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.

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.

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.

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.

Urban photochemical pollution in the Iberian Peninsula: Lisbon and Barcelona airsheds.

Numerical simulations with photochemical transport models were independently performed for two domains situated in the Iberian Peninsula covering the Lisbon and Barcelona airsheds. Although the days chosen for simulation of the two cities are not the same, the synoptic situations in both cases, known as typical summertime situations, were similar, which allowed the development of typical mesoscale circulations, such as sea breezes and mountain and valley winds dominated by the Azores anticyclone. Emission inventories for the two areas were developed.