer effects were also found to be very unlikely.« less

Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana (REACCTING): study rationale and protocol.

PubMed

Dickinson, Katherine L; Kanyomse, Ernest; Piedrahita, Ricardo; Coffey, Evan; Rivera, Isaac J; Adoctor, James; Alirigia, Rex; Muvandimwe, Didier; Dove, MacKenzie; Dukic, Vanja; Hayden, Mary H; Diaz-Sanchez, David; Abisiba, Adoctor Victor; Anaseba, Dominic; Hagar, Yolanda; Masson, Nicholas; Monaghan, Andrew; Titiati, Atsu; Steinhoff, Daniel F; Hsu, Yueh-Ya; Kaspar, Rachael; Brooks, Bre'Anna; Hodgson, Abraham; Hannigan, Michael; Oduro, Abraham Rexford; Wiedinmyer, Christine

2015-02-12

Cooking over open fires using solid fuels is both common practice throughout much of the world and widely recognized to contribute to human health, environmental, and social problems. The public health burden of household air pollution includes an estimated four million premature deaths each year. To be effective and generate useful insight into potential solutions, cookstove intervention studies must select cooking technologies that are appropriate for local socioeconomic conditions and cooking culture, and include interdisciplinary measurement strategies along a continuum of outcomes. REACCTING (Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana) is an ongoing interdisciplinary randomized cookstove intervention study in the Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana. The study tests two types of biomass burning stoves that have the potential to meet local cooking needs and represent different "rungs" in the cookstove technology ladder: a locally-made low-tech rocket stove and the imported, highly efficient Philips gasifier stove. Intervention households were randomized into four different groups, three of which received different combinations of two improved stoves, while the fourth group serves as a control for the duration of the study. Diverse measurements assess different points along the causal chain linking the intervention to final outcomes of interest. We assess stove use and cooking behavior, cooking emissions, household air pollution and personal exposure, health burden, and local to regional air quality. Integrated analysis and modeling will tackle a range of interdisciplinary science questions, including examining ambient exposures among the regional population, assessing how those exposures might change with different technologies and behaviors, and estimating the comparative impact of local behavior and technological changes versus regional climate variability and change on local air quality and health outcomes

Speed estimation for air quality analysis.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2005-05-01

Average speed is an essential input to the air quality analysis model MOBILE6 for emission factor calculation. Traditionally, speed is obtained from travel demand models. However, such models are not usually calibrated to speeds. Furthermore, for rur...

Urban compaction or dispersion? An air quality modelling study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martins, Helena

2012-07-01

Urban sprawl is altering the landscape, with current trends pointing to further changes in land use that will, in turn, lead to changes in population, energy consumption, atmospheric emissions and air quality. Urban planners have debated on the most sustainable urban structure, with arguments in favour and against urban compaction and dispersion. However, it is clear that other areas of expertise have to be involved. Urban air quality and human exposure to atmospheric pollutants as indicators of urban sustainability can contribute to the discussion, namely through the study of the relation between urban structure and air quality. This paper addresses the issue by analysing the impacts of alternative urban growth patterns on the air quality of Porto urban region in Portugal, through a 1-year simulation with the MM5-CAMx modelling system. This region has been experiencing one of the highest European rates of urban sprawl, and at the same time presents a poor air quality. As part of the modelling system setup, a sensitivity study was conducted regarding different land use datasets and spatial distribution of emissions. Two urban development scenarios were defined, SPRAWL and COMPACT, together with their new land use and emission datasets; then meteorological and air quality simulations were performed. Results reveal that SPRAWL land use changes resulted in an average temperature increase of 0.4 °C, with local increases reaching as high as 1.5 °C. SPRAWL results also show an aggravation of PM10 annual average values and an increase in the exceedances to the daily limit value. For ozone, differences between scenarios were smaller, with SPRAWL presenting larger concentration differences than COMPACT. Finally, despite the higher concentrations found in SPRAWL, population exposure to the pollutants is higher for COMPACT because more inhabitants are found in areas of highest concentration levels.

A shift in emission time profiles of fossil fuel combustion due to energy transitions impacts source receptor matrices for air quality.

PubMed

Hendriks, Carlijn; Kuenen, Jeroen; Kranenburg, Richard; Scholz, Yvonne; Schaap, Martijn

2015-03-01

Effective air pollution and short-lived climate forcer mitigation strategies can only be designed when the effect of emission reductions on pollutant concentrations and health and ecosystem impacts are quantified. Within integrated assessment modeling source-receptor relationships (SRRs) based on chemistry transport modeling are used to this end. Currently, these SRRs are made using invariant emission time profiles. The LOTOS-EUROS model equipped with a source attribution module was used to test this assumption for renewable energy scenarios. Renewable energy availability and thereby fossil fuel back up are strongly dependent on meteorological conditions. We have used the spatially and temporally explicit energy model REMix to derive time profiles for backup power generation. These time profiles were used in LOTOS-EUROS to investigate the effect of emission timing on air pollutant concentrations and SRRs. It is found that the effectiveness of emission reduction in the power sector is significantly lower when accounting for the shift in the way emissions are divided over the year and the correlation of emissions with synoptic situations. The source receptor relationships also changed significantly. This effect was found for both primary and secondary pollutants. Our results indicate that emission timing deserves explicit attention when assessing the impacts of system changes on air quality and climate forcing from short lived substances.

[Implementation results of emission standards of air pollutants for thermal power plants: a numerical simulation].

PubMed

Wang, Zhan-Shan; Pan, Li-Bo

2014-03-01

The emission inventory of air pollutants from the thermal power plants in the year of 2010 was set up. Based on the inventory, the air quality of the prediction scenarios by implementation of both 2003-version emission standard and the new emission standard were simulated using Models-3/CMAQ. The concentrations of NO2, SO2, and PM2.5, and the deposition of nitrogen and sulfur in the year of 2015 and 2020 were predicted to investigate the regional air quality improvement by the new emission standard. The results showed that the new emission standard could effectively improve the air quality in China. Compared with the implementation results of the 2003-version emission standard, by 2015 and 2020, the area with NO2 concentration higher than the emission standard would be reduced by 53.9% and 55.2%, the area with SO2 concentration higher than the emission standard would be reduced by 40.0%, the area with nitrogen deposition higher than 1.0 t x km(-2) would be reduced by 75.4% and 77.9%, and the area with sulfur deposition higher than 1.6 t x km(-2) would be reduced by 37.1% and 34.3%, respectively.

Evaluating Regional-Scale Air Quality Models

EPA Science Inventory

Numerical air quality models are being used to understand the complex interplay among emission loading meteorology, and atmospheric chemistry leading to the formation and accumulation of pollutants in the atmosphere. A model evaluation framework is presented here that considers ...

The Contribution of Marine Organics to the Air Quality of the Western United States

EPA Science Inventory

The contribution of marine organic emissions to the air quality in coastal areas of the western United States is studied using the latest version of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional-scale Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQv4.7) modeling system. Emissions ...

Hybrid Air Quality Modeling Approach For Use in the Near ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Near-road EXposures to Urban air pollutant Study (NEXUS) investigated whether children with asthma living in close proximity to major roadways in Detroit, MI, (particularly near roadways with high diesel traffic) have greater health impacts associated with exposure to air pollutants than those living farther away. A major challenge in such health and exposure studies is the lack of information regarding pollutant exposure characterization. Air quality modeling can provide spatially and temporally varying exposure estimates for examining relationships between traffic-related air pollutants and adverse health outcomes. This paper presents a hybrid air quality modeling approach and its application in NEXUS in order to provide spatial and temporally varying exposure estimates and identification of the mobile source contribution to the total pollutant exposure. Model-based exposure metrics, associated with local variations of emissions and meteorology, were estimated using a combination of the AERMOD and R-LINE dispersion models, local emission source information from the National Emissions Inventory, detailed road network locations and traffic activity, and meteorological data from the Detroit City Airport. The regional background contribution was estimated using a combination of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and the Space/Time Ordinary Kriging (STOK) model. To capture the near-road pollutant gradients, refined “mini-grids” of model recep

Air quality, primary air pollutants and ambient concentrations inventory for Romania

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Năstase, Gabriel; Șerban, Alexandru; Năstase, Alina Florentina; Dragomir, George; Brezeanu, Alin Ionuț

2018-07-01

Air pollution is among the greatest risk factors for human health, but it also poses risks to the food security, the economy and the environment. The majority of the pollutants emitted by human activities derive from the production and use of fossil-fuel-based energy. Most energy-related emissions contain sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. The principal source of sulfur dioxide originates from coal, and the main sources of nitrogen oxide emissions are power generation and use of vehicles. Other important pollutants are the inhalable coarse particles (PM10) and the fine particulate matter (PM2.5), which arises from the building sector. Over the last decade, since Romania joined the European Union on the 1st of January 2007, the use of fossil fuels has decreased dramatically, as consumers switched to either natural gas or biomass. This was as a result of the European Commission encouraging the member countries to make use of renewable sources (including biomass). To reduce the PM emissions, in April 2015 EC has extended the EcoDesign Directive to solid-fuel boilers and solid-fuel space heaters. The boilers need to generally meet certain requirements that will be introduced by 1 January 2020. In this article, we are highlighting the fluctuations in air pollution in Romania from the European WebDAB - EMAP database and trends in ambient concentrations of air pollutants using Romania's national air pollution monitoring network. Romania's Air Pollutants/Air Quality Monitoring Network consists of 142 automatic air quality monitoring stations. The results indicate that Romania's annual average mass emissions of CO decreased from 3186 Gg in 1990 to 774 in 2014 (decrease by <76%), SOx decreased from 1311 Gg-176 Gg (decrease by ∼60%), NOx decreased from 546 Gg to 218 (decrease by ∼87%), CO2 decreased from 66.226 Gg/year in 2007 to 38.916 Gg/year in 2014 (decrease by <41%).

Projecting Changes in Climate & Air Quality for the Southeastern U.S.

EPA Science Inventory

Recent improvements in air quality in the United States have been due to significant reductions in emissions of precursors of ozone and particulate matter (PM), and these downward emissions trends are expected to continue in the next few decades. To ensure that planned air quali...

Autonomous mobile platform for monitoring air emissions from industrial and municipal wastewater ponds.

PubMed

Fu, Long; Huda, Quamrul; Yang, Zheng; Zhang, Lucas; Hashisho, Zaher

2017-11-01

Significant amounts of volatile organic compounds and greenhouse gases are generated from wastewater lagoons and tailings ponds in Alberta, Canada. Accurate measurements of these air pollutants and greenhouse gases are needed to support management and regulatory decisions. A mobile platform was developed to measure air emissions from tailings pond in the oil sands region of Alberta. The mobile platform was tested in 2015 in a municipal wastewater treatment lagoon. With a flux chamber and a CO 2 /CH 4 sensor on board, the mobile platform was able to measure CO 2 and CH 4 emissions over two days at two different locations in the pond. Flux emission rates of CO 2 and CH 4 that were measured over the study period suggest the presence of aerobic and anaerobic zones in the wastewater treatment lagoon. The study demonstrated the capabilities of the mobile platform in measuring fugitive air emissions and identified the potential for the applications in air and water quality monitoring programs. The Mobile Platform demonstrated in this study has the ability to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from fugitive sources such as municipal wastewater lagoons. This technology can be used to measure emission fluxes from tailings ponds with better detection of spatial and temporal variations of fugitive emissions. Additional air and water sampling equipment could be added to the mobile platform for a broad range of air and water quality studies in the oil sands region of Alberta.

Air quality impacts of projections of natural gas-fired distributed generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horne, Jeremy R.; Carreras-Sospedra, Marc; Dabdub, Donald; Lemar, Paul; Nopmongcol, Uarporn; Shah, Tejas; Yarwood, Greg; Young, David; Shaw, Stephanie L.; Knipping, Eladio M.

