Modelling the atmospheric transport and deposition of sulphur and nitrogen over the United Kingdom and assessment of the influence of SO2 emissions from international shipping

Abstract

A statistical Lagrangian atmospheric transport model was used to generate annual maps of deposition of sulphur and oxidised and reduced nitrogen for the United Kingdom at a 5 x 5 km 2 resolution. The model was run using emissions for the year 2002. The model was compared with measurements of gas concentrations (SO 2 , NO x , HNO 3 and NH 3 ) and of wet deposition and aerosol concentrations of SO 4 2-, NO 3 -and NH 4 + from national monitoring networks. Good correlation was obtained, demonstrating that the model is capable of accurately estimating the mass balance and spatial distribution of sulphur and nitrogen compounds in the atmosphere. A future emissions scenario for the year 2020 was used to test the influence of shipping emissions on sulphur deposition in the United Kingdom. The results show that, if shipping emissions are assumed to increase at a rate of 2.5% per year, their relative contribution to sulphur deposition is expected to increase from 9% to 28% between 2002 and 2020. The model was compared to both a European scale and a global scale chemical transport model and found to give broad agreement with the magnitude and location of sulphur deposition associated with shipping emissions. Enforcement of the MARPOL convention to reduce the sulphur content in marine fuel to 1% was estimated to result in a 6% reduction in total sulphur deposition to the UK for the year 2020. The percentage area of sensitive habitats with exceedance of critical loads for acidity in the UK was predicted to decrease by 1% with the implementation of the MARPOL convention.

Heterogeneity of atmospheric ammonia at the landscape scale and consequences for environmental impact assessment

“…Hallsworth et al (2010) validated the FRAME model at a 1 km resolution for NH 3 concentrations and Dore et al (2012) for NO 2 concentrations. Dore et al (2007) validated the FRAME model for aerosol concentrations and wet deposition at 5 km resolution. FRAME gives three different deposition rates for each grid square: a) the average deposition, accounting for land cover mix in the grid square; b) the deposition to woodland in the square; c) the deposition to low semi-natural vegetation in the square.…”

“…The influence of emission sources outside of the modelling domain was incorporated by setting the atmospheric concentrations for the 44 model layers at the four domain boundaries to values taken from the national FRAME (Fine Resolution Atmospheric Multi-pollutant Exchange) model run for 2008 at a 5 km x 5 km resolution (Dore et al, 2007).…”

“…Hallsworth et al (2010) highlighted the problem of modelling NH 3 dispersion at relatively coarse scales, such as 5 km resolution, due to the high spatial variability of NH 3 emissions and showed that 5 km modelling underestimated the impact of NH 3 concentrations on semi-natural areas close to intensive agricultural areas. However, at UK national scale, standard assessments of the impact of N deposition are based on 5 km resolution modelling (Dore et al, 2007;Matejko et al, 2009). Dore et al (2012) compared CL exceedances in the UK using data at 1 km and 5 km resolution.…”

Particle Emissions from Ships: Dependence on Fuel Type

“…Other studies show that ships' contribution to acidification is close to 10% or more in the coastal regions of the northern continents. [3][4][5] Dispersion modeling and inventories of ship emissions have received increasing interest that emphasizes the need for emission factors of high reliability.…”

The potential for tree planting strategies to reduce local and regional ecosystem impacts of agricultural ammonia emissions

“…The FRAME (Fine Resolution Atmospheric Multi-species Exchange) model (Singles et al, 1998;Fournier et al, 2003;Dore et al, 2007;Vieno et al, 2007;Dore et al, 2012) was applied at a 1 km grid resolution across the British Isles to assess the influence of both abatement strategies on ammonia concentrations in air and the deposition of reduced nitrogen. FRAME is a Lagrangian atmospheric transport model developed to output annual mean deposition of reduced and oxidised nitrogen and sulphur.…”