International Journal of Environment and Pollution (49 papers in press)

Regular Issues

• Are toxic load-based toxicity models consistent with experimental observations? Independent analysis of steady-exposure data from the 20122013 ECBC/NAMRU-D toxicological experiments  
  by Alexander Slawik, Kevin Axelrod, James Silva, Ivo Dimitrov, Jeffry Urban, Nathan Platt 
  Abstract: This work explores the validity of the toxic load model, which is often used to predict the health effects of airborne releases of toxic materials. In 2012 and 2013 the US Army's Edgewood Chemical and Biological Center (ECBC) and the Naval Medical Research Unit Dayton (NAMRU-D) conducted toxicological experiments to explore the effects of time-varying inhalation exposures of hydrogen cyanide gas on rats. Our independent analysis of the experimental data indicates that the toxic load model is not valid over the full range of the experiments exposure durations, assuming that there was no systematic experimental error. The model fits the data poorly for exposure durations under 10 minutes.
  Keywords: toxicology; toxic load; toxic load model; toxicity model; hazardous materials; acute inhalation exposure; steady exposures; consequence assessment; health effects; health and exposure assessment; hydrogen cyanide; rats; ECBC; NAMRU-D; DTRA.
  
  
• Relationships between water and sediment quality parameters and faecal bacteria content in the Palic-Ludas canal, Serbia  
  by Zeljka Rudic, Bojana Vujovic, Mile Bozic, Tanja Arizanovic, Vera Raicevic 
  Abstract: The objective of this paper is to emphasise how faecal bacteria persist in canal sediment and relate to abiotic factors in a peri-urban canal. Mann-Whitney tests confirmed that there is a considerable difference in water quality of upstream and downstream end of the canal, which supports the claim that water quality is affected by wastewater discharge. Strong positive correlations between enterococci and organic matter, TOC, and all nitrogen forms in sediment show that the large amount of organic matter in sediment is linked to high enterococcal counts. High counts of Escherichia coli in sediment, as well as weak correlations between E. coli and sediment quality parameters, together with water quality changes, indicate a 'fresh' pollution of an aquatic system. In conclusion, our study suggests that wastewater discharge makes a long term contribution to the increased content of E. coli and enterococci in the Palic-Ludas canal.
  Keywords: Escherichia coli; enterococci; environmental pollution; Mann-Whitney test; Spearman correlation.
  
  
• Physicochemical characterisation of soil amendments derived from residual materials and their effects on soil fertility  
  by Zahra Derakhshan-Nejad, Myung Chae Jung 
  Abstract: Soil remediation by stabilisation/solidification, which is a process that involves mixing of contaminated soil with binders (amendment) to reduce the volume of contaminant leachability, has shown huge promise in dealing with the cleanup of soils contaminated with hazardous substances. Hence, this study was carried out to characterise physicochemical properties of residual materials (i.e., rice husk, RRH; rice husk biochar, RHB; maple leaf, RML; maple leaf biochar, MLB; red mud, RM; and steel slag, SS) to guarantee the right identification for applying them as soil amendments. In addition, the influence of amendments on soil water holding capacity (WHC) and cation exchange capacity (CEC), as critical factors for soil fertility, was examined. Pyrolysis of RRH and RML at 550 0C caused an increase in specific surface area (SSA), aromatic carbon rings, and pH of the resultant RHB and MLB. Results of the infrared spectrum identified hydroxyl bonds of gibbsite in RM and silica bonds in SS. Strong negative zeta potential (ZP) values for RRH, RML, and biochars was observed. However, RM and SS showed both negative and positive values for ZP depending on the pH condition. Applying RHB, MLB, RM, and SS as soil amendments for a contaminated site showed promising results to increase soil CEC, WHC and metals immobilisation.
  Keywords: soil remediation; rice husk; maple leaf; biochar; red mud; steel slag.
  
  
• Quercus ilex as bio-indicator of metal pollution in the area of Terni, Italy  
  by Loretta Gratani, Maria Fiore Crescente, Rosangela Catoni, Ilaria Rita Guiducci, Donatella Bartoli, Gaia Piccini, Romina Quondam Luigi, Federica Rocchi, Laura Varone 
  Abstract: Trees are effective scavengers of both gaseous and particulate pollutants from the atmosphere. The objective of this research was to evaluate heavy metal pollution in the territory of the steel factory Acciai Speciali Terni S.p.A (Italy) by monitoring Quercus ilex trees naturally growing in the area. Measurements were carried out in three sites (site 1, 2 and 3) at different distances from the steel factory (1.9, 2.3 and 7.2 km from the factory, respectively). The most part of the metals (As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) had a decreasing trend from site 1 to site 3. Among them, Cr showed the highest decrease (97%) and Zn the lowest (44%). At a morphological level, leaf mass area (LMA) was lower at site 3 (12.9
  Keywords: Quercus ilex; metal pollution; leaf morphology; leaf rolling; steel factory.
  
  
• Kinetic conditions of struvite continuous reaction crystallization from wastewater in presence of aluminum(III) and iron(III) ions  
  by Nina Hutnik, Anna Stanclik, Krzysztof Piotrowski, Andrzej Matynia 
  Abstract: Kinetic parameters of the continuous struvite reaction crystallization process from aqueous solutions containing phosphate(V) ions with impurities: aluminum(III) or/and iron(III) ions were determined. Simplified kinetic model of ideal MSMPR (Mixed Suspension Mixed Product Removal) crystallizer SIG (Size Independent Growth) was adopted. Nuclei population densities, nucleation rates and crystal linear growth rates were determined from product crystal size distributions. It was concluded, that within the assumed process parameter ranges linear growth rate of struvite crystals in presence of aluminum(III) ions varied from 4.53∙109 to 1.89∙108 m/s, whereas in presence of iron(III) ions within the 4.59∙109 1.62∙108 m/s range. Nucleation rate, varied within the 3.8∙107 1.6∙109 1/(sm3) and 4.5∙107 1.2∙109 1/(sm3) ranges, correspondingly. These large differences show significant influence of impurities and technological parameters on the struvite reaction crystallization kinetics, thus on the product quality. It was experimentally demonstrated, that aluminum(III) ions affect struvite reaction crystallization more advantageously than iron(III) ions.
  Keywords: struvite; phosphate(V) ions; aluminum(III) ions; iron(III) ions; continuous reaction crystallization; SIG MSMPR kinetic model; wastewater; phosphorus recycling.
  
  
• Impacts of global climate scenarios over three European cities using mesoscale and CFD simulations with very high horizontal resolution  
  by Libia Pérez, Roberto San Jose, Juan Luis Perez, Rosa Maria Gonzalez-Barras, Julia Pecci, Marino Palacios 
  Abstract: This contribution presents the results of a climate and air pollution dynamical downscaling process from global climate simulations to urban scale with 50 m spatial resolution. The final objective is to show how urban meteorological and air pollution respond to different global climatic conditions and how human health could be affected by changes induced by global warming emissions. We have used the mesoscale model WRF-Chem (NOAA, US) to produce information covering all Europe with 25 km spatial resolution and two nested domains with 5 km and 1 km of spatial resolution over Madrid, London and Milan. Finally a detailed simulations using MICROSYS-CFD model are implemented to take into account the buildings of the city. The energy fluxes are calculated with the NOAH land surface model and the UCM (Urban Canopy Model), considering the shadows and reflections of the buildings. Year 2011 is used as reference year and 2030, 2050 and 2100 for future under two RCP scenarios of the IPCC, 4.5 (peak around 2040, then decline) and 8.5 (emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century). Boundary conditions are taken from the global climate model CESM with a frequency of six hours. For evaluation we make a comparison between results of a simulation for present situation (2011, with reanalysis data as boundary and initial conditions) and observations showing acceptable agreement with measurements. The results are analysed with climate and health indicators for mortality and morbidity, using epidemiological studies to fix the exposure-response functions. The purpose is to highlight areas with elevated vulnerability to prepare plans and implement adaptations to reduce human health effect of climate change.
  Keywords: Dynamical downscaling; Climate; Health; CFD.
  