2017-11-01

This study assesses the potential impacts on emissions and air quality from the increased adoption of natural gas-fired distributed generation of electricity (DG), including displacement of power from central power generation, in the contiguous United States. The study includes four major tasks: (1) modeling of distributed generation market penetration; (2) modeling of central power generation systems; (3) modeling of spatially and temporally resolved emissions; and (4) photochemical grid modeling to evaluate the potential air quality impacts of increased DG penetration, which includes both power-only DG and combined heat and power (CHP) units, for 2030. Low and high DG penetration scenarios estimate the largest penetration of future DG units in three regions - New England, New York, and California. Projections of DG penetration in the contiguous United States estimate 6.3 GW and 24 GW of market adoption in 2030 for the low DG penetration and high DG penetration scenarios, respectively. High DG penetration (all of which is natural gas-fired) serves to offset 8 GW of new natural gas combined cycle (NGCC) units, and 19 GW of solar photovoltaic (PV) installations by 2030. In all scenarios, air quality in the central United States and the northwest remains unaffected as there is little to no DG penetration in those states. California and several states in the northeast are the most impacted by emissions from DG units. Peak increases in maximum daily 8-h average ozone concentrations exceed 5 ppb, which may impede attainment of ambient air quality standards. Overall, air quality impacts from DG vary greatly based on meteorological conditions, proximity to emissions sources, the number and type of DG installations, and the emissions factors used for DG units.

Measurement of Ozone Emission and Particle Removal Rates from Portable Air Purifiers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mang, Stephen A.; Walser, Maggie L.; Nizkorodov, Sergey A.; Laux, John M.

2009-01-01

Portable air purifiers are popular consumer items, especially in areas with poor air quality. Unfortunately, most users of these air purifiers have minimal understanding of the factors affecting their efficiency in typical indoor settings. Emission of the air pollutant ozone (O[subscript 3]) by certain air purifiers is of particular concern. In an…

Evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Version 5.2

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Computational Exposure Division (CED) of the U.S. Environmental Pr...

Evaluation of the Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model Version 5.2

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Computational Exposure Division (CED) of the U.S. Environmental Pr...

75 FR 11503 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Minnesota

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-11

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Minnesota AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA... PM 10 emission limits are being reduced, the air quality of Ramsey County will be protected. DATES...: (312) 385-5501. 4. Mail: Genevieve Damico, Acting Chief, Criteria Pollutant Section, Air Programs...

Technical and Non-Technical Measures for air pollution emission reduction: The integrated assessment of the regional Air Quality Management Plans through the Italian national model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Elia, I.; Bencardino, M.; Ciancarella, L.; Contaldi, M.; Vialetto, G.

2009-12-01

The Italian Air Quality legislation underwent sweeping changes with the implementation of the 1996 European Air Quality Framework Directive when the Italian administrative Regions were entrusted with air quality management tasks. The most recent Regional Air Quality Management Plans (AQMPs) highlighted the importance of Non-Technical Measures (NTMs), in addition to Technical Measures (TMs), in meeting environmental targets. The aim of the present work is to compile a list of all the TMs and NTMs taken into account in the Italian Regional AQMPs and to give in the target year, 2010, an estimation of SO 2, NO x and PM 10 emission reductions, of PM 10 concentration and of the health impact of PM 2.5 concentrations in terms of Life Expectancy Reduction. In order to do that, RAINS-Italy, as part of the National Integrated Modeling system for International Negotiation on atmospheric pollution (MINNI), has been applied. The management of TMs and NTMs inside RAINS have often obliged both the introduction of exogenous driving force scenarios and the control strategy modification. This has inspired a revision of the many NTM definitions and a clear choice of the definition adopted. It was finally highlighted that only few TMs and NTMs implemented in the AQMPs represent effective measures in reaching the environmental targets.

Air Emission Inventory for the INEEL -- 1999 Emission Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zohner, Steven K

2000-05-01

This report presents the 1999 calendar year update of the Air Emission Inventory for the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). The INEEL Air Emission Inventory documents sources and emissions of nonradionuclide pollutants from operations at the INEEL. The report describes the emission inventory process and all of the sources at the INEEL, and provides nonradionuclide emissions estimates for stationary sources.

The impact of European measures to reduce air pollutants on air quality, human health and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turnock, S.; Butt, E. W.; Richardson, T.; Mann, G.; Forster, P.; Haywood, J. M.; Crippa, M.; Janssens-Maenhout, G. G. A.; Johnson, C.; Bellouin, N.; Spracklen, D. V.; Carslaw, K. S.; Reddington, C.

2015-12-01

European air quality legislation has reduced emissions of air pollutants across Europe since the 1970s, resulting in improved air quality and benefits to human health but also an unintended impact on regional climate. Here we used a coupled chemistry-climate model and a new policy relevant emission scenario to determine the impact of air pollutant emission reductions over Europe. The emission scenario shows that a combination of technological improvements and end-of-pipe abatement measures in the energy, industrial and road transport sectors reduced European emissions of sulphur dioxide, black carbon and organic carbon by 53%, 59% and 32% respectively. We estimate that these emission reductions decreased European annual mean concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 35%, sulphate by 44%, black carbon (BC) by 56% and particulate organic matter (POM) by 23%. The reduction in PM2.5 concentrations is calculated to have prevented 107,000 (40,000-172,000, 5-95% confidence intervals) premature deaths annually from cardiopulmonary disease and lung cancer across the EU member states. The decrease in aerosol concentrations caused a positive all-sky aerosol radiative forcing at the top of atmosphere over Europe of 2.3±0.06 W m-2 and a positive clear-sky forcing of 1.7±0.05 W m-2. Additionally, the amount of solar radiation incident at the surface over Europe increased by 3.3±0.07 W m-2 under all-sky and by 2.7±0.05 W m-2 under clear-sky conditions. Reductions in BC concentrations caused a 1 Wm-2 reduction in atmospheric absorption. We use an energy budget approximation to show that the aerosol induced radiative changes caused both temperature and precipitation to increase globally and over Europe. Our results show that the implementation of European legislation to reduce the emission of air pollutants has improved air quality and human health over Europe, as well as altered the regional radiative balance and climate.

The Benefits of Internalizing Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Externalities in the US Energy System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brown, Kristen E.

The emission of pollutants from energy use has effects on both local air quality and the global climate, but the price of energy does not reflect these externalities. This study aims to analyze the effect that internalizing these externalities in the cost of energy would have on the US energy system, emissions, and human health. In this study, we model different policy scenarios in which fees are added to emissions related to generation and use of energy. The fees are based on values of damages estimated in the literature and are applied to upstream and combustion emissions related to electricity generation, industrial energy use, transportation energy use, residential energy use, and commercial energy use. The energy sources and emissions are modeled through 2055 in five-year time steps. The emissions in 2045 are incorporated into a continental-scale atmospheric chemistry and transport model, CMAQ, to determine the change in air quality due to different emissions reduction scenarios. A benefit analysis tool, BenMAP, is used with the air quality results to determine the monetary benefit of emissions reductions related to the improved air quality. We apply fees to emissions associated with health impacts, climate change, and a combination of both. We find that the fees we consider lead to reductions in targeted emissions as well as co-reducing non-targeted emissions. For fees on the electric sector alone, health impacting pollutant (HIP) emissions reductions are achieved mainly through control devices while Greenhouse Gas (GHG) fees are addressed through changes in generation technologies. When sector specific fees are added, reductions come mainly from the industrial and electricity generation sectors, and are achieved through a mix of energy efficiency, increased use of renewables, and control devices. Air quality is improved in almost all areas of the country with fees, including when only GHG fees are applied. Air quality tends to improve more in regions with

Quantifying the air quality-CO2 tradeoff potential for airports

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashok, Akshay; Dedoussi, Irene C.; Yim, Steve H. L.; Balakrishnan, Hamsa; Barrett, Steven R. H.

2014-12-01

Aircraft movements on the airport surface are responsible for CO2 emissions that contribute to climate change and other emissions that affect air quality and human health. While the potential for optimizing aircraft surface movements to minimize CO2 emissions has been assessed, the implications of CO2 emissions minimization for air quality have not been quantified. In this paper, we identify conditions in which there is a tradeoff between CO2 emissions and population exposure to O3 and secondary PM2.5 - i.e. where decreasing fuel burn (which is directly proportional to CO2 emissions) results in increased exposure. Fuel burn and emissions are estimated as a function of thrust setting for five common gas turbine engines at 34 US airports. Regional air quality impacts, which are dominated by ozone and secondary PM2.5, are computed as a function of airport location and time using the adjoint of the GEOS-Chem chemistry-transport model. Tradeoffs between CO2 emissions and population exposure to PM2.5 and O3 occur between 2-18% and 5-60% of the year, respectively, depending on airport location, engine type, and thrust setting. The total duration of tradeoff conditions is 5-12 times longer at maximum thrust operations (typical for takeoff) relative to 4% thrust operations (typical for taxiing). Per kilogram of additional fuel burn at constant thrust setting during tradeoff conditions, reductions in population exposure to PM2.5 and O3 are 6-13% and 32-1060% of the annual average (positive) population exposure per kilogram fuel burn, where the ranges encompass the medians over the 34 airports. For fuel burn increases due to thrust increases (i.e. for constant operating time), reductions in both PM2.5 and O3 exposure are 1.5-6.4 times larger in magnitude than those due to increasing fuel burn at constant thrust (i.e. increasing operating time). Airports with relatively high population exposure reduction potentials - which occur due to a combination of high duration and

Bayesian Analysis of a Reduced-Form Air Quality Model

EPA Science Inventory

Numerical air quality models are being used for assessing emission control strategies for improving ambient pollution levels across the globe. This paper applies probabilistic modeling to evaluate the effectiveness of emission reduction scenarios aimed at lowering ground-level oz...

A Multiplatform Observations of Air Quality in Korea as the Pre-campaign of Korea and US Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) Study.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Park, J. H.; Hong, J.; Hong, Y.; Song, C. K.; Kim, S. K.; Chang, L. S.; Lim, J.; Ahn, J.; Kim, J. Y.; Han, Y. J.; Kim, J.; Park, R.; Lee, G.; Park, J.

2015-12-01

Despite the Korea government's efforts to regulate air pollutant emission for attaining the national air quality standard, current serious dust events and high ozone episodes in summer time remain important societal issues in Korea. In order to make effective policy for air quality attainment, it is contingent upon a thorough understanding of chemical production/loss mechanism of air pollutants and their precursors which drive air quality such as nitrogen oxides (NOX), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and oxidants (e.g. OH, HO2, RO, RO2, etc.). At present, policy development is constrained by a lack of data for broad suite of chemical species which significantly affect on air quality.During 4 weeks between May and June 2013, the pre-campaign for the Korea and U.S. Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) study took place in multiplatform including fifteen ground sites, one mobile laboratory, and one small air crafts. An integrated research activity covering field observations, chemical transport models, and remote sensing has been intensively conducted. This study was focused on studying photochemistry and nighttime chemistry in urban area and transboundary transport of air pollutants from upwind. Scientific overview and outcomes from the campaign will be presented.

Two reduced form air quality modeling techniques for rapidly calculating pollutant mitigation potential across many sources, locations and precursor emission types

EPA Science Inventory

Due to the computational cost of running regional-scale numerical air quality models, reduced form models (RFM) have been proposed as computationally efficient simulation tools for characterizing the pollutant response to many different types of emission reductions. The U.S. Envi...

The impact of European legislative and technology measures to reduce air pollutants on air quality, human health and climate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turnock, S. T.; Butt, E. W.; Richardson, T. B.; Mann, G. W.; Reddington, C. L.; Forster, P. M.; Haywood, J.; Crippa, M.; Janssens-Maenhout, G.; Johnson, C. E.; Bellouin, N.; Carslaw, K. S.; Spracklen, D. V.

