Air quality status and trends in Europe

Guerreiro, Cristina; Foltescu, Valentin; Leeuw, Frank de

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2014.09.017

Cited by 408 publications

(261 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…There remains a need for continuing research to quantify impacts and interactions across all the scales. The issues around tropospheric ozone are not "solved" (Guerreiro et al, 2014) and new data continue to shed light on more aspects of ozone and its interactions in the global atmosphere.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

et al. 2015

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Abstract. Ozone holds a certain fascination in atmospheric science. It is ubiquitous in the atmosphere, central to tropospheric oxidation chemistry, yet harmful to human and ecosystem health as well as being an important greenhouse gas. It is not emitted into the atmosphere but is a byproduct of the very oxidation chemistry it largely initiates. Much effort is focused on the reduction of surface levels of ozone owing to its health and vegetation impacts, but recent efforts to achieve reductions in exposure at a country scale have proved difficult to achieve owing to increases in background ozone at the zonal hemispheric scale. There is also a growing realisation that the role of ozone as a short-lived climate pollutant could be important in integrated air quality climate change mitigation. This review examines current understanding of the processes regulating tropospheric ozone at global to local scales from both measurements and models. It takes the view that knowledge across the scales is important for dealing with air quality and climate change in a synergistic manner. The review shows that there remain a number of clear challenges for ozone such as explaining surface trends, incorporating new chemical understanding, ozone-climate coupling, and a better assessment of impacts. There is a clear and present need to treat ozone across the range of scales, a transboundary issue, but with an emphasis on the hemispheric scales. New observational opportunities are offered both by satellites and small sensors that bridge the scales.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

et al. 2015

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“…As such it is a significant environmental issue in many large urban agglomerations (Schneider and van der A, 2012;Liu and Zhu, 2013;Hilboll et al, 2013;Guerreiro et al, 2014). NO 2 , which is primarily emitted by transportation, industry, and domestic heating, is associated with health issues such as airway inflammation and reductions in lung function (World Health Organization, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent satellite-based trends of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide over large urban agglomerations worldwide

Schneider

Lahoz

2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. Trends in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) columns over 66 large urban agglomerations worldwide have been computed using data from the SCanning Imaging Absorption spectroMeter for Atmospheric CHartographY (SCIAMACHY) instrument onboard the Envisat platform for the period August 2002 to March 2012. A seasonal model including a linear trend was fitted to the satellite-based time series over each site. The results indicate distinct spatial patterns in trends. While agglomerations in Europe, North America, and some locations in East Asia/Oceania show decreasing tropospheric NO 2 levels on the order of −5 % yr −1 , rapidly increasing levels of tropospheric NO 2 are found for agglomerations in large parts of Asia, Africa, and South America. The site with the most rapidly increasing absolute levels of tropospheric NO 2 was found to be Tianjin in China with a trend of 3.04(±0.47) × 10 15 molecules cm −2 yr −1 , whereas the site with the most rapidly increasing relative trend was Kabul in Afghanistan with 14.3(±2.2) % yr −1 . In total, 34 sites exhibited increasing trends of tropospheric NO 2 throughout the study period, 24 of which were found to be statistically significant. A total of 32 sites showed decreasing levels of tropospheric NO 2 during the study period, of which 20 sites did so at statistically significant magnitudes. Overall, going beyond the relatively small set of megacities investigated previously, this study provides the first consistent analysis of recent changes in tropospheric NO 2 levels over most large urban agglomerations worldwide, and indicates that changes in urban NO 2 levels are subject to substantial regional differences as well as influenced by economic and demographic factors.

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“…For example, spatial variation in pollutant concentrations and impacts can be investigated when common methods and statistics are applied to interpret data from multiple sites across a network. For example, the measurement of air quality across the EU in relation to the EC Air Quality Directive requires Member States to submit a standardised set of statistics which allows comparison of air quality across Europe [113,173]. Similarly, there are standardised interpretations of data across national (e.g., the UK Automatic Urban and Rural Network (AURN) [174]) and international (e.g., EMEP [140]) monitoring networks.…”

Section: Current State Of Monitoring Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, differences in air quality standards between two monitoring networks make interpretation of the relative air quality situation in each country difficult [24,175]. Additionally, standard analyses of data across multiple monitoring sites generally either focus on the quantification of a particular impact or comparison with air quality targets [113,152,173], or on spatial and temporal variation in atmospheric constituents generally [160,176], rather than a holistic characterisation of both an impact of atmospheric composition, and the conditions producing it.…”

Section: Current State Of Monitoring Networkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights from a Chronology of the Development of Atmospheric Composition Monitoring Networks Since the 1800s

2016

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Abstract:Ground-based monitoring networks for evaluating atmospheric composition relevant to impacts on human health and the environment now exist worldwide (according to the United Nations Environment Programme, 48% of countries have an air quality monitoring system). Of course, this has not always been the case. Here, we analyse for the first time the key developments in network coordination and standardisation over the last 150 years that underpin the current implementations of city-scale to global monitoring networks for atmospheric composition. Examples include improvements in respect of site type and site representativeness, measurement methods, quality assurance, and data archiving. From the 1950s, these developments have progressed through two distinct types of network: those designed for the protection of human health, and those designed to increase scientific understanding of atmospheric composition and its interaction with the terrestrial environment. The step changes in network coordination and standardisation have increased confidence in the comparability of measurements made at different sites. Acknowledged limitations in the current state of monitoring networks include a sole focus on compliance monitoring. In the context of the unprecedented volumes of atmospheric composition data now being collected, we suggest the next developments in network standardisation should include more integrated analyses of monitor and other relevant data within "chemical climatology" frameworks that seek to more directly link the impacts, state and drivers of atmospheric composition. These approaches would also enhance the role of monitoring networks in the development and evaluation of air pollution mitigation strategies.

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Air quality status and trends in Europe

Cited by 408 publications

References 3 publications

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

Tropospheric ozone and its precursors from the urban to the global scale from air quality to short-lived climate forcer

Recent satellite-based trends of tropospheric nitrogen dioxide over large urban agglomerations worldwide

Insights from a Chronology of the Development of Atmospheric Composition Monitoring Networks Since the 1800s

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