  
• The leaching behaviour of Cu, Zn and Pb from waste printed circuit boards by [BSO4HPy]HSO4  
  by Mengjun Chen, Sha Zhang, Jiqin Wang, Bin Wang, Jinxiu Huang, Shu Chen 
  Abstract: Currently, researches are mainly focused on how to recycle valuable metals from waste printed circuit boards (WPCBs), but rarely against the toxic substances, such as zinc and lead, during the recycling process. In this research, the effect of zinc and lead during the process of leaching copper from WPCBs by an acidic ionic liquid, N-sulfobutylpyridinium hydrosulfate ([BSO4HPy]HSO4), was investigated in detail. Results showed that copper and zinc could be successfully leached out by [BSO4HPy]HSO4. When 1 g of 0.1-0.25 mm WPCBs powder was leached by 25 mL 80% (v/v) ionic liquid and 10 mL 30% hydrogen peroxide at 40 oC for 2 h, copper and zinc leaching rate could be up to 99.75% and 93.02%, respectively. The added amount of H2O2, the solid-liquid ratio and the temperature significantly impact the leaching rate of copper and zinc. On the contrary, the lead leaching rate is hardly influenced by these factors, maintaining at around 2%. Thus, during the leaching process, zinc could significantly influence the leaching of copper, which is totally different for lead. Leaching kinetics analysis indicated that the leaching of copper and zinc is controlled by solid film diffusion, and the leaching of lead is controlled by chemical reaction.
  Keywords: WPCBs; ionic liquid; copper; N-sulfobutylpyridinium hydrosulfate.
  
  

Special Issue on: Challenges in the Development of Large-scale Pollution Models

• Urban areas parameterisation for CFD simulation and cities air quality analysis.  
  by Maria Grazia Badas, Luca Salvadori, Michela Garau, Giorgio Querzoli, Simone Ferrari 
  Abstract: The aim of this work is to highlight the importance of a site-specific characterisation of urban areas needed for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations and urban air quality studies. As a case study, we consider Cagliari, an Italian town, whose heterogeneous urban form can be representative of many European historical towns, quite different from large American cities that are generally analysed in the literature. Basic steps needed to compute the main morphometric and fluid dynamics parameters from Digital Elevation Models (DEM) are reviewed and some possible caveats on using gridded DEM analysis are highlighted. Results show how site-specific analysis provides quite different parametrisations from those obtained by literature results, which cannot be transposed to other urban contexts. Morphometric site-specific analysis represents a key issue in urban numerical simulations, since the application of non-representative morphometric input data may dramatically affect their results.
  Keywords: morphometric parameters; urban aerodynamic roughness; urban canopy model.
  
  
• On convergence of difference schemes for Dirichlet IBVP for two-dimensional quasilinear parabolic equations  
  by Piotr Matus, Dmitriy Poliakov, Dorota Pylak 
  Abstract: For the Dirichlet initial boundary value problem (IBVP) for two-dimensional quasilinear parabolic equations, a monotone linearised difference scheme is constructed. The uniform parabolicity condition is assumed to be fulfilled for the sign-alternating solution only in the domain of exact solution values (unbounded nonlinearity). On the basis of the proved new corollaries of the maximum principle not only two-sided estimates for the approximate solution y but also its belonging to the domain of exact solution values are established. We assume that the solution is continuous and its first derivatives have discontinuities of the first kind in the neighborhood of the finite number of discontinuity lines. An existence of a time derivative in any sense is not assumed. Convergence of the approximate solution to a generalized solution of differential problem in the grid norm L2 is proved.
  Keywords: difference schemes ; generalised solution ; initial boundary valuernproblem ; 2D quasilinear parabolic equation ; unbounded nonlinearity ; two-sided estimates.
  
  
• The treatment method of general heat treatment of waste water from metal manufacturing based on photocatalysis  
  by Ning Qiu 
  Abstract: Photocatalytic treatment of emulsified waste liquid after pretreatment is carried out using TiO2 as catalyst, and the influence of crystal structure, particle size, amounts of catalyst and the initial pH value on the removal ratio of the chemical oxygen demand (COD) are studied. The results show that in the conditions that 0.5% quality point, P25-1 photocatalyst, 6.5 pH value and 90 min processing, the treatment effect is most ideal.
  Keywords: heat treatment cleaning; emulsion; photocatalysis; post-treatment.
  
  
• Assaying SARIMA and generalised regularised regression for particulate matter PM10 modelling and forecasting  
  by Snezhana Gocheva-Ilieva, Atanas Ivanov 
  Abstract: Two different predictive modelling approaches classical SARIMA time series methodology and the new Generalized PathSeeker (GPS) regularized regression method - supported by stochastic gradient boosting trees, RuleLearner and other data mining techniques, are used to examine the concentration of particulate matter PM10 in the town of Kardzhali, Bulgaria. Empirical models are developed to simulate and forecast pollution levels based on hourly PM10 data from 1 January 2011 to 28 February 2014 in dependence on six meteorological variables. The constructed models have been used for 5-days-ahead hourly forecasts, compared with actual data from 1 to 5 March 2014. The obtained SARIMA and GPS models fit very well to historical data with coefficients of determination R2 = 90% and 82%, and root mean square error RMSE = 0.114 and 0.151, respectively. But in forecasting GPS models outperform SARIMA approach. This could be explained by the preliminary classification provided by the data mining techniques and cross-validation procedure.
  Keywords: air pollution; particulate matter PM10; seasonal ARIMA; generalised PathSeeker regularised regression; stochastic gradient boosting; data mining; forecasting.
  
  
• An approach for selection of solid waste disposal site by rapid impact assessment matrix and environmental performance index analysis  
  by Nekram Rawal 
  Abstract: The selection of a suitable landfill site for disposal of municipal solid waste is an important challenge for the engineered system. The physical, biological, sociological and economic aspects should be examined with the aim to measure the overall impact of the waste disposal issues before the selection of an appropriate landfill site. In this study, the selection procedure of appropriate landfill site among four landfill sites, i.e Kareli, Alopibagh, Phaphamau and Ganja landfill sites for disposal of waste in Allahabad (India) is highlighted. A questionnaire comprising physical/chemical, biological/ecological, social/cultural and economic/operational aspects was prepared. A survey was conducted among the residents and local public residing near all four landfill sites. The responses were analysed with the Rapid Impact Assessment Matrix (RIAM) tool to quantify the intangible effects in terms of environmental score. The results were used to compare the cumulative impacts in a rational manner. Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was computed for all four sites to intelligibly ascertain the efficacy of the systems/methodologies involved in the solid waste disposal facility. The results revealed that Ganja landfill site was the best site compared with the Kareli, Alopibagh and Phaphamau landfill sites. The EPI of four sites, viz., Kareli, Alopibagh, Phaphamau and Ganja, were -110.315, -123.541, 98.867 and -54.586, respectively. The EPI of all the four sites had negative values indicating that these are not appropriate for landfilling or dumping.
  Keywords: municipal solid waste; waste disposal; rapid impact assessment matrix; environmental score; environmental performance index.
  