2016-02-01

European air quality legislation has reduced emissions of air pollutants across Europe since the 1970s, affecting air quality, human health and regional climate. We used a coupled composition-climate model to simulate the impacts of European air quality legislation and technology measures implemented between 1970 and 2010. We contrast simulations using two emission scenarios; one with actual emissions in 2010 and the other with emissions that would have occurred in 2010 in the absence of technological improvements and end-of-pipe treatment measures in the energy, industrial and road transport sectors. European emissions of sulphur dioxide, black carbon (BC) and organic carbon in 2010 are 53%, 59% and 32% lower respectively compared to emissions that would have occurred in 2010 in the absence of legislative and technology measures. These emission reductions decreased simulated European annual mean concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 35%, sulphate by 44%, BC by 56% and particulate organic matter by 23%. The reduction in PM2.5 concentrations is calculated to have prevented 80 000 (37 000-116 000, at 95% confidence intervals) premature deaths annually across the European Union, resulting in a perceived financial benefit to society of US232 billion annually (1.4% of 2010 EU GDP). The reduction in aerosol concentrations due to legislative and technology measures caused a positive change in the aerosol radiative effect at the top of atmosphere, reduced atmospheric absorption and also increased the amount of solar radiation incident at the surface over Europe. We used an energy budget approximation to estimate that these changes in the radiative balance have increased European annual mean surface temperatures and precipitation by 0.45 ± 0.11 °C and by 13 ± 0.8 mm yr-1 respectively. Our results show that the implementation of European legislation and technological improvements to reduce the emission of air pollutants has improved air quality and human

Meteorological determinants of air quality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turoldo, F.; Del Frate, S.; Gallai, I.; Giaiotti, D. B.; Montanari, F.; Stel, F.; Goi, D.

2010-09-01

Air quality is the result of complex phenomena, among which the major role is played by human emissions of pollutants. Atmospheric processes act as determinants, e.g., modulating, dumping or amplifying the effects of emissions as an orchestra's director does with musical instruments. In this work, a series of small-scale and meso-scale meteorological determinants of air-quality are presented as they are observed in an area characterized by complex orography (Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the north-eastern side of Italy). In particular, attention is devoted to: i) meso-scale flows favouring the persistence of high concentrations of particulate matter; ii) meso-scale periodic flows (breezes) favouring high values of particulate matter; iii) local-scale thermodynamic behaviour favouring high atmospheric values of nitrogen oxides. The effects of these different classes of determinants are shown through comparisons between anthropic emissions (mainly traffic) and ground-based measurements. The relevance of complex orography (relatively steep relieves near to the sea) is shown for the meso-scale flows and, in particular, for local-scale periodic flows, which favour the increase of high pollutants concentrations mainly in summer, when the breezes regime is particularly relevant. Part of these results have been achieved through the ETS - Alpine Space EU project iMONITRAF!

30 CFR 250.302 - Definitions concerning air quality.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... and 250.304 of this part: Air pollutant means any combination of agents for which the Environmental... shown by monitored data or which is calculated by air quality modeling (or other methods determined by... standards established by EPA. Best available control technology (BACT) means an emission limitation based on...

Comparison of emissions inventories of anthropogenic air pollutants and greenhouse gases in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saikawa, Eri; Kim, Hankyul; Zhong, Min; Avramov, Alexander; Zhao, Yu; Janssens-Maenhout, Greet; Kurokawa, Jun-ichi; Klimont, Zbigniew; Wagner, Fabian; Naik, Vaishali; Horowitz, Larry W.; Zhang, Qiang

2017-05-01

Anthropogenic air pollutant emissions have been increasing rapidly in China, leading to worsening air quality. Modelers use emissions inventories to represent the temporal and spatial distribution of these emissions needed to estimate their impacts on regional and global air quality. However, large uncertainties exist in emissions estimates. Thus, assessing differences in these inventories is essential for the better understanding of air pollution over China. We compare five different emissions inventories estimating emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of 10 µm or less (PM10) from China. The emissions inventories analyzed in this paper include the Regional Emission inventory in ASia v2.1 (REAS), the Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), the Emission Database for Global Atmospheric Research v4.2 (EDGAR), the inventory by Yu Zhao (ZHAO), and the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS). We focus on the period between 2000 and 2008, during which Chinese economic activities more than doubled. In addition to national totals, we also analyzed emissions from four source sectors (industry, transport, power, and residential) and within seven regions in China (East, North, Northeast, Central, Southwest, Northwest, and South) and found that large disagreements exist among the five inventories at disaggregated levels. These disagreements lead to differences of 67 µg m-3, 15 ppbv, and 470 ppbv for monthly mean PM10, O3, and CO, respectively, in modeled regional concentrations in China. We also find that all the inventory emissions estimates create a volatile organic compound (VOC)-limited environment and MEIC emissions lead to much lower O3 mixing ratio in East and Central China compared to the simulations using REAS and EDGAR estimates, due to their low VOC emissions. Our results illustrate that a better

Importance of transboundary transport of biomass burning emissions to regional air quality in Southeast Asia during a high fire event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aouizerats, B.; van der Werf, G. R.; Balasubramanian, R.; Betha, R.

2015-01-01

Smoke from biomass and peat burning has a notable impact on ambient air quality and climate in the Southeast Asia (SEA) region. We modeled a large fire-induced haze episode in 2006 stemming mostly from Indonesia using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem). We focused on the evolution of the fire plume composition and its interaction with the urbanized area of the city state of Singapore, and on comparisons of modeled and measured aerosol and carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations. Two simulations were run with WRF-Chem using the complex volatility basis set (VBS) scheme to reproduce primary and secondary aerosol evolution and concentration. The first simulation referred to as WRF-FIRE included anthropogenic, biogenic and biomass burning emissions from the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED3) while the second simulation referred to as WRF-NOFIRE was run without emissions from biomass burning. To test model performance, we used three independent data sets for comparison including airborne measurements of particulate matter (PM) with a diameter of 10 μm or less (PM10) in Singapore, CO measurements in Sumatra, and aerosol optical depth (AOD) column observations from four satellite-based sensors. We found reasonable agreement between the model runs and both ground-based measurements of CO and PM10. The comparison with AOD was less favorable and indicated the model underestimated AOD, although the degree of mismatch varied between different satellite data sets. During our study period, forest and peat fires in Sumatra were the main cause of enhanced aerosol concentrations from regional transport over Singapore. Analysis of the biomass burning plume showed high concentrations of primary organic aerosols (POA) with values up to 600 μg m-3 over the fire locations. The concentration of POA remained quite stable within the plume between the main burning region and Singapore while the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) concentration

Air Quality Modeling | Air Quality Planning & Standards | US ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

2016-06-08

The basic mission of the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards is to preserve and improve the quality of our nation's air. One facet of accomplishing this goal requires that new and existing air pollution sources be modeled for compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

Improved Satellite-based Photosysnthetically Active Radiation (PAR) for Air Quality Studies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pour Biazar, A.; McNider, R. T.; Cohan, D. S.; White, A.; Zhang, R.; Dornblaser, B.; Doty, K.; Wu, Y.; Estes, M. J.

2015-12-01

One of the challenges in understanding the air quality over forested regions has been the uncertainties in estimating the biogenic hydrocarbon emissions. Biogenic volatile organic compounds, BVOCs, play a critical role in atmospheric chemistry, particularly in ozone and particulate matter (PM) formation. In southeastern United States, BVOCs (mostly as isoprene) are the dominant summertime source of reactive hydrocarbon. Despite significant efforts in improving BVOC estimates, the errors in emission inventories remain a concern. Since BVOC emissions are particularly sensitive to the available photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), model errors in PAR result in large errors in emission estimates. Thus, utilization of satellite observations to estimate PAR can help in reducing emission uncertainties. Satellite-based PAR estimates rely on the technique used to derive insolation from satellite visible brightness measurements. In this study we evaluate several insolation products against surface pyranometer observations and offer a bias correction to generate a more accurate PAR product. The improved PAR product is then used in biogenic emission estimates. The improved biogenic emission estimates are compared to the emission inventories over Texas and used in air quality simulation over the period of August-September 2013 (NASA's Discover-AQ field campaign). A series of sensitivity simulations will be performed and evaluated against Discover-AQ observations to test the impact of satellite-derived PAR on air quality simulations.

Air quality benefits of universal particle filter and NOx controls on diesel trucks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tao, L.; Mcdonald, B. C.; Harley, R.

2015-12-01

Heavy-duty diesel trucks are a major source of black carbon/particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions on urban and regional scales. These emissions are relevant to both air quality and climate change. Since 2010 in the US, new engines are required to be equipped with emission control systems that greatly reduce both PM and NOx emissions, by ~98% relative to 1988 levels. To reduce emissions from the legacy fleet of older trucks that still remain on the road, regulations have been adopted in Califonia to accelerate the replacement of older trucks and thereby reduce associated emissions of PM and NOx. Use of diesel particle filters will be widespread by 2016, and universal use of catalytic converters for NOx control is required by 2023. We assess the air quality consequences of this clean-up effort in Southern California, using the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ), and comparing three scenarios: historical (2005), present day (2016), and future year (2023). Emissions from the motor vehicle sector are mapped at high spatial resolution based on traffic count and fuel sales data. NOx emissions from diesel engines in 2023 are expected to decrease by ~80% compared to 2005, while the fraction of NOx emitted as NO2 is expected to increase from 5 to 18%. Air quality model simulations will be analyzed to quantify changes in NO2, black carbon, particulate matter, and ozone, both basin-wide and near hot spots such as ports and major highways.

Modeling to Evaluate Contribution of Oil and Gas Emissions to Air Pollution.

PubMed

Thompson, Tammy M; Shepherd, Donald; Stacy, Andrea; Barna, Michael G; Schichtel, Bret A

2017-04-01

Oil and gas production in the Western United States has increased considerably over the past 10 years. While many of the still limited oil and gas impact assessments have focused on potential human health impacts, the typically remote locations of production in the Intermountain West suggests that the impacts of oil and gas production on national parks and wilderness areas (Class I and II areas) could also be important. To evaluate this, we utilize the Comprehensive Air quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) with a year-long modeling episode representing the best available representation of 2011 meteorology and emissions for the Western United States. The model inputs for the 2011 episodes were generated as part of the Three State Air Quality Study (3SAQS). The study includes a detailed assessment of oil and gas (O&G) emissions in Western States. The year-long modeling episode was run both with and without emissions from O&G production. The difference between these two runs provides an estimate of the contribution of the O&G production to air quality. These data were used to assess the contribution of O&G to the 8 hour average ozone concentrations, daily and annual fine particulate concentrations, annual nitrogen deposition totals and visibility in the modeling domain. We present the results for the Class I and II areas in the Western United States. Modeling results suggest that emissions from O&G activity are having a negative impact on air quality and ecosystem health in our National Parks and Class I areas. In this research, we use a modeling framework developed for oil and gas evaluation in the western United States to determine the modeled impacts of emissions associated with oil and gas production on air pollution metrics. We show that oil and gas production may have a significant negative impact on air quality and ecosystem health in some national parks and other Class I areas in the western United States. Our findings are of particular interest to federal

Estimation of road vehicle exhaust emissions from 1992 to 2010 and comparison with air quality measurements in Genoa, Italy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zamboni, Giorgio; Capobianco, Massimo; Daminelli, Enrico

An investigation into road transport exhaust emissions in the Genoa urban area was performed by comparing the quantities of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x), nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) and particulate matter (PM) emitted by different vehicle categories with air quality measurements referred to the same pollutants. Exhaust emissions were evaluated by applying the PROGRESS (computer PROGramme for Road vehicle EmiSSions evaluation) code, developed by the Internal Combustion Engines Group of the University of Genoa, to eight different years (from 1992 to 2010), considering spark ignition and Diesel passenger cars and light duty vehicles, heavy duty vehicles and buses, motorcycles and mopeds. Changes in terms of vehicles number, mileage and total emissions are presented together with relative distributions among the various vehicle categories. By comparing 1992 and 2010 data, calculated trends show a 7% increase in the number of vehicles, with total mileage growing at a faster rate (approx. 22%); total emissions decrease considerably, by approximately 50% for NO x and PM, 70% for HC and 80% for CO, due to improvements in engines and fuels forced by the stricter European legislation and the fleet renewal, while primary NO 2 emission will be very close to 1992 level, after a decrease of about 18% in 2000. Air quality was analysed by selecting traffic and background measuring stations from the monitoring network managed by the Environmental Department of the Province of Genoa: average annual concentrations of considered pollutants from 1994 to 2007 were calculated in order to obtain the relative historical trends and compare them with European public health limits and with road vehicle emissions. Though an important reduction in pollutant concentrations has been achieved as a consequence of cleaner vehicles, some difficulties in complying with present and/or future NO 2 and PM 10 limits are also apparent, thus requiring suitable measures to be taken by the local

75 FR 78602 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Minnesota

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-12-16

... Treatment Plant, considering all permit limitations, are reduced from 184.9 tpy to 47.8 tpy. Air Quality... 10 emissions, MCES Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant provided an air quality analysis to... used five years of surface meteorological data from the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport and upper air data...

