8 Jul 2010ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Roads and EMIT 3.0 coming soon

Version 4.2 of the Emission Factor Toolkit was released on 18th June 2010 (http://laqm1.defra.gov.uk/documents/tools/EFT_Version_4_2.zip). CERC are now in a position to include these new emission factors in new releases of ADMS-Urban, ADMS-Roads and EMIT. These releases will be referred to as ‘version 3.0’, and CERC plan to send the software to users with valid support in the Autumn.

The upcoming releases of these models will also include a number of scientific developments, for example, improved buildings and complex terrain modules, and improved user features, such as the ability to output results at a number of vertical heights within the same model run.

30 Jun 2010PASODOBLE project is underway

The PASODOBLE project is now underway, following a kick-off meeting in Oberpfaffenhofen on 22-24 June 2010.

PASODOBLE is an EU-funded collaborative 7th Framework Programme project with 21 partners coordinated by DLR. It has a number of key objectives focusing on improving air quality in the EU through:

• Evolution of existing and development of new sustainable air quality services for Europe on regional and local scales;

• Development and testing of a framework for the coordination of input data and customizable user-friendly access to services;

• Promotion and harmonisation of best practice tools for air quality forecasting.

CERC’s main role is the coordination of one of the four PASODOBLE services namely: local forecast model evaluation support service for local authorities and city bodies. This involves the development of a web-based air quality forecasting evaluation service. The other services are health community support services for people at risk, hospitals, pharmacies and doctors; public air quality forecasting for regions, cities, the tourist industry and sporting event organisers, and support services for compliance with the EU limit values for regional environment agencies. CERC also has a significant role in the public air quality support service through the development and use of the air quality forecasting system airTEXT with a focus on the London Olympic Games in 2012.

11 May 2010CARBONES project is underway

The CARBONES project is now underway, following a kick-off meeting in Toulouse on 10th-11th May 2010. CARBONES is an EU-funded collaborative project under the 7th Framework Programme. It proposes a novel approach for quantifying and understanding CO2 surface fluxes, giving more detailed information on CO2 fluxes and carbon pools and informing the debate on climate change.

The CARBONES global information service will deliver the first ever consistent, high space- and time-resolution history of the carbon cycle, with associated uncertainties and attribution to the controlling processes. This history will take the form of a calibrated 20 year-long re-analysis of space and time variations of carbon fluxes and carbon pools over the globe.

CERC are working in CARBONES with thirteen partner organisations from France, the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and China. CERC are developing a tailored user-friendly interface to disseminate the products, allowing climate modellers, other science communities and the general public to understand and easily visualize the living carbon cycle over the past 20 years.

To learn more, visit the CARBONES project website at www.carbones.eu.

27 Apr 2010Ammonia Modelling Guidance

The Environment Agency’s Air Quality Modelling and Assessment Unit (AQMAU) has recently released updated guidance on modelling the concentration and deposition of ammonia emitted from intensive farming.

The scientific literature suggests that the dry deposition velocity of ammonia depends on local concentration values, and is significantly reduced at high concentrations; the new guidance describes modelling methods that attempt to account for this. The two-stage approach recommended by AQMAU specifies the use of ADMS 4.2 in the second stage of modelling for situations where the deposition levels are predicted to exceed the threshold values during the initial screening stage.

23 Apr 2010Lack of downward trend in NOx emissions from diesel vehicles

At the open meeting of AQEG (Air Quality Expert Group) on March 25 2010, Sean Beavers of King’s College London presented some recent measurements of NOx emissions from road traffic. These measurements showed that, whilst NOx emissions from petrol vehicles have declined in line with the successive EURO standards, NOx emissions from diesel vehicles – cars, LGVs, HGVs and buses – have shown no obvious trend since the introduction of EURO I in 1993 and this would appear to be a plausible explanation for the lack of significant decline in NOx concentrations observed at many monitoring sites throughout the UK. The results are preliminary and are being studied further through a DEFRA funded project, however the potential impact of these new measurements on NOx and NO₂ concentrations is sufficiently important that it should, as a minimum, be considered in air quality assessments in any discussion of uncertainties in current and projected emissions and concentrations of both NOx and NO₂.

CERC’s helpdesk note 89 and associated spreadsheets tell you how you can use EMIT to apply EURO I NOx emission standards but unchanged NO₂/NOx ratios for all post EURO I diesel vehicles in your emission inventories and air quality modelling. The helpdesk note and spreadsheets are available for download in the User area. This same approach can alternatively be used to apply EURO II or EURO III emission standards, as considered appropriate.