  
• Advanced algorithms for studying the impact of climate changes on ozone levels in the atmosphere  
  by Istvan Farago, Zahari Zlatev, Ivan Dimov, Agnes Havasi, Krassimir Georgiev 
  Abstract: The problem caused by the rapid climate changes is very challenging for modern society. The steady increase of the global temperature, especially in the Arctic areas, has different consequences. Most of them are at least potentially dangerous. Some aspects of the impact of the increased temperature on some pollution levels, which could be harmful for some groups of human beings (primarily for people suffering from asthmatic diseases) has been studied by developing climate scenarios and by running them over a period of 16 consecutive years. The mathematical model used in the experiments is a system of nonlinear partial differential equations (PDEs) and the space domain contains the whole of Europe together with some of its surroundings. Difficult computational problems will arise after the direct discretisation of the spatial derivatives, because this results in huge systems of linear algebraic equations, containing often hundreds of millions of equations, which have to be handled numerically during many time-steps for each of the selected scenarios and for each of the chosen years. The enormous computational problems can be treated successfully only by resolving simultaneously five important tasks. More precisely, it is necessary (a) to apply accurate and efficient numerical algorithms, (b) to select an appropriate splitting procedure, (c) to develop parallel codes, (d) to use high-speed computers in the runs, and (e) to exploit as well as possible the cache memories of the available parallel computer. Selected numerical results will be presented in this paper in order to illustrate both the fact that the developed code is efficient and the fact that the future climate changes will result in consistent increase of some pollution levels.
  Keywords: large-scale environmental models; systems of non-linear PDEs; numerical algorithms; splitting techniques; parallel codes; high-speed computers; climate changes; ozone levels; damaging effects.
  
  
• Applying WRF-CMAQ models for assessment of sulphur and nitrogen deposition in Bulgaria for the years 2016 and 2017  
  by Dimiter Syrakov, Maria Prodanova, Emilia Georgieva, Elena Hristova 
  Abstract: Wet, dry and total depositions of sulphur (S) and nitrogen (N) in Bulgaria are simulated on an annual and seasonal basis for the years 2016 and 2017 using WRF-CMAQ (9 km grid resolution). The mean annual values for wet depositions are about 1300 kg km-2, the dry depositions are slightly lower for S and significantly lower for N (180 kg km-2). The highest modelled wet depositions are in the western and south-western part of the country, and the highest dry depositions are in the northern and eastern parts. The comparison for the wet depositions at three sites with precipitation chemistry data indicates overestimation. A precipitation bias adjustment applied to the modelled depositions results in decrease of the normalised mean bias by a factor of 3. Comparison with modelled deposition data from literature for this region of the country is also provided.
  Keywords: depositions; WRF-CMAQ; precipitation chemistry; Bulgaria; comparison; bias adjustment.
  
  
• Analysis of regional climate model simulations for Central Europe as a potential tool to assess weather-related air quality conditions  
  by Ildiko Pieczka, Rita Pongracz, Csilla Peline Nemeth, Timea Kalmar 
  Abstract: Potentially adverse air quality is discussed in the present paper via its relation with wind conditions and boundary layer thickness. The main goal of the study is to evaluate different RegCM simulations (using two different model versions) for the 1981-1990 period, driven by either reanalysis data or global climate models output. For the validation purpose, wind speed, temperature, planetary boundary layer (PBL) height, and a derived index, the so-called Holst stagnation index are analysed and compared with the reference data. According to the results, wind is overestimated throughout the year, temperature is overestimated in the plain areas, whereas it is underestimated in the mountains. The height of the PBL is generally overestimated, and substantial differences are identified between RegCM4.5 and RegCM4.3 simulations. Consequently, these result in the substantial underestimations of the Holst stagnation index, and the frequency of potential adverse air quality, although the annual cycles are reproduced well. In order to prepare reliable projections, newer RegCM model versions and/or different model setups must be further tested as to whether they are able to reproduce past meteorological conditions related to air quality. We found potential in using a different PBL parameterisation scheme instead of the previously widely used Holtslag scheme.
  Keywords: planetary boundary layer; wind; Holst stagnation index; RegCM; regional climate model; validation; air pollution; Carpathian Basin; Central Europe.
  
  
• Current trends in nanotechnology for bioremediation  
  by Stephen Rathinaraj Benjamin, Fabio De Lima, Eridan Orlando Pereira Tramontina Florean, Maria Izabel Florindo Guedes 
  Abstract: Nanotechnology is an emerging field to produce nano-scale products with more efficient reactivity and larger surface area than the bulk phase. These unique attributes of nanoparticles offer immense potential for their application to clean up sites contaminated with petroleum hydrocarbons, pesticides, and metals. Compared with the conventional physicochemical methods of remediation of contaminated sites, bioremediation has been drawing increasing attention owing to its economic, eco-friendly and self-propelling attributes. Nanoparticles (NPs) can be applied directly for removal of organic contaminants through adsorption or chemical modification. They can also serve as a facilitator in microbial remediation of contaminants either by immobilising or through the induced production of remediating microbial enzymes. The present review provides an overview of different types of nanotechnology with biological and plant-based bioremediation approaches.
  Keywords: bioremediation; nanotechnology; genetic engineering; recombinant DNA technology.
  
  

Special Issue on: HARMO 18 Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes

• Evaluation of parametric laws for computing the wind speed profile in the urban boundary layer: Comparison to two dimensional building water channel data  
  by Annalisa Di Bernardino, Armando Pelliccioni, Paolo Monti, Giovanni Leuzzi, Giorgio Querzoli 
  Abstract: The wind flow in urban canopies depends mostly on the geometry of the roughness elements present above the surface. Given the impracticality of obtaining relationships strictly related to the governing equations, the wind-speed profile is evaluated in current practice by means of similarity laws, whose parameters are usually based on the morphometric method. This study analyses some of the empirical laws found in the literature adopted to determine the wind-speed profile above the canopy layer in neutral conditions. Their performance is tested against water-channel data simulating an idealised two-dimensional array of regular buildings of constant height.
  Keywords: building; canopy layer; logarithmic law; neutral boundary layer; similarity theory; wind profile.
  
  
• Validation of numerically forecasted vertical temperature profile with measurements for dispersion modelling  
  by Bostjan Grasic, Primoz Mlakar, Marija Zlata Boznar, Jus Kocijan 
  Abstract: Modelling of air pollution dispersion in the immediate vicinity of industrial sources over a complex terrain requires proper meteorological input data regarding the state of the atmosphere. For this purpose, numerical weather prediction-model results, rather than direct measurements, are becoming more widely used. In order to ensure high-quality modelling of the air-pollution dispersion, the forecast meteorological input data have to be of high quality. The quality of numerically obtained data has to therefore be validated with measurements. Measurements of the vertical temperature profile, which is vital, with Radio Acoustic Sounding System (RASS) were used in this study. The paper presents the validation of the forecast vertical temperature profile over the complex terrain of the Krko Basin. The validation is carried out with sensor measurements from a 70 metre tall tower and remote RASS measurements. 13 months worth of data is used for the validation study.
  Keywords: vertical temperature profile; weather forecast validation; WRF; RASS; complex terrain.
  