[Schools, office buildings, leisure settings: diversity of indoor air quality issues. Global review on indoor air quality in these settings].

PubMed

Mandin, C; Derbez, M; Kirchner, S

2012-07-01

This review provides a global overview of indoor air quality issues in schools, office buildings and recreational settings. It presents the most recent scientific publications and the on-going work conducted in France in the frame of the indoor air quality Observatory. Monitoring campaigns on indoor air quality in schools have been carried out in the recent years in Europe. However, few studies have specifically addressed the role of exposure in these buildings on children's health. Indoor air quality in office buildings has been little studied so far. However, some specificities, such as emissions from electronic devices, frequent cleaning, impossibility to open windows in high-rise buildings, for example, should be examined and their role on the health and comfort studied. Finally, even if the time spent in recreational settings is short, the quality of indoor air should also be considered because of specific pollution. This is the case of indoor swimming pools (exposure to chlorination byproducts) and ice-rinks (exposure to exhaust from machines used to smooth the ice). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Current Applications of OMI Tropospheric NO2 Data for Air Quality and a Look to the Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pickering, Kenneth E.; Bucsela, E.; Allen, D.; Prados, A.; Gleason, J.; Kondragunta, S.

2010-01-01

Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) Tropospheric NO2 products are being used to enhance the ability to monitor changes in NO2 air quality, update emission inventories, and evaluate regional air quality models. Trends in tropospheric column NO2 have been examined over the eastern United States in relation to emissions changes mandated by regulatory actions. Decreases of 20 to 40 percent over the period 2005 to 2008 were noted, largely in response to major emission reductions at power plants. The OMI data have been used to identify regions in which the opposite trend has been found. We have also used OMI NO2 in efforts to improve emission inventories for NOx emissions from soil. Lightning NOx emissions have been added to CMAQ, the US Environmental Protection Agency's regional air quality model. Evaluation of the resulting NO2 columns in the model is being conducted using the OMI NO2 observations. Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) together with the OMI NO2 data comprise a valuable tool for monitoring and predicting air quality. Looking to the future, we expect that the combination of Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) (morning) and OMI (afternoon) data sets obtained through use of the same retrieval algorithms will substantially increase the possibility of successful integration of satellite information into regional air quality forecast models. Farther down the road, we anticipate the Geostationary Coastal and Air Pollution Events (GEO-CAPE) platform to supply data possibly on an hourly basis, allowing much more comprehensive analysis of air quality from space.

Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aneja, Viney P.; Blunden, Jessica; Roelle, Paul A.; Schlesinger, William H.; Knighton, Raymond; Niyogi, Dev; Gilliam, Wendell; Jennings, Greg; Duke, Clifford S.

The first Workshop on Agricultural Air Quality: State of the Science was held at the Bolger Center in Potomac, Maryland from 4 to 8 June 2006. This international conference assembled approximately 350 people representing 25 nations from 5 continents, with disciplines ranging from atmospheric chemistry to soil science. The workshop was designed as an open forum in which participants could openly exchange the most current knowledge and learn about numerous international perspectives regarding agricultural air quality. Participants represented many stakeholder groups concerned with the growing need to assess agricultural impacts on the atmosphere and to develop beneficial policies to improve air quality. The workshop focused on identifying methods to improve emissions inventories and best management practices for agriculture. Workshop participants also made recommendations for technological and methodological improvements in current emissions measurement and modeling practices. The workshop commenced with a session on agricultural emissions and was followed by international perspectives from the United States, Europe, Australia, India, and South America. This paper summarizes the findings and issues of the workshop and articulates future research needs. These needs were identified in three general areas: (1) improvement of emissions measurement; (2) development of appropriate emission factors; and (3) implementation of best management practices (BMPs) to minimize negative environmental impacts. Improvements in the appropriate measurements will inform decisions regarding US farming practices. A need was demonstrated for a national/international network to monitor atmospheric emissions from agriculture and their subsequent depositions to surrounding areas. Information collected through such a program may be used to assess model performance and could be critical for evaluating any future regulatory policies or BMPs. The workshop concluded that efforts to maximize

Role of future scenarios in understanding deep uncertainty in long-term air quality management.

PubMed

Gamas, Julia; Dodder, Rebecca; Loughlin, Dan; Gage, Cynthia

2015-11-01

The environment and its interactions with human systems, whether economic, social, or political, are complex. Relevant drivers may disrupt system dynamics in unforeseen ways, making it difficult to predict future conditions. This kind of "deep uncertainty" presents a challenge to organizations faced with making decisions about the future, including those involved in air quality management. Scenario Planning is a structured process that involves the development of narratives describing alternative future states of the world, designed to differ with respect to the most critical and uncertain drivers. The resulting scenarios are then used to understand the consequences of those futures and to prepare for them with robust management strategies. We demonstrate a novel air quality management application of Scenario Planning. Through a series of workshops, important air quality drivers were identified. The most critical and uncertain drivers were found to be "technological development" and "change in societal paradigms." These drivers were used as a basis to develop four distinct scenario storylines. The energy and emissions implications of each storyline were then modeled using the MARKAL energy system model. NOx emissions were found to decrease for all scenarios, largely a response to existing air quality regulations, whereas SO2 emissions ranged from 12% greater to 7% lower than 2015 emissions levels. Future-year emissions differed considerably from one scenario to another, however, with key differentiating factors being transition to cleaner fuels and energy demand reductions. Application of scenarios in air quality management provides a structured means of sifting through and understanding the dynamics of the many complex driving forces affecting future air quality. Further, scenarios provide a means to identify opportunities and challenges for future air quality management, as well as a platform for testing the efficacy and robustness of particular management

Air Quality Impacts of Electrifying Vehicles and Equipment Across the United States.

PubMed

Nopmongcol, Uarporn; Grant, John; Knipping, Eladio; Alexander, Mark; Schurhoff, Rob; Young, David; Jung, Jaegun; Shah, Tejas; Yarwood, Greg

2017-03-07

U.S.-wide air quality impacts of electrifying vehicles and off-road equipment are estimated for 2030 using 3-D photochemical air quality model and detailed emissions inventories. Electrification reduces tailpipe emissions and emissions from petroleum refining, transport, and storage, but increases electricity demand. The Electrification Case assumes approximately 17% of light duty and 8% of heavy duty vehicle miles traveled and from 17% to 79% of various off-road equipment types considered good candidates for electrification is powered by electricity. The Electrification Case raises electricity demand by 5% over the 2030 Base Case but nitrogen oxide (NO x ) emissions decrease by 209 thousand tons (3%) overall. Emissions of other criteria pollutants also decrease. Air quality benefits of electrification are modest, mostly less than 1 ppb for ozone and 0.5 μg m -3 for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), but widespread. The largest reductions for ozone and PM occur in urban areas due to lower mobile source emissions. Electrifying off-road equipment yields more benefits than electrifying on-road vehicles. Reduced crude oil imports and associated marine vessel emissions cause additional benefits in port cities. Changes in other gas and PM emissions, as well as impacts on acid and nutrient deposition, are discussed.

77 FR 60661 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; South Bend-Elkhart...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-10-04

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana Ozone Maintenance Plan..., Indiana 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance air quality State Implementation Plan (SIP) by replacing the... Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) 2010a emissions model. Indiana submitted this request to EPA for...

Synchrotron emission in air

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rafat, M. Z.; Melrose, D. B.

2015-05-01

A conventional astrophysical treatment of synchrotron emission is modified to include the refractive index of air, written as n = 1 + 1/(2γ 02), with γ0 ≫ 1. The angular distribution of emission by an electron with Lorentz factor γ is broadened, from a range of |θ - α| ≈ 1/γ in vacuo (θ = emission angle, α = pitch angle) to |θ - α| ≈ max{1/γ, 1/γ0} in air. The emission spectrum in air is almost unchanged from that in vacuo at sufficiently low frequencies and it is modified by extending to higher frequencies with increasing γ/γ0 < 1, and to arbitrarily high frequencies for γ/γ0 ≥ 1. We estimate the frequency at which this enhancement starts, and show that it decreases with increasing γ/γ0 > 1. We interpret the enhanced high-frequency emission as Cerenkov-like, and attribute it to the formation of caustic surfaces that sweep across the observer; we use a geometric model based on Huygens construction to support this interpretation. The geometric model predicts that the so-called Cerenkov ring present at high frequencies may be circular, elliptical, or crescent shaped. In the astrophysical treatment of synchrotron emission, the dependence on azimuthal angle is lost in the expression for emissivity. A motivation for this investigation is the application to extensive air showers, and for this purpose the loss of azimuthal dependence is a limitation. We comment on methods to overcome this limitation. We show that when an observer can see emission from inside the Cerenkov cone, emission from outside the Cerenkov cone, on either side of it, arrives simultaneously; there are three emission times for a given observation time.

Evaluation of the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Version 5.1

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Computational Exposure Division (CED) of the U.S. Environmental Pr...

Overview and Evaluation of the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model Version 5.2

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Computational Exposure Division (CED) of the U.S. Environmental Pr...

Evaluation of the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Model Version 5.2

EPA Science Inventory

The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is a state-of-the-science air quality model that simulates the emission, transport and fate of numerous air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter. The Computational Exposure Division (CED) of the U.S. Environmental Pr...

Measurement of air pollutant emissions from Lome, Cotonou and Accra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, James; Vaughan, Adam; Nelson, Bethany; Young, Stuart; Evans, Mathew; Morris, Eleanor; Ladkin, Russel

2017-04-01

High concentrations of airborne pollutants (e.g. the oxides of nitrogen, sulphur dioxide and carbon monoxide) in existing and evolving cities along the Guinea Coast cause respiratory diseases with potentially large costs to human health and the economic capacity of the local workforce. It is important to understand the rate of emission of such pollutants in order to model current and future air quality and provide guidance to the potential outcomes of air pollution abatement strategies. Often dated technologies and poor emission control strategies lead to substantial uncertainties in emission estimates calculated from vehicle and population number density statistics. The unreliable electrical supply in cities in the area has led to an increased reliance on small-scale diesel powered generators and these potentially present a significant source of emissions. The uncontrolled open incineration of waste adds a further very poorly constrained emission source within the cities. The DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) project involved a field campaign which used highly instrumented aircraft capable of in situ measurements of a range of air pollutants. Seven flights using the UK British Antarctic Survey's Twin Otter aircraft specifically targeted air pollution emissions from cities in West Africa (4 x Accra, Ghana; 2 x Lome, Togo and 1 x Cotonou, Benin). Measurements of NO, NO2, SO2, CO, CH4 and CO2 were made at multiple altitudes upwind and downwind of the cities, with the mass balance technique used to calculate emission rates. These are then compared to the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) estimates. Ultimately the data will be used to inform on and potentially improve the emission estimates, which in turn should lead to better forecasting of air pollution in West African cities and help guide future air pollution abatement strategy.

