An empirical and modelling approach to the evaluation of cruise ships' influence on air quality: The case of La Paz, Mexico.

Maritime activity has diverse environmental consequences impacts in port areas, especially for air quality, and the post-COVID-19 cruise tourism market's potential to recover and grow is causing new environmental concerns in expanding port cities. This research proposes an empirical and modelling approach for the evaluation of cruise ships' influence on air quality concerning NO and SO in the city of La Paz (Mexico) using indirect measurements. EPA emission factors and the AERMOD modelling system coupled to WRF were used to model dispersions, while street-level mobile monitoring data of air quality from two days of 2018 were used and processed using a radial base function interpolator.

The greatest air quality experiment ever: Policy suggestions from the COVID-19 lockdown in twelve European cities.

COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease 2019) hit Europe in January 2020. By March, Europe was the active centre of the pandemic. As a result, widespread "lockdown" measures were enforced across the various European countries, even if to a different extent.

COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality by NO in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain).

During the months of March and April 2020 we witnessed the largest-scale experiment in history in terms of air quality in cities. Any prediction of this experiment's results may be obvious to science, as it was totally expected, the air quality has improved substantially. Simply stated, it comes as no surprise.

Trends and patterns of air quality in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands) in the period 2011-2015.

Air quality trends and patterns in the coastal city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain) for the period 2011-2015 were analyzed. The orographic and meteorological characteristics, the proximity to the African continent, and the influence of the Azores anticyclone in combination with the anthropogenic (oil refinery, road/maritime traffic) and natural emissions create specific dispersion conditions. SO, NO, PM, PM, and O pollutants were assessed.

The association of air pollution and greenness with mortality and life expectancy in Spain: A small-area study.

Background: Air pollution exposure has been associated with an increase in mortality rates, but few studies have focused on life expectancy, and most studies had restricted spatial coverage. A limited body of evidence is also suggestive for a beneficial association between residential exposure to greenness and mortality, but the evidence for such an association with life expectancy is still very scarce.

Objective: To investigate the association of exposure to air pollution and greenness with mortality and life expectancy in Spain.

Impact of WRF model PBL schemes on air quality simulations over Catalonia, Spain.

Here we analyze the impact of four planetary boundary-layer (PBL) parametrization schemes from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model on simulations of meteorological variables and predicted pollutant concentrations from an air quality forecast system (AQFS). The current setup of the Spanish operational AQFS, CALIOPE, is composed of the WRF-ARW V3.5.

Ozone attributed to Madrid and Barcelona on-road transport emissions: Characterization of plume dynamics over the Iberian Peninsula.

Despite the ~30% emission decrease of the main tropospheric ozone (O3) precursors in Spain in the 2001-2012 period, the O3 concentration in summer still exceeds the target value for the protection of the human health of the Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC). On-road transport is the main anthropogenic contributor to O3 precursor's emissions in Madrid and Barcelona metropolitan areas (65%/59% of NOx, 40%/33% of NMVOC, and 67%/85% of CO emissions) but this contribution to O3 formation is not well understood. The present work aims at increasing the understanding on the role of on-road transport emissions from main Spanish urban areas in O3 dynamics over Spain under typical circulation types.

A model-based analysis of SO2 and NO2 dynamics from coal-fired power plants under representative synoptic circulation types over the Iberian Peninsula.

Emissions of SO2 and NO2 from coal-fired power plants are a significant source of air pollution. In order to typify the power plants' plumes dynamics and quantify their contribution to air quality, a comprehensive characterisation of seven coal-fired power plant plumes has been performed under six representative circulation types (CTs) identified by means of a synoptic classification over the Iberian Peninsula. The emission and the transport of SO2 and NO2 have been simulated with the CALIOPE air quality forecasting system that couples the HERMES emission model for Spain and WRF and CMAQ models.

Saharan dust deposition may affect phytoplankton growth in the Mediterranean sea at ecological time scales.

The surface waters of the Mediterranean Sea are extremely poor in the nutrients necessary for plankton growth. At the same time, the Mediterranean Sea borders with the largest and most active desert areas in the world and the atmosphere over the basin is subject to frequent injections of mineral dust particles. We describe statistical correlations between dust deposition over the Mediterranean Sea and surface chlorophyll concentrations at ecological time scales.

Soil dust aerosols and wind as predictors of seasonal meningitis incidence in Niger.

Background: Epidemics of meningococcal meningitis are concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa during the dry season, a period when the region is affected by the Harmattan, a dry and dusty northeasterly trade wind blowing from the Sahara into the Gulf of Guinea.

Objectives: We examined the potential of climate-based statistical forecasting models to predict seasonal incidence of meningitis in Niger at both the national and district levels.

Data And Methods: We used time series of meningitis incidence from 1986 through 2006 for 38 districts in Niger.

Large scale air pollution estimation method combining land use regression and chemical transport modeling in a geostatistical framework.

In recognition that intraurban exposure gradients may be as large as between-city variations, recent air pollution epidemiologic studies have become increasingly interested in capturing within-city exposure gradients. In addition, because of the rapidly accumulating health data, recent studies also need to handle large study populations distributed over large geographic domains. Even though several modeling approaches have been introduced, a consistent modeling framework capturing within-city exposure variability and applicable to large geographic domains is still missing.

Integrated assessment of air pollution using observations and modelling in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Canary Islands).

The present study aims to analyse the atmospheric dynamics of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife region (Tenerife, Canary Islands). This area is defined by the presence of anthropogenic emissions (from a refinery, a port and road traffic) and by very specific meteorological and orographic conditions-it is a coastal area with a complex topography in which there is an interaction of regional atmospheric dynamics and a low thermal inversion layer. These factors lead to specific atmospheric pollution episodes, particularly in relation to SO2 and PM10.