  
• Computer simulations of the impact of air pollution on the quality of life and health risks in Bulgaria  
  by Ivelina Georgieva, Vladimir Ivanov 
  Abstract: The air is the living environment of human beings and atmospheric composition has a great importance for the quality of life and human health. Air Quality (AQ) is a key element for the well-being and quality of life of European citizens. The objective of the present work is performing reliable, comprehensive and detailed studies of the impact of lower atmosphere composition on quality of life for the population in Bulgaria. The AQ study is based on atmospheric composition numerical simulations. USEPA Models3 System was applied as tool for 3D simulations. The AQ Index provides an integrated assessment of the impact of air pollutants on human health and is calculated on the basis of the air pollutant concentration obtained from numerical modelling. A comprehensive ensemble of atmospheric composition fields was created and diurnal variations of the recurrence spatial distribution of different classes of the AQI are demonstrated in the present work.
  Keywords: air quality; ensemble of numerical simulation; air quality indices; quality of life; health risks.
  
  
• Contribution of different emission sources to the atmospheric composition format in the city of Sofia  
  by Georgi Gadzhev, Ivelina Georgieva, Kostadin Ganev, Nikolay Miloshev 
  Abstract: Some extensive numerical simulations of the atmospheric composition fields in Sofia city have been recently performed and an ensemble, comprehensive enough as to provide statistically reliable assessment of the atmospheric composition climate has been constructed. The US EPA Models-3 system was chosen as a modelling tool. As the NCEP Global Analysis Data with 1 degree resolution is used as meteorological background, the system nesting capabilities were applied for downscaling the simulations to a 1 km resolution. The national emission inventory and the TNO inventory were used as an emission input. The study is based on a large number of numerical simulations carried out day by day for years 2008-2014 for six emission scenarios with all the emissions included and with reduced: all the emissions, emissions from energetics, from non-industrial, industrial combustions and road transport. Results concerning the contribution of the different emission categories are demonstrated in the paper.
  Keywords: urban air pollution; computer simulations; SNAP categories; contribution of different emission sources.
  
  
• Effect of surface roughness on turbulence, ventilation and pollutant dispersion over a hypothetical urban area  
  by Ziwei Mo 
  Abstract: Wind flows and pollutant dispersion over cities are strongly affected by urban morphology. Scientific evidence measuring the effect of surface roughness on transport processes is needed to effectuate air quality strategy. Based on idealised building models assembled by ribs and LEGO
  Keywords: air exchange rate; pollutant dispersion coefficient; rough-surface drag; street-level ventilation; wind tunnel experiments.
  
  
• A hybrid CFD RANS/Lagrangian approach to model atmospheric dispersion of pollutants in complex urban geometries  
  by Meïssam L. Bahlali, Eric Dupont, Bertrand Carissimo 
  Abstract: In the general context of atmospheric dispersion in urban neighborhood or around an industrial site, Lagrangian models consist of calculating and tracking the trajectories of particles of pollutant emitted into the turbulent atmosphere. These models are particularly suitable for the study of complex, unsteady or inhomogeneous flows, which is precisely the case of atmospheric flows in urban areas and complex industrial sites. They are also recommended to deal with dispersion near the sources. Usually, these models use wind and turbulence fields computed by an external code. In this work, the objective is to compare the Lagrangian and the Eulerian atmospheric dispersion modules in the same Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) open source code (Code_Saturne), therefore using the same wind and turbulence field for both. For each simulation, we compare the turbulent dispersion of pollutants obtained with the Lagrangian approach to the existing results previously obtained with the Eulerian methods. The Lagrangian stochastic model used in this work is the Simplified Langevin Model (SLM) of Pope (2000) and pertains to the approaches referred to as PDF (Probability Density Function) methods. This formulation of model has been extensively used in the fields of turbulent combustion or multiphase flows, but to our knowledge, it has not been widely used in atmospheric applications. In this paper, we first show that the SLM respects the well-mixed criterion for uniform and non-uniform flows. Then, we validate the model in the case of a continuous point release with uniform mean wind speed and turbulent diffusivity, by checking with the existing analytical solution. Finally, we validate the model with several experimental campaigns, considering atmospheric stratification and buildings. The first field experiment program considered in this paper has been conducted on the SIRTA site (Site Instrumental de Recherche par T
  Keywords: atmospheric dispersion; Lagrangian stochastic modelling; turbulence; CFD.
  
  
• Data assimilation at local scale to improve CFD simulations of atmospheric dispersion: application to 1D shallow-water equations and method comparisons  
  by Cécile L. Defforge, Bertrand Carissimo, Marc Bocquet, Patrick Armand, Raphaël Bresson 
  Abstract: Atmospheric dispersion modelling requires meteorological inputs over local domains with possibly complex topographies. These local wind fields may be difficult to simulate with CFD models, in particular because of their sensitivity to geometrical features and to model inputs, especially the boundary conditions which are generally provided by larger-scale models or measurements. Using data assimilation, a few measurements inside the domain could add information to the imprecise boundary conditions and thus greatly enhance the precision of the dispersion simulations. Three data assimilation techniques (3DVar, the back and forth nudging algorithm, and the iterative ensemble Kalman smoother) have been adapted to local scale simulations by taking boundary conditions into account instead of initial conditions for which they are usually applied. Their performances have been evaluated at small scales, with a simple flow, using 1D solution of the shallow water equations.
  Keywords: data assimilation; local scale simulation; boundary conditions; shallow water model; 3D-Var; back and forth nudging algorithm; iterative ensemble Kalman smoother.
  
  
• QualeAria: European and national scale air quality forecast system performance evaluation  
  by Alessio D'Allura, Matteo Paolo Costa, Camillo Silibello 
  Abstract: Air quality forecasts are operationally provided by some of the Italian Regional Environmental Agencies. Some of them adopted a coherent modelling framework and implemented the same boundary conditions provided by the national forecast system QualeAria. This network of regional/urban scale air quality forecast systems represents an effective example of consistent methodology adopted to address the requirements of the European Directives, to assess, manage and forecast the state of the atmosphere. QualeAria has been evaluated against the observations recorded by regional air quality networks for the years 2015/2016. The role of phenomena generated at regional/global scales, along with the key role of fine-grained information available at local scale has been investigated by comparing QualeAria with the linked systems at different scales.
  Keywords: air quality forecast; model evaluation; bias correction; score analysis.
  