The 1977 emissions inventory for southeastern Virginia. [environment model of air quality based on exhaust emission from urban areas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brewer, D. A.; Remsberg, E. E.; Woodbury, G. E.; Quinn, L. C.

1979-01-01

Regional tropospheric air pollution modeling and data compilation to simulate the time variation of species concentrations in and around an urban area is discussed. The methods used to compile an emissions inventory are outlined. Emissions factors for vehicular travel in the urban area are presented along with an analysis of the emission gases. Emission sources other than vehicular including industrial wastes, residential solid waste disposal, aircraft emissions, and emissions from the railroads are investigated.

Atmospheric emissions and air quality impacts from natural gas production and use.

PubMed

Allen, David T

2014-01-01

The US Energy Information Administration projects that hydraulic fracturing of shale formations will become a dominant source of domestic natural gas supply over the next several decades, transforming the energy landscape in the United States. However, the environmental impacts associated with fracking for shale gas have made it controversial. This review examines emissions and impacts of air pollutants associated with shale gas production and use. Emissions and impacts of greenhouse gases, photochemically active air pollutants, and toxic air pollutants are described. In addition to the direct atmospheric impacts of expanded natural gas production, indirect effects are also described. Widespread availability of shale gas can drive down natural gas prices, which, in turn, can impact the use patterns for natural gas. Natural gas production and use in electricity generation are used as a case study for examining these indirect consequences of expanded natural gas availability.

Mexico City Air Quality Research Initiative; Volume 5, Strategic evaluation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1994-03-01

Members of the Task HI (Strategic Evaluation) team were responsible for the development of a methodology to evaluate policies designed to alleviate air pollution in Mexico City. This methodology utilizes information from various reports that examined ways to reduce pollutant emissions, results from models that calculate the improvement in air quality due to a reduction in pollutant emissions, and the opinions of experts as to the requirements and trade-offs that are involved in developing a program to address the air pollution problem in Mexico City. The methodology combines these data to produce comparisons between different approaches to improving Mexico City`smore » air quality. These comparisons take into account not only objective factors such as the air quality improvement or cost of the different approaches, but also subjective factors such as public acceptance or political attractiveness of the different approaches. The end result of the process is a ranking of the different approaches and, more importantly, the process provides insights into the implications of implementing a particular approach or policy.« less

Air Emissions Monitoring for Permits

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Operating permits document how air pollution sources will demonstrate compliance with emission limits and also how air pollution sources will monitor, either periodically or continuously, their compliance with emission limits and all other requirements.

THE EMISSION PROCESSING SYSTEM FOR THE ETA/CMAQ AIR QUALITY FORECAST SYSTEM

EPA Science Inventory

NOAA and EPA have created an Air Quality Forecast (AQF) system. This AQF system links an adaptation of the EPA's Community Multiscale Air Quality Model with the 12 kilometer ETA model running operationally at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Predication (NCEP). One of th...

78 FR 28551 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Canton-Massillon 1997 8-Hour...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-15

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Canton-Massillon 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan..., Ohio, 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance air quality State Implementation Plan (SIP) under the Clean Air Act... Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) emissions model. Ohio submitted the SIP revision request to...

A computerized system to measure and predict air quality for emission control

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Crooks, G.; Ciccone, A.; Frattolillo, P.

1997-12-31

A Supplementary Emission Control (SEC) system has been developed on behalf of the Association Industrielle de l`Est de Montreal (AIEM). The objective of the SEC is to avoid exceedences of the Montreal Urban Community (MUC) 24 hour ambient Air Quality Standard (AQS) for sulphur dioxide in the industrial East Montreal area. The SEC system is comprised of: 3 continuous SO{sub 2} monitoring stations with data loggers and remote communications; a meteorological tower with data logger and modem for acquiring local meteorology; communications with Environment Canada to download meteorological forecast data; a polling PC for data retrieval; and Windows NT basedmore » software running on the AIEM computer server. The SEC software utilizes relational databases to store and maintain measured SO{sub 2} concentration data, emission data, as well as observed and forecast meteorological data. The SEC system automatically executes a numerical dispersion model to forecast SO{sub 2} concentrations up to six hours in the future. Based on measured SO{sub 2} concentrations at the monitoring stations and the six hour forecast concentrations, the system determines if local sources should reduce their emission levels to avoid potential exceedences of the AQS. The SEC system also includes a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for user access to the system. The SEC system and software are described, and the accuracy of the system at forecasting SO{sub 2} concentrations is examined.« less

Aircraft engine exhaust emissions and other airport-related contributions to ambient air pollution: A review

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Masiol, Mauro; Harrison, Roy M.

2014-10-01

Civil aviation is fast-growing (about +5% every year), mainly driven by the developing economies and globalisation. Its impact on the environment is heavily debated, particularly in relation to climate forcing attributed to emissions at cruising altitudes and the noise and the deterioration of air quality at ground-level due to airport operations. This latter environmental issue is of particular interest to the scientific community and policymakers, especially in relation to the breach of limit and target values for many air pollutants, mainly nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, near the busiest airports and the resulting consequences for public health. Despite the increased attention given to aircraft emissions at ground-level and air pollution in the vicinity of airports, many research gaps remain. Sources relevant to air quality include not only engine exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from aircraft, but also emissions from the units providing power to the aircraft on the ground, the traffic due to the airport ground service, maintenance work, heating facilities, fugitive vapours from refuelling operations, kitchens and restaurants for passengers and operators, intermodal transportation systems, and road traffic for transporting people and goods in and out to the airport. Many of these sources have received inadequate attention, despite their high potential for impact on air quality. This review aims to summarise the state-of-the-art research on aircraft and airport emissions and attempts to synthesise the results of studies that have addressed this issue. It also aims to describe the key characteristics of pollution, the impacts upon global and local air quality and to address the future potential of research by highlighting research needs.

ANALYSIS OF AIR QUALITY DATA NEAR ROADWAYS USING A DISPERSION MODEL

EPA Science Inventory

A dispersion model was used to analyze measurements made during a field study conducted by the U.S. EPA in July and August 2006, to estimate the impact of highway emissions on air quality at distances of tens of meters from an eight-lane highway. The air quality measurements con...

NMVOCs speciated emissions from mobile sources and their effect on air quality and human health in the metropolitan area of Buenos Aires, Argentina

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

D'Angiola, Ariela; Dawidowski, Laura; Gomez, Dario; Granier, Claire

2014-05-01

gasoline and diesel vehicles and the USEPA SPECIATE (Simon et al., 2010) profile for CNG vehicles. NMVOCs emissions were composed of 31% aromatic compounds, 29% linear alkanes, 20% olefins, 12% ramified alkanes, 7% aldehydes and negligible contributions from cycloalkanes, ketones, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other NMVOCs. Aromatic compounds dominated gasoline light-duty vehicles' emissions (~45%), while linear alkanes those of CNG light-duty vehicles (~80%). Aldehydes' contributions increased for diesel light and heavy-duty vehicles. VOCs speciation schemes for transport emissions were collected from the literature from Europe, USA, Asia, Oceania and Latin America with the aim to account for the associated uncertainty by compound for each fuel and technology type. The resulting individual NMVOCs emissions were used to calculate the corresponding tropospheric ozone formation (Carter, 1994), as well as the human toxicity potential in terms of 1.4 dichlorobenzene. Olefins and aromatic compounds in terms of species, and gasoline in terms of fuels, were found to impose the highest risk in urban environments regarding air quality and human health.

Using aircraft and satellite observations to improve regulatory air quality models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canty, T. P.; Vinciguerra, T.; Anderson, D. C.; Carpenter, S. F.; Goldberg, D. L.; Hembeck, L.; Montgomery, L.; Liu, X.; Salawitch, R. J.; Dickerson, R. R.

2014-12-01

Federal and state agencies rely on EPA approved models to develop attainment strategies that will bring states into compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). We will describe modifications to the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) frameworks motivated by analysis of NASA satellite and aircraft measurements. Observations of tropospheric column NO2 from OMI have already led to the identification of an important deficiency in the chemical mechanisms used by models; data collected during the DISCOVER-AQ field campaign has been instrumental in devising an improved representation of the chemistry of nitrogen species. Our recent work has focused on the use of: OMI observations of tropospheric O3 to assess and improve the representation of boundary conditions used by AQ models, OMI NO2 to derive a top down NOx emission inventory from commercial shipping vessels that affect air quality in the Eastern U.S., and OMI HCHO to assess the C5H8 emission inventories provided by bioegenic emissions models. We will describe how these OMI-driven model improvements are being incorporated into the State Implementation Plans (SIPs) being prepared for submission to EPA in summer 2015 and how future modeling efforts may be impacted by our findings.

DEVELOPMENT OF HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANT EMISSION FACTORS FROM STATE SOURCE TEST PROGRAMS

EPA Science Inventory

The report gives results of a study in which emission factors were evolved from test data obtained from several Air Quality Management Districts in California and from state environmental agencies in Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas. The emission factors were developed...

Breathing easier? The known impacts of biodiesel on air quality

PubMed Central

Traviss, Nora

2013-01-01

Substantial scientific evidence exists on the negative health effects of exposure to petroleum diesel exhaust. Many view biodiesel as a ‘green’, more environmentally friendly alternative fuel, especially with respect to measured reductions of particulate matter in tailpipe emissions. Tailpipe emissions data sets from heavy-duty diesel engines comparing diesel and biodiesel fuels provide important information regarding the composition and potential aggregate contribution of particulate matter and other pollutants to regional airsheds. However, exposure – defined in this instance as human contact with tailpipe emissions – is another key link in the chain between emissions and human health effects. Although numerous biodiesel emissions studies exist, biodiesel exposure studies are nearly absent from the literature. This article summarizes the known impacts of biodiesel on air quality and health effects, comparing emissions and exposure research. In light of rapidly changing engine, fuel and exhaust technologies, both emissions and exposure studies are necessary for developing a fuller understanding of the impact of biodiesel on air quality and human health. PMID:23585814

Impact assessment of PM10 cement plants emissions on urban air quality using the SCIPUFF dispersion model.

PubMed

Leone, Vincenzo; Cervone, Guido; Iovino, Pasquale

2016-09-01

The Second-order Closure Integrated Puff (SCIPUFF) model was used to study the impact on urban air quality caused by two cement plants emissions located near the city of Caserta, Italy, during the entire year of 2015. The simulated and observed PM10 concentrations were compared using three monitoring stations located in urban and sub-urban area of Caserta city. Both simulated and observed concentrations are shown to be highest in winter, lower in autumn and spring and lowest in summer. Model results generally follow the pattern of the observed concentrations but have a systematic under-prediction of the concentration values. Measures of the bias, NMSE and RMSE indicate a good correlation between observed and estimated values. The SCIPUFF model data analysis suggest that the cement plants are major sources for the measured PM10 values and are responsible for the deterioration of the urban air quality in the city of Caserta.

Study of Regional Downscaled Climate and Air Quality in the United States

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Y.; Fu, J. S.; Drake, J.; Lamarque, J.; Lam, Y.; Huang, K.

2011-12-01

Due to the increasing anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, the global and regional climate patterns have significantly changed. Climate change has exerted strong impact on ecosystem, air quality and human life. The global model Community Earth System Model (CESM v1.0) was used to predict future climate and chemistry under projected emission scenarios. Two new emission scenarios, Representative Community Pathways (RCP) 4.5 and RCP 8.5, were used in this study for climate and chemistry simulations. The projected global mean temperature will increase 1.2 and 1.7 degree Celcius for the RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5 scenarios in 2050s, respectively. In order to take advantage of local detailed topography, land use data and conduct local climate impact on air quality, we downscaled CESM outputs to 4 km by 4 km Eastern US domain using Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and Community Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ). The evaluations between regional model outputs and global model outputs, regional model outputs and observational data were conducted to verify the downscaled methodology. Future climate change and air quality impact were also examined on a 4 km by 4 km high resolution scale.

