Using National Emission Inventories to Model Regional Ambient Air Quality and Exposure

Rudolf Orthofer, Wolfgang Loibl

Publikation: Beitrag in Buch oder TagungsbandVortrag mit Beitrag in TagungsbandBegutachtung

Abstract

The method described in this paper uses countrywide annual emission inventories to calculate the spatial variability of the expected annual average ambient air concentrations. In a first step the coun-try-wide emission inventories were spatially disaggregated into 250m*250m grid emission density maps. From these, the pollutant dispersion from emission grids into the neighboring receptor grids was calcu-lated using dispersion profiles. These profiles describe the expected annual average pol-lutant concen-trations (in µg/m³) in receptor grids from an standard annual average emission density in a source grid (in tons/year). Finally, exposure of the population to pollutants was estimated by overlaying ambi-ent air quality maps with population density maps. This method was applied for NOx air pollu-tion in Austria. Comparison of model results with data from the air monitoring network has shown that the model reflects well the overall NOx air quality situation in Austria. There are no major contradictions between model results and observations. The uncertainties that were identified and discussed are in an acceptable range. Most deviations between model results and monitoring data are within ±15 µg/m3. These devia-tions are low given the many assumptions needed establish the model. In many cases, deviations between model results and monitoring data could be explained by the fact that monitoring sites - while accurate for its very site - do not represent the overall air quality situation in the wider neighborhood. On the other hand, model results - while producing less accurate infor-ma-tion about particular sites - do usually better reflect the average situation in its model grid area. The results confirm that emission inventories can indeed be used to estimate the small-scale regional long-term average air quality.
OriginalspracheEnglisch
TitelThe Emission Inventory: Regional Strategies for the Future
Seiten541-555
Seitenumfang15
PublikationsstatusVeröffentlicht - 2000
VeranstaltungThe Emission Inventory: Regional Strategies for the Future -
Dauer: 1 Jan. 2000 → …

Konferenz

KonferenzThe Emission Inventory: Regional Strategies for the Future
Zeitraum1/01/00 → …

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