  
• Large-eddy simulation studies for predicting plume concentrations around nuclear facilities using an overlapping technique  
  by Hiromasa Nakayama, Tetsuya Takemi 
  Abstract: We propose, in emergency response to nuclear accidents, a practical and quick local-scale atmospheric dispersion calculation method using an overlapping technique. First, we pre-calculate large-eddy simulation (LESs) of plume dispersion around an actual nuclear facility under idealised atmospheric conditions with 36 wind-direction cases and make a dataset of the 10-minute averaged concentrations for each wind direction case. Then, we conduct LESs of plume dispersion for 1-hour periods under realistic atmospheric conditions using the meteorological data and estimate the spatial distributions of the 1-hour averaged concentrations by overlapping the pre-calculated concentration data depending on the frequency of the mean wind directions. It is shown that the concentration distribution patterns are well reproduced in comparison with those under the realistic conditions. It is concluded that the atmospheric dispersion calculation method using the overlapping technique has potentially a high performance in emergency responses to nuclear accidents.
  Keywords: large-eddy simulation; plume dispersion; overlapping technique; emergency response.
  DOI: 10.1504/IJEP.2018.10019970
   
  
• Downwind chlorine hazard estimates for the 20152016 Jack Rabbit II campaign  
  by Nathan Platt, Kevin Luong, Jeffry Urban 
  Abstract: We present estimates of the downwind inhalation health hazard to humans based on measurements during the Jack Rabbit II campaign, a two-year experimental campaign of large-scale outdoor chlorine releases at the US Armys Dugway Proving Ground. We estimated the chlorine inhalation hazard at each downwind arc of chlorine sensors using two methods. We calculated the probability of lethal, severe, and mild health effects in civilian and military populations using a modification of the toxic load model, a US Department of Defense (DoD)-approved toxicological model. We also determined whether the chlorine exposures exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agencys Acute Exposure Guideline Levels (AEGLs) for chlorine at all three levels of health effects severity. The chlorine releases considered in this study were in the range of 7 to 9 metric tons. Lethal, severe, and mild health effects are expected up to 1 km, 2 to 5 km, and more than 11 km downwind from the release, respectively. The AEGL-3, AEGL-2, and AEGL-1 acute inhalation hazard thresholds are expected to be exceeded at 2 to 5 km, up to 11 km, and beyond 11 km downwind from the release, respectively. We note that since our hazard distance estimates are based on chlorine concentrations that were directly measured (i.e., not modelled), the accuracy of these estimates depends only on the quality of the health effects models we applied, and not on the quality of any atmospheric transport and dispersion model or container release (chemical source term) model
  Keywords: chlorine exposure health effects; toxic industrial chemicals; Jack Rabbit II; toxic load model; AEGLs.
  
  
• Source term estimation using an adjoint model: a comparison of two different algorithms  
  by Gianni Tinarelli, Francesco Uboldi, Giuseppe Carlino 
  Abstract: The location of an unknown source and its pollutant emissions are estimated from concentration observations by means of two approaches, both making use of the adjoint of a Lagrangian particle dispersion model. In the first approach, plausible source locations are estimated by identifying areas with maximum spatial and temporal consistency among backward trajectories from each sensor. In the second approach, a variational method is used to minimise the objective function and to estimate emissions at each grid-box reached by backward trajectories: the resulting map provides information on the source location and on its uncertainty. In both approaches, use is made of zero measurements to define upstream exclusion zones where emission sources cannot be located. The two methods are compared using a hierarchy of test cases, starting from a controlled field experiment up to real world operational cases. The main sources of uncertainty are discussed.
  Keywords: STE algorithm; inverse dispersion modelling; adjoint model; Lagrangian particle model.
  
  
• Preliminary evaluation of CMAQ modelled wet deposition of sulphur and nitrogen over Bulgaria  
  by Emilia Georgieva, Elena Hristova, Dimiter Syrakov, Maria Prodanova, Ekaterina Batchvarova 
  Abstract: Wet depositions of sulphur and nitrogen over Bulgaria have been simulated by the WRF-CMAQ system for the period from March to June 2016. Precipitation amounts have been overestimated - the average NMB is 44% for the country and 70% for Sofia. Precipitation chemistry data from Sofia have been used for the estimation of observed sulphur and nitrogen depositions - 602 mg m-2, and 528 mg m-2, respectively. Modelled wet depositions show overestimation, more significantly for sulphur deposition (NMB 87%). A precipitation adjustment has been applied as post-processing to model wet depositions. The correction led to decrease in NMB for sulphur wet deposition (9%), while nitrogen monthly depositions were in general underestimated. Possible effects of long-range transport for Sofia have been discussed for two selected periods of few days.
  Keywords: CMAQ; wet deposition; model validation; precipitation chemistry data; precipitation adjustment.
  
  
• Evaluation of local and regional air quality forecasts for London  
  by Amy Stidworthy, Mark Jackson, Kate Johnson, David Carruthers, Jenny Stocker 
  Abstract: This paper presents key results from the evaluation of a local-scale air quality forecasting system, airTEXT, alongside the CAMS regional-scale air quality forecast. The CAMS forecast, which is used to account for the long-range transport of pollutants within airTEXT, is adjusted to account for the apparent bias in concentrations predicted within the south-east of England. Forecasts of the UK Daily Air Quality Index metrics for NO2, O3, PM10 and PM2.5 in London have been assessed using the Model Evaluation Toolkit and the DELTA Tool for a five month period during 2017. For NO2, where air pollutant concentrations are primarily a result of local emissions, the local forecast performs significantly better than the regional forecast as the steep roadside concentration gradients are resolved by ADMS-Urban, the dispersion model used within airTEXT. Although regional O3 and particulate forecasts dominate the local forecasts, airTEXT also performs better than CAMS for these pollutants by accounting for emissions, dispersion and chemistry at high spatial resolution.
  Keywords: air quality; evaluation; forecast; airTEXT; CAMS; ADMS-Urban.
  
  
• The coupled chemistry-meteorology model BOLCHEM: an application to air pollution in the Po valley, Italy, hot spot  
  by Rita Cesari, Tony Christian Landi, Alberto Maurizi 
  Abstract: We present the model performance of the online air quality model BOLCHEM on seasonal period in an air pollution hot spot. The simulation domain is Northern Italy where a large amount of agricultural, livestock and industrial activities are present, together with big cities such as Milan, Turin and Bologna. Simulations of dispersion and chemical transformation of air pollutants, in both gas and particulate phases, are performed for the year 2010. Simulated surface concentrations of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) are compared with measured concentrations at Airbase Stations for winter period, while for the summer period also ozone (O3) is considered. Only data of background stations are used for comparison. Results show that the PM2.5 and PM10 ground concentration is underestimated both in winter and in summer period. In the winter period, the PM2.5 ground concentration is underestimated by 6.5% on average, and the PM10 ground concentration is underestimated by 7.8% on average. In the summer period, the PM2.5 seasonal average ground concentration is underestimated by 0.7% on average, and the PM10 seasonal average ground concentration is underestimated by 20% on average. This suggest that in the summer period the underestimation in the PM10 values can be due to the Saharan dust emissions. The correlation coefficient R is 0.6 for PM2.5 and for PM10 in both seasons. In the summer period the O3 ground concentration is well reproduced, the correlation coefficient R is 0.7.
  Keywords: online air quality model; BOLCHEM; air pollution; hot spot; particulate matter; PM10; PM2.5; ozone; Po valley; Italy; air quality modelling.
  