A rapid response air quality analysis system for use in projects having stringent quality assurance requirements

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bowman, A.W.

1990-04-01

This paper describes an approach to solve air quality problems which frequently occur during iterations of the baseline change process. From a schedule standpoint, it is desirable to perform this evaluation in as short a time as possible while budgetary pressures limit the size of the staff available to do the work. Without a method in place to deal with baseline change proposal requests the environment analysts may not be able to produce the analysis results in the time frame expected. Using a concept called the Rapid Response Air Quality Analysis System (RAAS), the problems of timing and cost becomemore » tractable. The system could be adapted to assess other atmospheric pathway impacts, e.g., acoustics or visibility. The air quality analysis system used to perform the EA analysis (EA) for the Salt Repository Project (part of the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program), and later to evaluate the consequences of proposed baseline changes, consists of three components: Emission source data files; Emission rates contained in spreadsheets; Impact assessment model codes. The spreadsheets contain user-written codes (macros) that calculate emission rates from (1) emission source data (e.g., numbers and locations of sources, detailed operating schedules, and source specifications including horsepower, load factor, and duty cycle); (2) emission factors such as those published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and (3) control efficiencies.« less

A New Era of Air Quality Monitoring from Space in East Asia: Korea's Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer (GEMS) and an Integrated Korea-US Air Quality (KORUS-AQ) Study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, J.; Hong, Y.; Song, C. K.; Kim, S. K.; Chang, L. S.; Lim, J.; Ahn, J.; Park, J. H.; Kim, J. Y.; Han, Y. J.; Kim, J.; Park, R.; Lee, G.; Lefer, B. L.; Al-Saadi, J. A.; Crawford, J. H.

2015-12-01

Due to remarkable economic growth over the last two decades, East Asia has become a region experiencing some of the poorest air quality in the world. In addition to local sources of pollution, the Korea peninsula is downwind of the largest emission sources in East Asia, complicating the understanding of air quality over Korea. Thus, knowing the factors controlling changes in air pollution across urban-rural and marine-continental interfaces, in addition to the contributions from local emissions and transboundary transport, is important for building effective management strategies and improving air quality in East Asia. GEMS (Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer) is a satellite instrument planned for launch in 2019 by the Republic of Korea. The instrument will observe East Asia and the western Pacific region, providing real-time monitoring of air quality (e.g. O3, NO2, SO2, HCHO, AOD, etc.) and enabling better scientific understanding of the transboundary transport of air pollutants. The KORUS-AQ (the Korea and U.S. Air Quality) field campaign will take place in May - June 2016 and will employ an integrated observing strategy including multiplatform observations (i.e. ground stations, aircraft, ships, and satellites) and chemical transport models. This mission aims to not only strengthen our knowledge of atmospheric chemistry but also provide important data sets for validating GEMS retrieval algorithms. In preparation for KORUS-AQ, a pre-campaign has been successfully conducted in Korea during early summer 2015 with observations from multiple ground sites and a small aircraft. A brief summary of pre-field campaign results will be presented. Moving forward, the GEMS mission and KORUS-AQ study will lead to a new era of air quality monitoring in East Asia. GEMS will also make critical contributions to the global air quality perspective working in concert with geostationary missions launched by the U.S. (TEMPO: Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of

Simulation and Experiment of Air Quality Effects of Prescribed Fires in the Southeast

Treesearch

Yongqiang Liu; Gary Achtemeier; Scott Goodrick

2005-01-01

Wildfires can cause degradation of air quality by releasing large amounts of particulate matter (PM) and precursors of ozone (Sandberg et al., 1999; Riebau and Fox, 2001). EPA has issued the Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed Fire to protect public health and welfare by mitigating the impacts of air pollutant emissions from wildland fires on air...

Operational air quality forecasting system for Spain: CALIOPE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baldasano, J. M.; Piot, M.; Jorba, O.; Goncalves, M.; Pay, M.; Pirez, C.; Lopez, E.; Gasso, S.; Martin, F.; García-Vivanco, M.; Palomino, I.; Querol, X.; Pandolfi, M.; Dieguez, J. J.; Padilla, L.

2009-12-01

The European Commission (EC) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) have shown great concerns to understand the transport and dynamics of pollutants in the atmosphere. According to the European directives (1996/62/EC, 2002/3/EC, 2008/50/EC), air quality modeling, if accurately applied, is a useful tool to understand the dynamics of air pollutants, to analyze and forecast the air quality, and to develop programs reducing emissions and alert the population when health-related issues occur. The CALIOPE project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment, has the main objective to establish an air quality forecasting system for Spain. A partnership of four research institutions composes the CALIOPE project: the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), the center of investigation CIEMAT, the Earth Sciences Institute ‘Jaume Almera’ (IJA-CSIC) and the CEAM Foundation. CALIOPE will become the official Spanish air quality operational system. This contribution focuses on the recent developments and implementation of the integrated modelling system for the Iberian Peninsula (IP) and Canary Islands (CI) with a high spatial and temporal resolution (4x4 sq. km for IP and 2x2 sq. km for CI, 1 hour), namely WRF-ARW/HERMES04/CMAQ/BSC-DREAM. The HERMES04 emission model has been specifically developed as a high-resolution (1x1 sq. km, 1 hour) emission model for Spain. It includes biogenic and anthropogenic emissions such as on-road and paved-road resuspension production, power plant generation, ship and plane traffic, airports and ports activities, industrial and agricultural sectors as well as domestic and commercial emissions. The qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the model was performed for a reference year (2004) using data from ground-based measurement networks. The products of the CALIOPE system will provide 24h and 48h forecasts for O3, NO2, SO2, CO, PM10 and PM2.5 at surface level. An operational evaluation system has been developed

Oil and gas impacts on air quality in federal lands in the Bakken region: an overview of the Bakken Air Quality Study and first results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prenni, A. J.; Day, D. E.; Evanoski-Cole, A. R.; Sive, B. C.; Hecobian, A.; Zhou, Y.; Gebhart, K. A.; Hand, J. L.; Sullivan, A. P.; Li, Y.; Schurman, M. I.; Desyaterik, Y.; Malm, W. C.; Schichtel, B. A.; Collett, J. L., Jr.

2015-10-01

The Bakken formation contains billions of barrels of oil and gas trapped in rock and shale. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods have allowed for extraction of these resources, leading to exponential growth of oil production in the region over the past decade. Along with this development has come an increase in associated emissions to the atmosphere. Concern about potential impacts of these emissions on federal lands in the region prompted the National Park Service to sponsor the Bakken Air Quality Study over two winters in 2013-2014. Here we provide an overview of the study and present some initial results aimed at better understanding the impact of local oil and gas emissions on regional air quality. Data from the study, along with long term monitoring data, suggest that while power plants are still an important emissions source in the region, emissions from oil and gas activities are impacting ambient concentrations of nitrogen oxides and black carbon and may dominate recent observed trends in pollutant concentrations at some of the study sites. Measurements of volatile organic compounds also definitively show that oil and gas emissions were present in almost every air mass sampled over a period of more than four months.

Oil and gas impacts on air quality in federal lands in the Bakken region: an overview of the Bakken Air Quality Study and first results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prenni, A. J.; Day, D. E.; Evanoski-Cole, A. R.; Sive, B. C.; Hecobian, A.; Zhou, Y.; Gebhart, K. A.; Hand, J. L.; Sullivan, A. P.; Li, Y.; Schurman, M. I.; Desyaterik, Y.; Malm, W. C.; Collett, J. L., Jr.; Schichtel, B. A.

2016-02-01

The Bakken formation contains billions of barrels of oil and gas trapped in rock and shale. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods have allowed for extraction of these resources, leading to exponential growth of oil production in the region over the past decade. Along with this development has come an increase in associated emissions to the atmosphere. Concern about potential impacts of these emissions on federal lands in the region prompted the National Park Service to sponsor the Bakken Air Quality Study over two winters in 2013-2014. Here we provide an overview of the study and present some initial results aimed at better understanding the impact of local oil and gas emissions on regional air quality. Data from the study, along with long-term monitoring data, suggest that while power plants are still an important emissions source in the region, emissions from oil and gas activities are impacting ambient concentrations of nitrogen oxides and black carbon and may dominate recent observed trends in pollutant concentrations at some of the study sites. Measurements of volatile organic compounds also definitively show that oil and gas emissions were present in almost every air mass sampled over a period of more than 4 months.

Scenarios over the past 3 decades: air quality impact of European legislation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Crippa, M.; Janssens-Maenhout, G. G. A.; Guizzardi, D.; Schaaf, E.; Muntean, M.; Dentener, F. J.; Sindelarova, K.; Granier, C.

2014-12-01

The impacts of air pollution span from local to global, affecting human health, climate, visibility and ecosystems. Several actions at national, regional and global scale have been adopted to reduce pollutant emission levels. In our work we make use of the EDGAR_ v4.3 emission database to compare today's pollutant levels with ex-post scenarios developed to assess the impact and effectiveness of legislation over the last 3 decades on air quality and climate. Differently from most of literature works addressing future air quality, here we focus on historical global anthropogenic emissions (years 1970-2010) of several gaseous and particulate air pollutants (SO2, NOx, CO, NMVOC, NH3, PM10, PM2.5, BC and OC) and past emission scenarios to demonstrate the role that policy has played in improving air quality. Three scenarios have been developed and compared to today's situation (year 2010), assuming the lack of abatement measures, the complete stagnation of technology (no reduction measures applied and constant emission factors from 1970), and a constant fuel mixture (with a more prominent role for coal in the 1970s). Special focus is dedicated to the power generation sector, manufacturing industry and road transport activities since these were mostly influenced by official regulations in the EU. Global SO2 emissions from transport dropped down by 8.5 times due to the deployment of low S content fuels; NOx and CO emissions are indeed a function of combustion efficiency and therefore decreased with the introduction of new technologies, while NH3 emitted by road transport increased in Europe by 18% due to the introduction of catalyzers. Finally, particulate matter emissions are mainly abated by the installation of End-of-Pipe measures (e.g. filters) especially in the energy and transport sectors.

Air quality and climate--synergies and trade-offs.

PubMed

von Schneidemesser, Erika; Monks, Paul S

2013-07-01

Air quality and climate are often treated as separate science and policy areas. Air quality encompasses the here-and-now of pollutant emissions, atmospheric transformations and their direct effect on human and ecosystem health. Climate change deals with the drivers leading to a warmer world and the consequences of that. These two science and policy issues are inexorably linked via common pollutants, such as ozone (methane) and black carbon. This short review looks at the new scientific evidence around so-called "short-lived climate forcers" and the growing realisation that a way to meet short-term climate change targets may be through the control of "air quality" pollutants. None of the options discussed here can replace reduction of long-lived greenhouse gases, such as CO2, which is required for any long-term climate change mitigation strategy. An overview is given of the underlying science, remaining uncertainties, and some of the synergies and trade-offs for addressing air quality and climate in the science and policy context.

U.S. - Canada Air Quality Agreement Progress Reports

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Read reports that document the large reductions in sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions that have been achieved from 1996 to 2014, along with the associated reductions in ecosystem acidification and improvement in air quality.

78 FR 34903 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; 1997 8-Hour Ozone...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-06-11

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision; Motor... request by Ohio to revise the 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance air quality State Implementation Plan (SIP) to... area with budgets developed using EPA's Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) emissions model. Ohio...

High-Density, High-Resolution, Low-Cost Air Quality Sensor Networks for Urban Air Monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mead, M. I.; Popoola, O. A.; Stewart, G.; Bright, V.; Kaye, P.; Saffell, J.

