12 Jul 2019Irish EPA assesses NO₂ in Dublin using ADMS-Urban

The Irish Environmental Protection Agency has published new evidence on NO₂ levels in Dublin. The report has been widely covered including by The Irish Times and RTE.

The EPA report draws on a modelling study carried out by CERC using ADMS-Urban. CERC used traffic data provided by Dublin City Council, and emissions data from the EPA and the MapElre project. LIDAR height data was analysed to derive building parameters for the ADMS-Urban advanced street canyon module. Modelled concentrations were compared with measurements from continuous monitors and a diffusion tube study; overall, the model performed well.

The report identifies areas likely to breach the EU 40μg/m³ limit value for annual average NO₂ concentrations: several streets in the city centre, the M50 motorway and the area around the entrances to the Dublin Port Tunnel.

The EPA is using both of the studies to help expand the national monitoring network as part of the National Ambient Air Quality Monitoring Programme 2017-2022. If further monitoring confirms exceedences of the EU limit value, the local authorities will be required to produce an Air Quality Action Plan.

3 Jul 2019CERC at IEMA World Environment Day Event in Manchester: 'Fighting Air Pollution on a Local Level'

On 4^th June, Amy Stidworthy from CERC was pleased to be invited to speak at an IEMA event that was held in Manchester to mark World Environment Day, with the focus on research trends around air pollution and what is happening locally in Manchester to address this ongoing issue. Amy spoke about the air quality forecasting and alert service for Manchester that CERC provides for Transport for Greater Manchester using ADMS-Urban; you can see Amy's presentation here. You can access all the presentations from the event on the IEMA website here.

7 Jun 2019EFT 9.0 for ADMS-Roads, ADMS-Urban & ADMS-Airport 4.1.1

The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Devolved Administrations released version 9.0 of the Emissions Factors Toolkit (EFT) in May 2019. Details of the updates in this new version are given on page 5 of the EFT user guide.

ADMS-Roads, ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Airport incorporate the EFT emission factors so that emission rates can be calculated from available traffic and speed data. CERC have compiled an update to add the EFT version 9.0 emissions factors to version 4.1.1. This update is available for download from the CERC User Area.

The new version of EFT includes the effect of loading and gradients on Heavy Duty Vehicles. These features will be made available in version 5, which will be released later this summer.

5 Jun 2019Registration is now open for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 13-14 November 2019, Oxford

You can register now for the 2019 User Group Meetings, which will be held in Oxford on 13^th and 14^th November.

• ADMS 5 User Group Meeting: 13^th November
• ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Roads User Group Meeting: 14^th November

These meetings will include the usual mix of presentations by CERC staff and software users and are the ideal opportunity to hear the latest news and advice on new model features. Organisations with a valid support contract are entitled to one or more delegate places free of charge depending on the type of licence held. Please contact CERC if there is a topic you would like to be covered at one of the meetings or if you would like to give a 'user view' presentation. More details will be published later in the year. Registration will remain open until 31^st October 2019.

28 May 2019Predicting disruptive wind shear at Hong Kong Airport using FLOWSTAR

CERC and Hong Kong Observatory continue to work towards developing a new system for real-time prediction of wind speed and direction for Hong Kong Airport.

Where airports are located adjacent to hilly terrain, flights are periodically disrupted by turbulent air flow. The meteorological conditions experienced by pilots landing at Hong Kong International Airport on the island of Chek Lap Kok are affected by the nearby Lantau Island's extensive mountainous terrain. Various attempts have been made to forecast weather conditions at a resolution that could assist decision-making. However, regional models fail to resolve such small-scale events, and super high resolution numerical weather prediction models need too much configuration for a near real-time system.

Recent results published in the Royal Meteorological Society's 'Meteorological Applications' journal show how CERC's FLOWSTAR model predicts the strong wind shear associated with flow structures such as rotors. An advantage of FLOWSTAR is that multiple possible solutions may be calculated quickly to account for uncertainty in model input.

Figure 1 shows cross-sections of the modelled flow along the red ESE line shown in Figure 2, which itself shows the horizontal wind flow at a height of 100 m above terrain in the vicinity of the airport and Lantau Island; the prevailing wind is easterly.