  
• Evaluation of the NO2 burden within a joint street canyon and tunnel portal micro environment  
  by Ulrich Uhrner, Raphael Reifeltshammer, Peter Sturm 
  Abstract: Substantial breaches in NO2 limits in the vicinity of a tunnel portal and street canyon micro-environment provided the motivation for this paper. The impact of portal and surface road emissions was assessed, and mitigation scenarios computed, in order to aid the authorities responsible. Emphasis was placed on detailed emission processing. A unique dataset from nine NO2 monitors located near the portal and within the street canyon was used to evaluate the model approach using a Lagrangian particle model. Good agreement with measurements was obtained using simple NOx/NO2 conversion approaches. The NOx/NO2 concentration pattern is dominated by surface road emissions. A kerbside area of ~30 m in the driving direction is clearly dominated by the portal emissions indicating effective diffusion at the portal. Major uncertainties are related to the interaction of flow and turbulent mixing from ambient atmospheric conditions and traffic, particularly at low wind speed conditions.
  Keywords: urban street canyon and tunnel portal micro environment dispersion modelling; validation vs. measurements; model limitations; portal air management mitigation scenario.
  
  
• A hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian-statistical approach to evaluate air quality in a mixed residential-industrial environment  
  by Giovanni Bonafè, Francesco Montanari, Fulvio Stel 
  Abstract: The aim of this work is to evaluate the air quality in the mixed urban-industrial environment in the city of Trieste, Italy, in particular, PM10 daily exceedances estimated in a residential district close to a large iron production plant. Owing to the complex orographic context, to the land-sea discontinuity and to the local scale wind regimes, concentration gradients can often be strong. Therefore it can be misleading to rely only on the monitoring network to assess air quality, since some stations may often have a limited spatial representativeness. On the other hand, under some conditions not only local emissions, but also long-range transport of PM10 or gaseous precursors from the Po Valley, cannot be neglected. To take into account all these factors, we used both a Eulerian chemistry-transport model (CTM) to simulate the daily regional background concentrations, and a Lagrangian model (LM) to simulate the local impact of the emissions from the iron production plant (blast furnace, coking plant and casthouse). Firstly, regional scale background concentrations of PM10 were estimated with a data fusion approach, interpolating the observations of the background stations using concentrations simulated by the CTM as a proxy. Secondly, the residuals over the urban stations were interpolated using concentrations simulated by the LM as a proxy. Finally, the sum of background and residuals was compared daily with the 50
  Keywords: chemistry-transport model; Lagrangian model; PM10; data fusion.
  
  
• Effects of traffic emission reduction on urban air quality episode using WRF/CHEM  
  by Roberto San Jose, Juan Perez, Libia Perez, Rosa M. Gonzalez 
  Abstract: In this research, traffic emission control measures have been tested in order to reduce the effects of traffic on Madrid (Spain) during an air quality episode with very large NOx concentrations on December 2016. In this episode, three monitoring stations measured concentrations above 250 μg/m3. The meteorology-chemistry model WRF/Chem allows forecasting these effects making very high spatial resolution (1 km) for investigating the effectiveness of emission controls for improving urban air pollution. The simulations are run eight days, leaving the first two days as spin-up period. The last level nesting simulation domain covers a 45 km by 50 km area. It was necessary to develop very detailed emissions inventories with a bottom-up methodology. For traffic emission the traffic flow simulation model SUMO has been applied, using the real traffic counters data, Madrid vehicle fleet distribution and EMEP-CORINAIR Tier 3 methodology and emission factors. The traffic simulation allows knowing the exact number of vehicles in each time and each segment of the street and road of Madrid. The SUMO network file which describes the roads and intersections the simulated vehicles was extracted from OpenStreetMap. The traffic demand is generated using detector data. The base simulation has been compared with data from the Madrid air quality monitoring network. The simulation system reproduces satisfactorily the high NO2 concentrations. Traffic restrictive measures taken on 28 and 29 December 2016 did not contribute substantially to the improvement of air quality in Madrid. Traffic NOx emissions from road transport, specifically from diesel engines, contributed considerably to the episode because the Madrid fleet composition and emissions are dominated by diesel passenger cars and decisions related to these types of vehicles could be more beneficial for air quality and their effectiveness could be evaluated before taking them with the modelling tool presented in this paper.
  Keywords: WRF/Chem; SUMO; traffic emission.
  
  
• A new bottom-up emissions estimation approach for aircraft sources in support of air quality modeling for community-scale assessments around airports  
  by Saravanan Arunachalam, Brian Naess, Catherine Seppanen, Alejandro Valencia, JoEllen Brandmeyer, Akula Venkatram, Jeff Weil, Vlad Isakov, Timothy Barzyk 
  Abstract: Transportation infrastructure (including roadway traffic, ports, and airports) is critical to the nations economy. With a growing economy, aircraft activity is expected to grow across the world. In the USA, airport-related emissions, while generally small, are not an insignificant source of air pollution and related adverse health effects. However, currently there is a lack of tools that can easily be applied to study near-source pollution, and explore the benefits of improvements to air quality and exposures. Screening-level air quality modelling is a useful tool for examining urban-scale air quality impacts of airport operations. Spatially-resolved aircraft emissions are needed for the screening-level modelling. In order to create spatially-resolved aircraft emissions, we developed a bottom-up emissions estimation methodology that includes data from a global chorded inventory dataset from the Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT). The initial implementation of this method was performed for Los Angeles international airport (LAX). This paper describes a new emissions estimation methodology for aircraft emissions in support of community-scale assessments of air quality around airports and presents an illustration of its application at the Los Angeles International airport during the LAX 2011/2012 Air Quality Source Apportionment Study.
  Keywords: air quality; exposure; airports; aircraft emissions.
  
  
• RIAT+, an integrated assessment tool useful for air quality planning: an application to the Emilia Romagna region  
  by Marco Deserti, Michele Stortini, Enrico Minguzzi, Simona Maccaferri 
  Abstract: Local authorities and national governments use air quality plans in order to identify measures to reduce the harmful effects of air pollution in compliance with the objectives for air quality. This paper illustrates the practical application of the integrated assessment tool RIAT+ in the definition of Emilia Romagna air quality plan (PAIR2020). Emilia-Romagna was the first case study used during LIFE+OPERA project to design and implement the RIAT+ tool answering regional requirements in air quality planning. The tool was designed to help regional decision makers to select optimal air pollution reduction policies that will improve the air quality at minimum cost and to achieve European Union air quality standards. Finally, the emission air quality plan scenario is compared with base case emission scenarios, as well as PM10 concentration, for different emission scenarios.
  Keywords: integrated assessment modelling; air quality modelling; decision support; multi-objective optimisation.
  
  
• Numerical modelling of transient dispersion of air pollution in a perpendicular urban street intersection with detailed inclusion of traffic dynamics  
  by Jiri Pospisil, Miroslav Jicha 
  Abstract: In this study, the authors focus on the use of computer modelling for the detailed identification of the dispersion of transient pollutants in an ideal perpendicular intersection equipped with traffic lights. Attention is drawn to the dispersion of general passive scalar (density and diffusivity identical with air) in the ground level of the atmosphere. The modelled crossroad considers two lanes in each direction, in both street canyons. Sidewalks are located on either side of the road. The control points used to monitor air pollution are located on both sides of the road, in the middle of the sidewalk width, at the pedestrian head level (1.5 m above the sidewalk). Passenger cars are considered as the main source of the monitored air pollution in the intersection. Car movement is at the same time a major driving force affecting the air flow in the crossroad area. A model based on an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach to moving objects has been integrated into a commercial CFD software package called StarCD. The inclusion of traffic dynamics is a necessary step for a correct description of dispersion processes. The air pollution concentration fields were obtained from numerical predictions for traffic light switching periods of 60, 90, and 120 s. The correctness of the developed dispersion model was assessed on the base of NOX concentration measurements carried out in a real city intersection with similar geometry and corresponding traffic conditions as in the numerical model.
  Keywords: air pollution; intersection; CFD modelling; car movement; traffic lights.
  
