CERC news

2024 ADMS User Group Meetings – presentations are available to download

Thu, 19 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Following this year's ADMS User Group Meetings, which took place in Cambridge on 4-5 December, electronic copies of the presentations are now available to download from the CERC website User Area. Model users with a valid support contract, including all annual licence holders, are entitled to register for password-protected access to the User Area. To register, or to be reminded of your password, click here.

Agendas now available for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 4-5 December 2024, Cambridge

Thu, 07 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

There is still time to book your tickets for the 2024 ADMS User Group Meetings, which will be held at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge on 4th and 5th December.

ADMS 6 User Group Meeting, 4th December: view agenda
ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Roads, 5th December: view agenda

Tickets are available to order through Eventbrite until 23:30 on Tuesday 19th November. Organisations with a valid software support contract are entitled to one or more tickets free of charge depending on the type of licence held.

EFT 12.1 update for ADMS-Roads, ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Airport

Wed, 30 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and the Devolved Administrations have released version 12.1 of the Emissions Factors Toolkit (EFT). Details of the changes for this version are given in the EFT user guide.

We have processed the new EFT and published an update for ADMS-Roads, ADMS-Urban and ADMS-Airport verion 5 on the Other downloads page of our User Area. If you are registered, you can go straight to the download folder. If you are not registered, follow the instructions on the User Area main page.

Opportunities to work at CERC

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC is recruiting!

We are looking for a Scientific Software Engineer to work within our scientific software development team. The successful candidate will be involved in the development of CERC's software products including the world-leading ADMS software.

We are also seeking an Operational Systems Software Engineer to join our air quality forecasting team. The successful candidate will contribute to the development and maintenance of our operational cloud-based air quality forecasting and alerting systems.

Finally, we have an opening for an Air Quality Scientist to join our research team. This role involves working on longer-term research projects, in particular those involving application, evaluation and development of our world-leading ADMS software.

For full details, please see CERC's jobs page.

CERC working with UK Environment Agency on Thermal Transport of Air Pollution from Regulated Industries (TAPRI) project

Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC is working with the UK Environment Agency on a six-month contract to contribute to a research project to assess the impacts of thermal air flows on the movement of pollutants.

Thermal winds are generated by horizontal temperature gradients. Over flat terrain, differences in surface temperature cause horizontal temperature gradients, for example near coastlines, resulting in sea and land breezes. Over sloping terrain, horizontal temperature gradients result from stable or unstable stratification, which can lead to downslope (katabatic) or upslope (anabatic) winds.

CERC are working with scientists in the Environment Agency's Chief Scientist's Group to define thermal flow types and their characteristics. We will analyse meteorological, land use and topographical data for selected 'pilot areas' to better understand thermal flows.

The team will explore different approaches that could be used to model air quality impacts of thermal flows. Multiple models will be explored, including KLAM-21 and ADMS. For some sites, Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data will be used.

This work was awarded to Air Quality Consultants (AQC) as part of Defra's Research Development & Evidence Framework Agreement. The work will be carried out by CERC in collaboration with AQC and John Moncrieff (University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences).

The image shows 'The Barber' katabatic wind that blows down the Grey Valley in Greymouth, New Zealand.

CERC attend conferences and workshops

Wed, 02 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

It's a busy time of year for conferences and workshops. Many CERC staff are attending face to face meetings over the next few weeks.

This week, Dr Jenny Stocker is going to Birmingham for the UKRI/Met Office Clean Air Programme Conference. She will be presenting an overview of CERC's Multi-model Air Quality System (MAQS). Next week, Jenny will be at the Forum for Air Quality Modelling (FAIRMODE) technical meeting in Dublin, where she is actively involved in the Microscale Assessment and Sensors & Data-Fusion working groups.

Amy Stidworthy will be attending the Air Quality & Emissions show at the Birmingham NEC next week. Amy will present results from a study where inversion techniques have been used to combine ADMS-Urban modelling with measurements from a network of air quality sensors hosted on telecom infrastructure in the city of Glasgow. Then in early November, Amy will be travelling to Prague to present on the use of CAMS data in CERC's local air quality forecasting services as part of a workshop for CAMS users in the Czech Republic.