2012-12-01

Monitoring air quality in highly granular environments such as urban areas which are spatially heterogeneous with variable emission sources, measurements need to be made at appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Current routine air quality monitoring networks generally are either composed of sparse expensive installations (incorporating e.g. chemiluminescence instruments) or higher density low time resolution systems (e.g. NO2 diffusion tubes). Either approach may not accurately capture important effects such as pollutant "hot spots" or adequately capture spatial (or temporal) variability. As a result, analysis based on data from traditional low spatial resolution networks, such as personal exposure, may be inaccurate. In this paper we present details of a sophisticated, low-cost, multi species (gas phase, speciated PM, meteorology) air quality measurement network methodology incorporating GPS and GPRS which has been developed for high resolution air quality measurements in urban areas. Sensor networks developed in the Centre for Atmospheric Science (University of Cambridge) incorporated electrochemical gas sensors configured for use in urban air quality studies operating at parts-per-billion (ppb) levels. It has been demonstrated that these sensors can be used to measure key air quality gases such as CO, NO and NO2 at the low ppb mixing ratios present in the urban environment (estimated detection limits <4ppb for CO and NO and <1ppb for NO2. Mead et al (submitted Aug., 2012)). Based on this work, a state of the art multi species instrument package for deployment in scalable sensor networks has been developed which has general applicability. This is currently being employed as part of a major 3 year UK program at London Heathrow airport (the Sensor Networks for Air Quality (SNAQ) Heathrow project). The main project outcome is the creation of a calibrated, high spatial and temporal resolution data set for O3, NO, NO2, SO2, CO, CO2, VOCstotal, size-speciated PM

Urban-rural variations in air quality and health impacts in northern India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karambelas, A. N.; Holloway, T.; Fiore, A. M.; Kinney, P.; DeFries, R. S.; Kiesewetter, G.; Heyes, C.

2017-12-01

Ambient air pollution in India is a severe problem, contributing to negative health impacts and early death. Ground-based monitors often used to quantify health impacts are often located in urban regions, however approximately 70% of India's population resides in rural areas. We use high-resolution concentrations from the regional Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model over densely-populated northern India to estimate air quality and health impacts due to anthropogenic emission sectors separately for urban and rural regions. Modeled concentrations inform relative risk calculations and exposure estimates as performed in the Global Burden of Disease. Anthropogenic emissions from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) Greenhouse Gas-Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model following version 5a of the Evaluating the Climate and Air Quality Impacts of Short-Lived Pollutants project gridding structure are updated to reflect urban- and rural-specific activity information for transportation and residential combustion, and industrial and electrical generating unit location and magnitude information. We estimate 314,000 (95% Confidence Interval: 304,000—323,000) and 58,000 (CI: 39,000—70,000) adults (25 years or older) die prematurely each year from PM2.5 and O3 respectively in northern India, with the greatest impacts along the Indo-Gangetic Plain. Using urban and rural population distributions, we estimate that the majority of premature deaths resulting from PM2.5 and O3 are in rural (292,000) as opposed to urban (79,000) regions. These findings indicate the need for designing monitoring networks and ground-based health studies in rural areas of India to more accurately quantify the true health implications of ambient air pollution, in addition to supporting model evaluation. Using this urban-versus-rural emissions framework, we are assessing anthropogenic contributions to regional air quality and health impacts, and

Development and Evaluation of an Air Quality Modeling Approach to Assess Near-Field Impacts of Lead Emissions from Piston-Engine Aircraft Operating on Leaded Aviation Gasoline

EPA Science Inventory

Since aviation gasoline is now the largest remaining source of lead (Pb) emissions to the air in the United States, there is increased interest by regulatory agencies and the public in assessing the impacts on residents living in close proximity to these sources. An air quality m...

Data Quality Objectives Supporting Radiological Air Emissions Monitoring for the Marine Sciences Laboratory, Sequim Site

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barnett, J. Matthew; Meier, Kirsten M.; Snyder, Sandra F.

2012-12-27

This document of Data Quality Objectives (DQOs) was prepared based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Guidance on Systematic Planning Using the Data Quality Objectives Process, EPA, QA/G4, 2/2006 (EPA 2006), as well as several other published DQOs. The intent of this report is to determine the necessary steps required to ensure that radioactive emissions to the air from the Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) headquartered at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s Sequim Marine Research Operations (Sequim Site) on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula are managed in accordance with regulatory requirements and best practices. The Sequim Site was transitioned in Octobermore » 2012 from private operation under Battelle Memorial Institute to an exclusive use contract with the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Pacific Northwest Site Office.« less

75 FR 37308 - Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-29

... the California State Implementation Plan, Yolo- Solano Air Quality Management District AGENCY... the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District (YSAQMD) portion of the California State...) * * * (i) * * * (C) Yolo Solano Air Quality Management District (1) Rule 3.21, ``Rice Straw Emission...

Comparing emission rates derived from a model with a plume-based approach and quantifying the contribution of vehicle classes to on-road emissions and air quality.

PubMed

Xu, Junshi; Wang, Jonathan; Hilker, Nathan; Fallah-Shorshani, Masoud; Saleh, Marc; Tu, Ran; Wang, An; Minet, Laura; Stogios, Christos; Evans, Greg; Hatzopoulou, Marianne

2018-06-05

This study presents a comparison of fleet averaged emission factors (EFs) derived from a traffic emission model with EFs estimated using plume-based measurements, including an investigation of the contribution of vehicle classes to carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), and elemental carbon (EC) along an urban corridor. To this end, a field campaign was conducted over one week in June 2016 on an arterial road in Toronto, Canada. Traffic data were collected using a traffic camera and a radar, while air quality was characterized using two monitoring stations: one located at ground-level and another at the rooftop of a four-storey building. A traffic simulation model was calibrated and validated and sec-by-sec speed profiles for all vehicle trajectories were extracted to model emissions. In addition, dispersion modelling was conducted to identify the extent to which differences in emissions translate to differences in near-road concentrations. Our results indicate that modelled EFs for CO and NO x are twice as high as plume-based EFs. Besides, modelled results indicate that transit bus emissions accounted for 60% and 70% of the total emissions of NO x and EC. Transit bus emission rates in g/passenger.km for NO x and EC were up to 8 and 22 times the emission rates of passenger cars. In contrast, the Toronto streetcars, which are electrically fuelled, were found to improve near-road air quality despite their negative impact on traffic speeds. Finally, we observe that the difference in estimated concentrations derived from the two methods is not as large as the difference in estimated emissions due to the influence of meteorology and of the urban background given that the study network is located in a busy downtown area. Implications This study presents a comparison of fleet averaged emission factors (EFs) derived from a traffic emission model with EFs estimated using plume-based measurements, including an investigation of the contribution of vehicle classes to

AIR EMISSIONS FROM RESIDENTIAL HEATING: THE WOOD HEATING OPTION PUT INTO ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVE

EPA Science Inventory

The paper compares the national scale (rather than local) air quality impacts of the various residential space heating options. Specifically, it compares the relative contribution of the space heating options to fine particulate emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, and acid preci...

76 FR 15607 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Major Sources: Industrial...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-03-21

...On September 13, 2004, under authority of section 112 of the Clean Air Act, EPA promulgated national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants for new and existing industrial/commercial/ institutional boilers and process heaters. On June 19, 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated and remanded the standards. In response to the Court's vacatur and remand, EPA is, in this action, establishing emission standards that will require industrial/ commercial/institutional boilers and process heaters located at major sources to meet hazardous air pollutants standards reflecting the application of the maximum achievable control technology. This rule protects air quality and promotes public health by reducing emissions of the hazardous air pollutants listed in section 112(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act.

76 FR 47094 - Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan; South Coast Air Quality Management District

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-08-04

... the California State Implementation Plan; South Coast Air Quality Management District AGENCY... the South Coast Air Quality Management District portion of the California State Implementation Plan... following local rule: South Coast Air Quality Management District Rule 1175, Control of Emissions from the...

Multiple Sensitivity Testing for Regional Air Quality Model in summer 2014

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Y.; Lee, P.; Pan, L.; Tong, D.; Kim, H. C.; Huang, M.; Wang, J.; McQueen, J.; Lu, C. H.; Artz, R. S.

2015-12-01

The NOAA Air Resources laboratory leads to improve the performance of the U.S. Air Quality Forecasting Capability (NAQFC). It is operational in NOAA National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) which focuses on predicting surface ozone and PM2.5. In order to improve its performance, we tested several approaches, including NOAA Environmental Modeling System Global Aerosol Component (NGAC) simulation derived ozone and aerosol lateral boundary conditions (LBC), bi-direction NH3 emission and HMS(Hazard Mapping System)-BlueSky emission with the latest U.S. EPA Community Multi-scale Air Quality model (CMAQ) version and the U.S EPA National Emission Inventory (NEI)-2011 anthropogenic emissions. The operational NAQFC uses static profiles for its lateral boundary condition (LBC), which does not impose severe issue for near-surface air quality prediction. However, its degraded performance for the upper layer (e.g. above 3km) is evident when comparing with aircraft measured ozone. NCEP's Global Forecast System (GFS) has tracer O3 prediction treated as 3-D prognostic variable (Moorthi and Iredell, 1998) after being initialized with Solar Backscatter Ultra Violet-2 (SBUV-2) satellite data. We applied that ozone LBC to the CMAQ's upper layers and yield more reasonable O3 prediction than that with static LBC comparing with the aircraft data in Discover-AQ Colorado campaign. NGAC's aerosol LBC also improved the PM2.5 prediction with more realistic background aerosols. The bi-direction NH3 emission used in CMAQ also help reduce the NH3 and nitrate under-prediction issue. During summer 2014, strong wildfires occurred in northwestern USA, and we used the US Forest Service's BlueSky fire emission with HMS fire counts to drive CMAQ and tested the difference of day-1 and day-2 fire emission estimation. Other related issues were also discussed.

Inverse modeling and mapping US air quality influences of inorganic PM2.5 precursor emissions using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henze, D. K.; Seinfeld, J. H.; Shindell, D. T.

2009-08-01

Influences of specific sources of inorganic PM2.5 on peak and ambient aerosol concentrations in the US are evaluated using a combination of inverse modeling and sensitivity analysis. First, sulfate and nitrate aerosol measurements from the IMPROVE network are assimilated using the four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) method into the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model in order to constrain emissions estimates in four separate month-long inversions (one per season). Of the precursor emissions, these observations primarily constrain ammonia (NH3). While the net result is a decrease in estimated US~NH3 emissions relative to the original inventory, there is considerable variability in adjustments made to NH3 emissions in different locations, seasons and source sectors, such as focused decreases in the midwest during July, broad decreases throughout the US~in January, increases in eastern coastal areas in April, and an effective redistribution of emissions from natural to anthropogenic sources. Implementing these constrained emissions, the adjoint model is applied to quantify the influences of emissions on representative PM2.5 air quality metrics within the US. The resulting sensitivity maps display a wide range of spatial, sectoral and seasonal variability in the susceptibility of the air quality metrics to absolute emissions changes and the effectiveness of incremental emissions controls of specific source sectors. NH3 emissions near sources of sulfur oxides (SOx) are estimated to most influence peak inorganic PM2.5 levels in the East; thus, the most effective controls of NH3 emissions are often disjoint from locations of peak NH3 emissions. Controls of emissions from industrial sectors of SOx and NOx are estimated to be more effective than surface emissions, and changes to NH3 emissions in regions dominated by natural sources are disproportionately more effective than regions dominated by anthropogenic sources. NOx controls are most effective in northern states in

Inverse modeling and mapping US air quality influences of inorganic PM2.5 precursor emissions using the adjoint of GEOS-Chem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Henze, D. K.; Seinfeld, J. H.; Shindell, D. T.