Assessment of Kalman filter bias-adjustment technique to improve the simulation of ground-level ozone over Spain.

The CALIOPE air quality modelling system has been used to diagnose ground level O(3) concentration for the year 2004, over the Iberian Peninsula. We investigate the improvement in the simulation of daily O(3) maximum by the use of a post-processing such as the Kalman filter bias-adjustment technique. The Kalman filter bias-adjustment technique is a recursive algorithm to optimally estimate bias-adjustment terms from previous measurements and model results.

An annual assessment of air quality with the CALIOPE modeling system over Spain.

The CALIOPE project, funded by the Spanish Ministry of the Environment, aims at establishing an air quality forecasting system for Spain. With this goal, CALIOPE modeling system was developed and applied with high resolution (4km×4km, 1h) using the HERMES emission model (including emissions of resuspended particles from paved roads) specifically built up for Spain. The present study provides an evaluation and the assessment of the modeling system, coupling WRF-ARW/HERMES/CMAQ/BSC-DREAM8b for a full-year simulation in 2004 over Spain.

A comprehensive assessment of PM emissions from paved roads: real-world Emission Factors and intense street cleaning trials.

Compliance with air quality standards requires control of source emissions: fine exhaust particles are already subject to regulation but vehicle fleets increase whilst the non-exhaust emissions are totally uncontrolled. Emission inventories are scarce despite their suitability for researchers and regulating agencies for managing air quality and PM reduction measures. Only few countries in Europe proposed street cleaning as a possible control measure, but its effectiveness is still far to be determined.

Emissions variation in urban areas resulting from the introduction of natural gas vehicles: application to Barcelona and Madrid greater areas (Spain).

On-road traffic is the major contributor to pollutant emissions in urban areas. Nowadays different emission abatement strategies are being tested in order to improve urban air quality (e.g.

Lidar inversion of atmospheric backscatter and extinction-to-backscatter ratios by use of a Kalman filter.

A first inversion of the backscatter profile and extinction-to-backscatter ratio from pulsed elastic-backscatter lidar returns is treated by means of an extended Kalman filter (EKF). The EKF approach enables one to overcome the intrinsic limitations of standard straightforward nonmemory procedures such as the slope method, exponential curve fitting, and the backward inversion algorithm. Whereas those procedures are inherently not adaptable because independent inversions are performed for each return signal and neither the statistics of the signals nor a priori uncertainties (e.

The use of a modelling system as a tool for air quality management: annual high-resolution simulations and evaluation.

The high levels of air pollutants over the North-Western Mediterranean (NWM) exceed the thresholds set in current air quality regulations. They demand a detailed diagnosis of those areas where the exceedances of thresholds related to human health are found. In this sense, there is a need for modelling studies for the specific area of the NWM that take into account the annual cycle to address the diagnosis of air pollution.

Control of ozone precursors in a complex industrial terrain by using multiscale-nested air quality models with fine spatial resolution (1 km2).

The location of the northeastern Iberian Peninsula (NEIP) in the northwestern Mediterranean basin, the presence of the Pyrenees mountain range (with altitudes > 3000 m), and the influence of the Mediterranean Sea and the large valley canalization of Ebro river induce an extremely complicated structure for the dispersion of photochemical pollutants. Air pollution studies in very complex terrains such as the NEIP require high-resolution modeling for resolving the very complex dynamics of flows. To deal with the influence of larger-scale transport, however, high-resolution models have to be nested in larger models to generate appropriate initial and boundary conditions for the finer resolution domains.

Development of the high spatial resolution EMICAT2000 emission model for air pollutants from the north-eastern Iberian Peninsula (Catalonia, Spain).

Ozone (O(3)) pollution episodes take place in Catalonia (NE of the Iberian Peninsula), mainly during summertime. The complex O(3) behaviour could be understood by using a Chemical Transport Model (CTM). Emission inventories provide the spatial and temporal emissions distribution of the O(3) precursors and other pollutants required by this approach.

Estimating the biogenic emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds from the North Western Mediterranean vegetation of Catalonia, Spain.

An estimation of the magnitude of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) emitted by vegetation in Catalonia (NE of the Iberian Peninsula, Spain), in addition to their superficial and temporal distribution, is presented for policy and scientific (photochemical modelling) purposes. It was developed for the year 2000, for different time resolutions (hourly, daily, monthly and annual) and using a high-resolution land-use map (1-km2 squared cells). Several meteorological surface stations provided air temperature and solar radiation data.

Environmental performance review and cost analysis of MSW landfilling by baling-wrapping technology versus conventional system.

This paper first reviews the chemical, physical and biological processes, and the environmental performance of MSW compacted and plastic-wrapped into air-tight bales with low-density polyethylene (LDPE). The baling-wrapping process halts the short and half-term biological activity and consequently the emission of gases and leachates. It also facilitates the handling of the refuse, and considerably reduces the main environmental impacts of a landfill.

Air quality data from large cities.

This paper presents an assessment of the air quality for the principal cities in developed and developing countries. Part of the vast and widely dispersed information on air quality that is available at this time on the Internet was compiled, thus making possible a comprehensive evaluation of the tendencies that emerged at the end of the 20th century. Likewise, these values are compared to the air quality thresholds recommended by two international organizations: guideline levels of the World Health Organization (WHO) and limit values of the European Union (EU), in order to determine air quality concentration levels in large cities around the world.