  
• Parameterisation study of chemically reactive pollutant dispersion over idealised urban areas based on the Gaussian plume model  
  by Zhangquan Wu, Chun-Ho Liu 
  Abstract: Dispersion of pollutants emitted from vehicles over urban areas largely affects pedestrian-level air quality. Poor ventilation inside street canyons often results in pollutant accumulation, which is harmful to urban inhabitants. Most vehicular exhausts contain chemically reactive compounds that evolve to their secondary counterparts in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL). Therefore, the conventional Gaussian plume model, which assumes inert pollutants, should be used cautiously. In this study, turbulent dispersion of reactive pollutants in the ABL over hypothetical urban areas in the form of idealised street canyons is investigated using large-eddy simulation (LES). Nitric oxide (NO) is emitted from the first street canyon into the urban ABL doped with ozone (O3). First of all, we make use of the advection-diffusion equation with chemical kinetics to derive the theoretical relation between the dispersion coefficients of tracer and reactive pollutants. Next, the source depletion analogy is used to determine the plume shape instead of the conventional Gaussian plume model. Finally, regression to the LES output reveals that the vertical dimensionless NO concentration profiles exhibit self-similarity for a range of background O3 concentrations. A new parameterisation of reactive plume dispersion over urban areas, whose performance is remarkable over the mean plume rise, is thus suggested. The discrepancy in the near-wall region is caused by the non-uniform mean wind speeds and the dominated NO oxidation.
  Keywords: Gaussian plume model; hypothetical urban areas; large-eddy simulation; ozone titration; reactive nitric oxide plume transport.
  
  
• Air exchange in urban canyons with variable building width: a numerical LES approach.  
  by Michela Garau, Maria Grazia Badas, Simone Ferrari, Alessandro Seoni, Giorgio Querzoli 
  Abstract: The aim of this work is to gain further insight into the role played by the building aspect ratio (ARB, i.e. the ratio of the building width, WB, to the building height, H) and its influence on street canyon flow. We carried out a series of Large Eddy Simulations (LES) with arrays of obstacles with different widths, ranging from 0.5 to 2.0, and two canyon aspect ratios (ARC, i.e. the ratio of the canyon width, W, to H) ARC = 0.5 and ARC = 1.0. Experimental data was obtained in a water channel for the corresponding configuration and used to validate numerical simulations. Results were found strongly dependent on the building aspect ratios, with two distinct behaviours identified with respect to the canyon aspect ratio. The residence time decreases with decreasing ARB, irrespective of the canyon aspect ratio, suggesting that ARB and ARC can be optimised to guarantee an optimal street canyon ventilation in urban planning.
  Keywords: urban street canyon; large eddy simulation; flow exchange rate; building aspect ratio.
  
  
• CFD studies of pollutant spatial distribution in a large office  
  by Nektarios Koutsourakis, John Bartzis, George Efthimiou, Ioannis Sakellaris 
  Abstract: One of the goals of research on indoor air quality is the reduction of human exposure to the dispersion of hazardous airborne materials. The purpose of this study is to analyse, by using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), the flow and the concentration patterns of floor-emitted pollutants inside a real, mechanically ventilated office of simple geometry. The simulation results show complex airflow and high heterogeneity of concentration distribution. Another objective of the study is to examine how alternative ventilation scenarios (vents position and flow strength) could affect the human exposure in the same office. Furthermore, additional simulations and sensitivity tests are performed in order to discuss CFD reliability issues. Studies like this contribute to the determination of the parameters that influence the modelling results and prepare the ground for improved and more reliable future simulations of indoor pollutant dispersion.
  Keywords: computational fluid dynamics; CFD; indoor air quality; IAQ; offices; complex flow; pollutant dispersion; concentrations’ heterogeneity; ventilation optimization; simulation reliability; modelling parameters; ADREA.
  
  
• Evaluation of OpenFOAM against CODASC wind tunnel database and impact of heating on the flow in an idealised street canyon  
  by Anton Petrov 
  Abstract: This paper focuses on examination of the impact of an irregularly heated surface on the flow recirculation and pollutant distributions in a tree-free idealised street canyon. For this purpose, the buoyant BoussinesqPimpleFoam solver of the CFD model OpenFOAM was tested against the CODASC wind tunnel database (http://www.windforschung.de/CODASC.htm). The wind tunnel experiments were run only under neutral atmospheric stratification conditions, so in order to examine the impact of the heating on the flow, OpenFOAM was set for two general cases. In the first one, the model was run with initial conditions that correspond to the physical conditions in the wind tunnel. The simulated data is then compared with that measured in the tunnel. For the second case, an additional boundary condition for the air temperature near the surface of the street canyon was set. An intercomparison of the modelled data from both cases is then made.
  Keywords: street canyon; computational fluid dynamics; urban pollution; OpenFOAM; dispersion modelling; heat impacted flow; model evaluation; wind tunnel; CODASC.
  
  
• Emission projections and limit values of air pollution concentration: a case study using the EMEP4PL model  
  by Małgorzata Werner, Maciej Kryza, Kinga Wałaszek 
  Abstract: In this study, we applied the EMEP/MSC-W model at a high spatial resolution of 4 km x 4 km over Poland (EMEP4PL), and ran the model for the whole of the years 2015 and 2030. For the second simulation we used GAINS PRIMES emission projection and kept the meteorology from 2015. Although the model results are satisfactory and comparable with the results in other European countries, the number of days with exceedances of the limit value is highly underestimated in comparison with observations for 2015. It shows that the model is limited in its simulation of very high particulate matter concentrations in the winter season. Therefore, we applied a bias correction for the year 2030 based on the observations and model results for the year 2015. Bias corrected simulation shows that at 60 stations (out of 104), the PM10 daily limit value will be exceeded at least 35 times in 2030.
  Keywords: particulate matter; EMEP4PL; emission projections; limit values.
  
  
• On the comparison of urban canopy effects parameterisation  
  by Tomas Halenka, Michal Belda, Peter Huszar, Jan Karlicky, Tereza Novakova, Michal Zak 
  Abstract: To assess the impact of cities on climate, a modelling approach is often used with inclusion of urban parameterisation in a land-surface scheme. This is important when applying higher resolution, which is a common trend in atmospheric modelling. Because adaptation and mitigation measures are often applied in the big cities, it is essential to assess the uncertainty of the parameterisation of urban effects. We contribute to the estimation of this uncertainty by performing experiments with available settings of urban canopy models, to assess urban canopy meteorological forcing over central Europe for 2001-2010. We have used RegCM4 and WRF in 10 km resolution, three surface schemes (BATS and CLM4.5 for RegCM4 and Noah in WRF) and five available urban canopy parameterisations: one bulk urban scheme (WRF), three single layer schemes (both RegCM and WRF) and a multilayer urban scheme (WRF). A few WRF options are tested for urbanised weather prediction in 3 km resolution as well to show the effect in a single, but quite extreme, case study. An urban heat island was detected clearly in all the simulations, for summer night the strongest on average of a few
  Keywords: urban heat island; urban parameterisation; regional climate models; extreme events; heat waves.
  
