Air Quality Integrated Assessment

Guariso, Giorgio; Volta, Marialuisa

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-33349-6

Cited by 8 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…As a consequence, the Po basin is one of the EU hotspots suffering from premature mortality associated to atmospheric pollution (EEA, 2015). In spite of the improvements in the last decades (e.g., Bigi and Ghermandi, 2016), the air quality in the Po Valley is still far from the standards established by the European Commission (EU Commission, 2008) and exceedances of these standards are expected to continue in the next years (Belis et al, 2017;Caserini et al, 2017; EEA, 2017; Guariso and Volta, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps. Part 1: phenomenology

Diémoz¹,

Barnaba²,

Magri³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Mountainous regions are often considered pristine environments, however they can be affected by pollutants emitted in more populated and industrialised areas, transported by regional winds. Based on experimental evidence, further supported by modelling tools, we demonstrate and quantify here the impact of air masses transported from the Po Valley, a European atmospheric pollution hotspot, to the northwestern Alps. This is achieved through a detailed investigation of the phenomenology of near-range (few hundreds km), trans-regional transport, exploiting synergies of multi-sensor observations mainly focussed on particulate matter. The explored dataset includes vertically-resolved data from atmospheric profiling techniques (Automated LiDAR-Ceilometers, ALC), vertically-integrated aerosol properties from ground (sun photometer) and space, and in situ measurements (PM10 and PM2.5, relevant chemical analyses, and aerosol size distribution). During the frequent advection episodes from the Po basin, all the physical quantities observed by the instrumental setup are found to significantly increase: the scattering ratio from ALC reaches values > 30, AOD triplicates, surface PM10 reaches concentrations > 100 µg/m3 even in rural areas, secondary inorganic compounds such as nitrate, ammonium and sulfate increase up to 28 %, 8 % and 17 % of the total PM10 mass, respectively. Results also indicate that the advected aerosol is smaller in size and less light-absorbing compared to the aerosol type locally-emitted in the northwestern Italian Alps, and hygroscopic. In this work, the phenomenon is exemplified through detailed analysis and discussion of three case studies, selected for their clarity and relevance within the wider dataset, the latter being fully exploited in a companion paper quantifying the impact of this phenomenology over the long-term (Diémoz et al., 2018). For the three case studies investigated, a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model (COSMO) and a lagrangian tool (LAGRANTO) are employed to understand the meteorological mechanisms favouring the transport and to demonstrate the Po Valley origin of the air masses. In addition, a chemical transport model (FARM) is used to further support the observations and to partition the contributions of local and non-local sources. Results show that the simulations are not able to adequately reproduce the measurements (with modelled PM10 concentrations 4–5 times lower than the ones retrieved from the ALC, and maxima anticipated by 6–7 hours), likely owing to deficiencies in the emission inventory and particle water uptake not fully taken into account. The advected aerosol is shown to remarkably degrade the air quality of the Alpine region, with potential negative effects on human health, climate and ecosystems, as well as on the touristic development of the investigated area. The findings of the present study could also help design mitigation strategies at the trans–regional scale in the Po basin, and suggest an observations-based approach to evaluate the outcome of their implementation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps. Part 1: phenomenology

Diémoz¹,

Barnaba²,

Magri³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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show abstract

“…An evaluation of this kind of effect is in principle possible by comparing the simulations with the ALC-derived PBL height (e.g. Angelini et al, 2009;Haeffelin et al, 2012). However, this should be performed only selecting nonadvection conditions, i.e.…”

Section: Inaccuracies In Retrieving the Pm Concentration Frommentioning

confidence: 99%

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps – Part 1: Phenomenology

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Mountainous regions are often considered pristine environments; however they can be affected by pollutants emitted in more populated and industrialised areas, transported by regional winds. Based on experimental evidence, further supported by modelling tools, here we demonstrate and quantify the impact of air masses transported from the Po Valley, a European atmospheric pollution hotspot, to the northwestern Alps. This is achieved through a detailed investigation of the phenomenology of near-range (a few hundred kilometres), trans-regional transport, exploiting synergies of multi-sensor observations mainly focussed on particulate matter. The explored dataset includes vertically resolved data from atmospheric profiling techniques (automated lidar ceilometers, ALCs), vertically integrated aerosol properties from ground (sun photometer) and space, and in situ measurements (PM10 and PM2.5, relevant chemical analyses, and aerosol size distribution). During the frequent advection episodes from the Po basin, all the physical quantities observed by the instrumental setup are found to significantly increase: the scattering ratio from ALC reaches values >30, aerosol optical depth (AOD) triples, surface PM10 reaches concentrations >100 µg m−3 even in rural areas, and contributions to PM10 by secondary inorganic compounds such as nitrate, ammonium, and sulfate increase up to 28 %, 8 %, and 17 %, respectively. Results also indicate that the aerosol advected from the Po Valley is hygroscopic, smaller in size, and less light-absorbing compared to the aerosol type locally emitted in the northwestern Italian Alps. In this work, the phenomenon is exemplified through detailed analysis and discussion of three case studies, selected for their clarity and relevance within the wider dataset, the latter being fully exploited in a companion paper quantifying the impact of this phenomenology over the long-term (Diémoz et al., 2019). For the three case studies investigated, a high-resolution numerical weather prediction model (COSMO) and a Lagrangian tool (LAGRANTO) are employed to understand the meteorological mechanisms favouring transport and to demonstrate the Po Valley origin of the air masses. In addition, a chemical transport model (FARM) is used to further support the observations and to partition the contributions of local and non-local sources. Results show that the simulations are important to the understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. However, in quantitative terms, modelled PM10 concentrations are 4–5 times lower than the ones retrieved from the ALC and maxima are anticipated in time by 6–7 h. Underestimated concentrations are likely mainly due to deficiencies in the emission inventory and to water uptake of the advected particles not fully reproduced by FARM, while timing mismatches are likely an effect of suboptimal simulation of up-valley and down-valley winds by COSMO. The advected aerosol is shown to remarkably degrade the air quality of the Alpine region, with potential negative effects on human health, climate, and ecosystems, as well as on the touristic development of the investigated area. The findings of the present study could also help design mitigation strategies at the trans-regional scale in the Po basin and suggest an observation-based approach to evaluate the outcome of their implementation.

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Urban Pollution Environmental Monitoring System Using IoT Devices and Data Visualization: A Case Study

Rosero-Montalvo

Batista

Peluffo-Ordóñez

et al. 2019

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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Air Quality Integrated Assessment

Cited by 8 publications

References 14 publications

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps. Part 1: phenomenology

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps. Part 1: phenomenology

Transport of Po Valley aerosol pollution to the northwestern Alps – Part 1: Phenomenology

Urban Pollution Environmental Monitoring System Using IoT Devices and Data Visualization: A Case Study

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