Evolution of NO<sub>x</sub> emissions in Europe with focus on road transport control measures

Abstract

Abstract. European emission trends of nitrogen oxides since 1880 and up to present are presented here and are linked to the evolution of road transport emissions. Road transport has been the dominating source of NO x emissions since 1970, and contributes with 40% to the total emissions in 2005. Five trend regimes have been identified between 1880 and 2005. The first regime ) is determined by a slow increase in fuel consumption all over Europe. The second regime ) is characterized by a continued steep upward trend in liquid fuel use and by the introduction of the first regulations on road traffic emissions. Reduction in fuel consumption determines the emission trends in the third regime (1980)(1981)(1982)(1983)(1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990) that is also characterized by important differences between Eastern and Western Europe. Emissions from road traffic continue to grow in Western Europe in this period, and it is argued here that the reason for this continued NO x emission increase is related to early inefficient regulations for NO x in the transport sector. The fourth regime (1990-2000) involves a turning point for road traffic emissions, with a general decrease of emissions in Europe during that decade. It is in this period that we can identify the first emission reductions due to technological abatement in Western Europe. In the fifth regime (2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005), the economic recovery in Eastern Europe imposes increased emission from road traffic in this area. Western European emissions are on the other hand decoupled from the fuel consumption, and continue to decrease. The implementation of strict Correspondence to: V. Vestreng (vigdis.vestreng@sft.no) measures to control NO x emissions is demonstrated here to be a main reason for the continued Western European emission reductions. The results indicate that even though the effectiveness of European standards is hampered by a slow vehicle turnover, loopholes in the type-approval testing, and an increase in diesel consumption, the effect of such technical abatement measures is traceable in the evolution of European road traffic emissions over the last 15 years.

Evaluation and application of multi-decadal visibility data for trend analysis of atmospheric haze

“…Notable reductions in emissions of nitrogen oxides and black carbon have been reported over North America and western Europe (Bond et al, 2007;Lu et al, 2015;US EPA, 2012;Vestreng et al, 2009), while steady increase in emissions of nitrogen oxides, organic carbon and black carbon were identified over China (Lu et al, 2011;Zhao et al, 2013). Observed (Leibensperger et al, 2012;Murphy et al, 2011) and simulated (Lin et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2013) changes in various aerosol chemical species suggest increasing importance of emissions other than SO 2 on air quality trends in recent years.…”

Distributions and regional budgets of aerosols and their precursors simulated with the EMAC chemistry-climate model

“…This comparisons reveals that the EDGAR-CIRCE emissions are in line with other global (Bond et al, 2007;UNF, 2008) and regional (Ohara et al, 2007;Streets et al, 2003;Klimont et al, 2002;Vestreng and Klein, 2002) data sets and the differences lie within the uncertainties associated with emissions estimates. In particular, over Europe, the EDGAR-CIRCE emissions inventory are significantly higher than the regional anthropogenic emissions inventory EMEP (Vestreng et al, 2007(Vestreng et al, , 2009. As an example SO 2 emissions from EDGAR-CIRCE are ∼80 % higher compared to the EMEP inventory (9.9 and 5.5 Tg S yr −1 , respectively), while smaller differences are present for NO x (4.7 and 3.9 Tg N yr −1 , respectively) and NH 3 (5.3 and 3.5 Tg N yr −1 , respectively).…”

“…Aerosol microphysics and gas/aerosol partitioning are calculated by the Global Modal-aerosol eXtension (GMXe) aerosol module (described by Pringle et al, 2010a,b). GMXe simulates the distribution of sulfate, BC (Black Carbon), POM (Particulate Organic Matter), nitrate, ammonium, DU (Dust) and SS (Sea Spray) aerosol within 7 interacting lognormal modes (in a similar approach to that of Vignati et al, 2004;Stier et al, 2005;Mann et al, 2010). The particle number and mass of each mode is calculated prognostically but the geometric standard deviation is fixed (2.0 for the coarse modes hydrophobic, 2.2 for coarse mode hydrophilic, 1.59 for all other modes).…”

“…The emissions of POM are split between the hydrophobic (35 %) and hydrophilic (65 %) distributions. A parameterisation of aerosol ageing allows aerosol to pass from the hydrophobic to the hydrophilic distribution upon the addition of hydrophilic material (Vignati et al, 2004). The distribution of species within each mode is given in Pringle et al (2010b, their Table 2).…”

Governing processes for reactive nitrogen compounds in the European atmosphere

“…In addition to these categories smaller NO x contributions are related to aviation, and biomass and agricultural burning (2 to 3 %), and other small contributions are related waste incineration and lightning (< 1 %) (Vestreng et al, 2009). These smaller contributions are not treated further in this paper.…”