  
• Effects of increasing the surface reflectance over air quality levels using WRF-BEM/AEMM/CMAQ: an application over the city of Madrid  
  by Mª Ángeles González, Raúl Arasa, Pedro Gámez, Miquel Picanyol, Pablo Campra 
  Abstract: The effects of increasing the surface reflectance by albedo modifications have been evaluated using an air quality modelling system. We have evaluated the influence over pollutant concentrations of increasing from 0.20 to 0.55 the roof surface albedo (scenario called Albedo1) and increasing from 0.15 to 0.30 the ground surface albedo and from 0.20 to 0.55 the roof surface albedo for all urban categories (scenario called Albedo2). To obtain a better representation of the local processes we have considered very high resolution (333.33 m) and up to 10 different urban categories. Changes in albedo cause changes in different meteorological parameters (planetary boundary layer height, radiation and temperature), modifying the pollutant concentration in every single scenario. Results show that this mitigation measure is effective during summer periods, providing not high NO2 increments and O3 reduction on the urban areas of the city of Madrid. During winter periods the measure induces NO2 increments over polluted areas with high NOx emissions. In this way, the benefits of the measure, from the point of view of urban heat island effects, are greater than the detriments during summer periods, in comparison with air quality effects.
  Keywords: BEM; CMAQ; urban albedo; air quality; Madrid city; cool roof.
  
  
• A solution of the time-dependent advection-diffusion equation  
  by Tiziano Tirabassi, Everson Gomes, Daniela Buske, Marco Vilhena 
  Abstract: We present an analytical solution that considers time dependence in the wind profile and the eddy diffusivity. The solution accepts any profiles of wind and eddy coefficient diffusions in a limited planetary boundary layer. The solution is based on the idea of a decomposition method upon expanding the pollutant concentration in a truncated series. This produces a set of recursive equations whose solutions are known. Each equation of this set is solved by the GILTT (Generalized Integral Laplace Transform Technique) method. The solution's ability to represent real situations was checked by comparing model predictions with the OLAD (Over-Land Along-wind Dispersion) experimental dataset.
  Keywords: air pollution modelling; advection-diffusion equation; analytical solution; decomposition; planetary boundary layer; environmental management; validation by experimental data; air pollution; atmospheric environment.
  
  
• Spatial representativeness evaluation of air quality monitoring sites by point-centred variography  
  by Oliver Kracht, Michel Gerboles 
  Abstract: We propose a geostatistical technique based on point-centred semi-variograms that can be used to derive valuable information about the spatial representativeness of air quality monitoring sites. Whereas classical geostatistics describes the spatial correlation structure of a concentration field in terms of the variogram, point-centred variography is based on the average of squared concentration differences observed in pairs formed from a particular central point and the set of all other points in the domain. It thereby places a monitoring station in the context of the local or regional air quality pattern. We demonstrate how a mathematical inversion of the point-centred variogram can provide estimates of the extent of the representativeness area of a monitoring site. The application of this approach is tested on a set of modelling data from the city of Antwerp (14-day averages of PM10, NO2 and ozone for 341 virtual receptor points), which was used for the FAIRMODE/AQUILA intercomparison exercise of methods for the assessment of spatial representativeness. In this evaluation of three selected monitoring sites in an urban area type setting of Antwerp, the extent of spatial representativeness was shown to be strongly dependent on the pollutant and on the type of station. Numerical estimates ranged between the largest extent of 10,864 m obtained for PM10 for an urban background site, and zero for NO2 for an urban traffic site.
  Keywords: point-centred variography; spatial representativeness; geostatistics; air pollution; air quality monitoring; measurements; modelling.
  
  
• Modelling the Air quality for assessing the health benefits of urban regeneration: the case of Tallinn city centre, Estonia  
  by Marko Kaasik, Mihkel Pindus, Tanel Tamm, Hans Orru 
  Abstract: Concentrations of nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter were modelled to assess the health benefits of an urban regeneration scenario for the central part of Tallinn, where the traffic on two of the main streets will be reduced to create a more friendly space for active commuters. To model the air quality the stationary Gaussian plume model AEROPOL was used with a 25 m grid resolution. The model was validated against a stationary air quality monitoring station in the domain. The health benefits of the scenarios were calculated based on the changes in air pollution exposures for residents and daily visitors, using methods of health impact assessment. This research predicts that each year the reduction of exhaust (indicated by NO2) and road dust (indicated by PM10) exposure in the city centre would prevent up to 0.29 premature deaths (-27%) among the general population, 0.57 deaths (-3.6%) among daily visitors, 0.18 deaths (-21.2%) among pedestrians, and 0.03 deaths (-24.7%) among people public transport users.
  Keywords: nitrogen dioxide; PM10; particulate matter; Gaussian dispersion model; urban; health impact assessment; mortality; premature death.
  
  
• Validation of dispersion models using Cabauw field experiments and numerical weather re-analysis  
  by Gertie Geertsema, Marko Kaasik 
  Abstract: The Gaussian atmospheric dispersion model AEROPOL is validated against the classical Cabauw dispersion experiment, driven by (1) on-site meteorological data and (2) meteorological data from the numerical weather model HARMONIE. The meteorological forecast time used at the time of the release is 10 to 14 hours ahead of the analysis time. The results from the combination of AEROPOL with on-site data are slightly better than with re-analysed meteorology. The near-surface concentrations based on the combination of AEROPOL with the model forecasts are in general lower than the concentrations from the combination of AEROPOL with on-site data and are also lower than the observed concentrations. The combination of AEROPOL with meteorological model results in a mismatch between the modelled position of the plume axis with the observed plume axis. The results show a significant improvement in the HARMONIE version 38 with respect to the HARMONIE version 37.
  Keywords: Cabauw dispersion experiment; HARMONIE; AEROPOL; HARMO initiative; model validation.
  
  
• Modelling nitrogen deposition: dry deposition velocities on various land-use types in Switzerland  
  by Sebnem Aksoyoglu, André S. H. Prévôt 
  Abstract: In this study, we analysed nitrogen deposition in Switzerland obtained from a modelling study in Europe for 2006 with the CAMx model. Comparison of modelled ammonia with measurements showed a relatively good agreement for annual concentrations whereas an overestimation was found in spring due to the meteorological conditions prevailing in 2006. The modelled average annual nitrogen deposition of 12.2 kg N ha-1 a-1 in Switzerland was dominated by the deposition of reduced nitrogen compounds (74%) and the largest contribution to nitrogen deposition was from dry deposition of ammonia. Dry deposition velocities of oxidized and reduced nitrogen compounds were calculated for specific land-use types found in Switzerland. The highest annual deposition velocities for ammonia and nitric acid were estimated over evergreen shrubs whereas the deposition was lowest over water surfaces. Deposition velocities over various land surfaces were shown to vary seasonally and the values in spring and summer were higher than in winter by a factor of up to 2.7.
  Keywords: nitrogen; ammonia; dry deposition velocity; reduced nitrogen; oxidised nitrogen; land-use; evergreen shrubs; seasonal variation; CAMx; Switzerland.
  
  

Special Issue on: Dioxins, Sources and Effects, Formation and Abatement

• GC-HRMS analysis for POPs and new POPs with GC-Tof/MS techniques
  by Takumi Takasuga 
  Abstract: .
  Keywords: .