2008-08-01

Influences of specific sources of inorganic PM2.5 on peak and ambient aerosol concentrations in the US are evaluated using a combination of inverse modeling and sensitivity analysis. First, sulfate and nitrate aerosol measurements from the IMPROVE network are assimilated using the four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) method into the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model in order to constrain emissions estimates in four separate month-long inversions (one per season). Of the precursor emissions, these observations primarily constrain ammonia (NH3). While the net result is a decrease in estimated US NH3 emissions relative to the original inventory, there is considerable variability in adjustments made to NH3 emissions in different locations, seasons and source sectors, such as focused decreases in the midwest during July, broad decreases throughout the US~in January, increases in eastern coastal areas in April, and an effective redistribution of emissions from natural to anthropogenic sources. Implementing these constrained emissions, the adjoint model is applied to quantify the influences of emissions on representative PM2.5 air quality metrics within the US. The resulting sensitivity maps display a wide range of spatial, sectoral and seasonal variability in the susceptibility of the air quality metrics to absolute emissions changes and the effectiveness of incremental emissions controls of specific source sectors. NH3 emissions near sources of sulfur oxides (SOx) are estimated to most influence peak inorganic PM2.5 levels in the East; thus, the most effective controls of NH3 emissions are often disjoint from locations of peak NH3 emissions. Controls of emissions from industrial sectors of SOx and NOx are estimated to be more effective than surface emissions, and changes to NH3 emissions in regions dominated by natural sources are disproportionately more effective than regions dominated by anthropogenic sources. NOx controls are most effective in northern states in

Challenges and Opportunities of Air Quality Management in Mexico City

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paramo, V.

2013-05-01

The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) is located in the central plateau of Mexico and is the capital of the country. Its natural characteristics present favorable conditions for air pollution formation and accumulation: mountains surrounding the city, frequent thermal inversions, high isolation all around the year and weak winds. To these natural conditions, a population of more than 20 million inhabitants, a fleet of 4.5 million vehicles and more than 4 thousands industries, make air quality management a real challenge for governments of the region. Intensive air quality improvement actions and programs began at the end of the 1980's and continued nowadays. Since then criteria air pollutants concentrations have decreased in such a way that currently most of pollutants meet the Mexican air quality standards, except for ozone and particulate matter. Applied measures comprised of fuel quality improvements, fuel replacements, regulations for combustion processes, closing of high polluting refineries and industries, regulations of emissions for new and on road vehicles, mandatory I/M programs for vehicles, circulation restrictions for vehicles (Day without car program), alert program for elevated air pollution episodes, improvement of public transportation, among others. Recent researches (MILAGRO 2006 campaign) found that currently it is necessary to implement emissions reduction actions for Volatile Organic Compounds, particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers PM2.5 and Nitrogen Oxides, in order to reduce concentrations of ozone and fine particulate matter. Among the new measures to be implemented are: regulations for VOCs emissions in the industry and commercial sectors; regulation of the diesel fleet that includes fleets renewal, filters and particulate traps for in use vehicles and regulation of the cargo fleet; new schemes for reducing the number of vehicles circulating in the city; implementation of non-motorized mobility programs; among

Advantages of city-scale emission inventory for urban air quality research and policy: the case of Nanjing, a typical industrial city in the Yangtze River Delta, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Y.; Qiu, L.; Xu, R.; Xie, F.; Zhang, Q.; Yu, Y.; Nielsen, C. P.; Qin, H.; Wang, H.; Wu, X.; Li, W.; Zhang, J.

2015-07-01

With most eastern Chinese cities facing major air quality challenges, there is a strong need for city-scale emission inventories for use in both chemical transport modeling and the development of pollution control policies. In this paper, a high-resolution emission inventory of air pollutants and CO2 for Nanjing, a typical large city in the Yangtze River Delta, is developed incorporating the best available information on local sources. Emission factors and activity data at the unit or facility level are collected and compiled using a thorough onsite survey of major sources. Over 900 individual plants, which account for 97 % of the city's total coal consumption, are identified as point sources, and all of the emission-related parameters including combustion technology, fuel quality, and removal efficiency of air pollution control devices (APCD) are analyzed. New data-collection approaches including continuous emission monitoring systems and real-time monitoring of traffic flows are employed to improve spatiotemporal distribution of emissions. Despite fast growth of energy consumption between 2010 and 2012, relatively small inter-annual changes in emissions are found for most air pollutants during this period, attributed mainly to benefits of growing APCD deployment and the comparatively strong and improving regulatory oversight of the large point sources that dominate the levels and spatial distributions of Nanjing emissions overall. The improvement of this city-level emission inventory is indicated by comparisons with observations and other inventories at larger spatial scale. Relatively good spatial correlations are found for SO2, NOx, and CO between the city-scale emission estimates and concentrations at 9 state-opertated monitoring sites (R = 0.58, 0.46, and 0.61, respectively). The emission ratios of specific pollutants including BC to CO, OC to EC, and CO2 to CO compare well to top-down constraints from ground observations. The inter-annual variability and

78 FR 28497 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Canton-Massillon 1997 8-Hour...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-05-15

... Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Ohio; Canton-Massillon 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan... the Canton-Massillon, Ohio 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance air quality State Implementation Plan (SIP... using EPA's Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) emissions model. Ohio submitted the SIP revision...

Air pollution due to traffic, air quality monitoring along three sections of National Highway N-5, Pakistan.

PubMed

Ali, Mahboob; Athar, Makshoof

2008-01-01

Transportation system has contributed significantly to the development of human civilization; on the other hand it has an enormous impact on the ambient air quality in several ways. In this paper the air and noise pollution at selected sites along three sections of National Highway was monitored. Pakistan National Highway Authority has started a Highway Improvement program for rehabilitations and maintenance of National highways to improve the traffic flows, and would ultimately improve the air quality along highways. The ambient air quality and noise level was monitored at nine different locations along these sections of highways to quantify the air pollution. The duration of monitoring at individual location was 72 h. The most of the sampling points were near the urban or village population, schools or hospitals, in order to quantify the air pollution at most affected locations along these roads. A database consisting of information regarding the source of emission, local metrology and air quality may be created to assess the profile of air quality in the area.

Health and air quality benefits of policies to reduce coal-fired power plant emissions: a case study in North Carolina.

PubMed

Li, Ya-Ru; Gibson, Jacqueline MacDonald

2014-09-02

We analyzed sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions and fine particulate sulfate (PM2.5 sulfate) concentrations in the southeastern United States during 2002-2012, in order to evaluate the health impacts in North Carolina (NC) of the NC Clean Smokestacks Act of 2002. This state law required progressive reductions (beyond those mandated by federal rules) in pollutant emissions from NC's coal-fired power plants. Although coal-fired power plants remain NC's leading SO2 source, a trend analysis shows significant declines in SO2 emissions (-20.3%/year) and PM2.5 sulfate concentrations (-8.7%/year) since passage of the act. Emissions reductions were significantly greater in NC than in neighboring states, and emissions and PM2.5 sulfate concentration reductions were highest in NC's piedmont region, where 9 of the state's 14 major coal-fired power plants are located. Our risk model estimates that these air quality improvements decreased the risk of premature death attributable to PM2.5 sulfate in NC by about 63%, resulting in an estimated 1700 (95% CI: 1500, 1800) deaths prevented in 2012. These findings lend support to recent studies predicting that implementing the proposed federal Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (recently upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court) could substantially decrease U.S. premature deaths attributable to coal-fired power plant emissions.

Special report on transboundary air quality issues

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1998-12-31

The International Air Quality Board was created in 1996 to provide advice to the International Joint Commission in fulfilling an air quality alerting function requested by governments in that year. The Board undertook a review of the many issues affecting transboundary air quality along the Canada-US border. This report reflects on issues previously addressed by the Board in its reporting to the Commission. Section 1 discusses the need for Canada and the US to adopt a seamless border approach to address pollution sources and receptors in a holistic manner. Section 2 discusses nitrogen oxides as a key contaminant because ofmore » its direct impact on the ecosystem and its effects on future levels of other secondary pollutants. Section 3 outlines the deficiencies of emission inventories regarding persistent toxic substances such as mercury, which must be addressed if source-to-receptor relationships are to be established. Section 4 covers the need to develop monitoring and modelling tools to further examine pollutant transport and concentration, and the resulting human and ecological exposure. Section 5 describes issues in individual regions along the border. Section 6 is directed at the harmonization of standards, which would assist in the effective control of transboundary pollutants such as ozone. Section 7 discusses collaboration with other organizations in addressing transboundary air pollution issues. Section 8 describes various feedback mechanisms for verifying that the elimination or management of air pollution is achieving improvement and benefits. Section 9 considers emissions and preventive strategies for major source sectors, including coal-fired utilities and mobile sources. The final section outlines future Board activities.« less

The Use of Regulatory Air Quality Models to Develop Successful Ozone Attainment Strategies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Canty, T. P.; Salawitch, R. J.; Dickerson, R. R.; Ring, A.; Goldberg, D. L.; He, H.; Anderson, D. C.; Vinciguerra, T.

2015-12-01

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently proposed lowering the 8-hr ozone standard to between 65-70 ppb. Not all regions of the U.S. are in attainment of the current 75 ppb standard and it is expected that many regions currently in attainment will not meet the future, lower surface ozone standard. Ozone production is a nonlinear function of emissions, biological processes, and weather. Federal and state agencies rely on regulatory air quality models such as the Community Multi-Scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model and Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) to test ozone precursor emission reduction strategies that will bring states into compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). We will describe various model scenarios that simulate how future limits on emission of ozone precursors (i.e. NOx and VOCs) from sources such as power plants and vehicles will affect air quality. These scenarios are currently being developed by states required to submit a State Implementation Plan to the EPA. Projections from these future case scenarios suggest that strategies intended to control local ozone may also bring upwind states into attainment of the new NAAQS. Ground based, aircraft, and satellite observations are used to ensure that air quality models accurately represent photochemical processes within the troposphere. We will highlight some of the improvements made to the CMAQ and CAMx model framework based on our analysis of NASA observations obtained by the OMI instrument on the Aura satellite and by the DISCOVER-AQ field campaign.

Evaluating commercial marine emissions and their role in air quality policy using observations and the CMAQ model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ring, Allison M.; Canty, Timothy P.; Anderson, Daniel C.; Vinciguerra, Timothy P.; He, Hao; Goldberg, Daniel L.; Ehrman, Sheryl H.; Dickerson, Russell R.; Salawitch, Ross J.

2018-01-01

We investigate the representation of emissions from the largest (Class 3) commercial marine vessels (c3 Marine) within the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model. In present emissions inventories developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), c3 Marine emissions are divided into off-shore and near-shore files. Off-shore c3 Marine emissions are vertically distributed within the atmospheric column, reflecting stack-height and plume rise. Near-shore c3 Marine emissions, located close to the US shoreline, are erroneously assumed to occur only at the surface. We adjust the near-shore c3 Marine emissions inventory by vertically distributing these emissions to be consistent with the off-shore c3 Marine inventory. Additionally, we remove near-shore c3 Marine emissions that overlap with off-shore c3 Marine emissions within the EPA files. The CMAQ model generally overestimates surface ozone (O3) compared to Air Quality System (AQS) site observations, with the largest discrepancies occurring near coastal waterways. We compare modeled O3 from two CMAQ simulations for June, July, and August (JJA) 2011 to surface O3 observations from AQS sites to examine the efficacy of the c3 Marine emissions improvements. Model results at AQS sites show average maximum 8-hr surface O3 decreases up to ∼6.5 ppb along the Chesapeake Bay, and increases ∼3-4 ppb around Long Island Sound, when the adjusted c3 Marine emissions are used. Along with the c3 Marine emissions adjustments, we reduce on-road mobile NOX emissions by 50%, motivated by work from Anderson et al. 2014, and reduce the lifetime of the alkyl nitrate species group from ∼10 days to ∼1 day based on work by Canty et al. 2015, to develop the ;c3 Science; model scenario. Simulations with these adjustments further improve model representation of the atmosphere. We calculate the ratio of column formaldehyde (HCHO) and tropospheric column nitrogen dioxide (NO2) using observations from the Ozone