On 18^th October, Dr James O'Neill will be presenting at the Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC) and Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) seminar on the use of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data in air quality modelling. Further information about this event can be found on an earlier post, including details of how to register before the 4^th October. Director Dr David Carruthers will be attending the seminar, contributing to discussions.

Later in October, Dr Chetan Lad and Dr Andrea Di Antonio will be at Routes to Clean Air in Birmingham, with its extensive programme covering current topics for assessing and delivering clean air. They look forward to talks on domestic and agricultural sources of pollution and high-resolution traffic emissions estimates.

Dr Catheryn Price and Rose Jackson are going to Manchester at the beginning of November to attend the Hazards Process Safety Conference. They are particularly interested in gaining further insight into the latest perspectives and knowledge on energy transition considerations, such as battery energy storage system (BESS) hazards, hydrogen production, carbon capture, and CO₂ and ammonia releases.

ADMLC seminar on the use of NWP meteorological data in modelling

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC) and Institute of Air Quality Management (IAQM) are hosting an in-person seminar: Investigating the impact of applying different grid resolutions of NWP data in atmospheric dispersion modelling. More information and an Agenda can be found via the ADMLC web site.

The seminar will run from 9:30 to 14:00 on Friday 18th October 2024.

The ADMLC funded an investigation into the consequence of using different spatial and temporal resolutions of Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) met data on:

(a) model predictions of annual mean concentration and high percentile hourly concentrations for a regulatory assessment; and

(b) model endpoints derived by way of probabilistic accident consequence assessments.

CERC and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) worked collaboratively to address the needs of the ADMLC, producing a report which documents the study’s findings and recommendations.

The seminar will provide an opportunity:

for the authors to share their findings and recommendations.
for discussion of any potential issues raised in the context of the study.

If these topics are of interest to you, please join us for this seminar; your attendance and contributions would be welcomed.

There is no fee to attend. However, you must register. Please request attendance by contacting the ADMLC Secretariat at: admlc@ukhsa.gov.uk by Friday 4th October.

Address: UKHSA (Training Centre), Harwell Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0RQ. Directions: Radiation Protection Services - Chilton office (ukhsa-protectionservices.org.uk).

Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in London

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC consultants are carrying out air quality modelling to calculate the health impact of changes in air pollution due to the introduction of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) across four London boroughs. The modelling uses ADMS-Urban and the emissions inventory tool EMIT.

The work is being carried out as part of the Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in London Research Study: a mixed methods study of benefits harms and experiences (Award ID: NHIR135020). It will examine the potential benefits and harms of new LTN schemes and understand the experiences of those living in or near LTNs.

CERC’s modelling of air pollution levels, with and without the LTNs in place, will account for changes in traffic, speed and congestion on roads within the LTNs and surrounding areas. These data will be used to calculate the air pollution health impact of the schemes, as part of wider health impact assessments that include changes in the levels of walking and cycling, and road injury risks.

The project is led by University of Westminster and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, Imperial College London and Transport for All.

York air quality forecasting and alert service

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

City of York Council commissioned CERC to develop an air quality forecasting and alert service to give York residents advance warning of when air pollution is expected to be higher than usual, up to 3 days ahead. The service provides daily air quality forecast maps at 5 metre resolution and zone-based air quality, pollen, UV and temperature forecasts. Residents can sign up to receive free air quality text, email or voice alerts; the expected alert level in each zone is also posted on X (Twitter). Forecasts are issued twice a day and routinely compared with monitored levels to maintain accuracy.

Commenting on the service, Cllr Jenny Kent, Executive Member for Environment and Climate Emergency at City of York Council, said: “This is a really simple and easy to use tool to help residents with health conditions affected by air pollution plan ahead and reduce exposure. We hope these forecasts will also raise awareness of air pollution across the city and encourage people to consider their air quality impact in helping to protect everyone’s health. Poor air quality is a contributory factor in 1 in 22 deaths in York. We can all improve this statistic; share a lift to work, work from home or walk, catch the bus or cycle, if possible, especially on days with high pollution. Solid fuel fires should also be avoided wherever possible. The new website will display maps outlining day-to-day air pollution levels. The alerts sent out will offer guidance on whether people are at risk from air pollution on a particular day and provide advice on how to stay healthy and aware.”

CERC’s air quality forecasting system for York combines weather forecasts, European-scale pollution forecasts from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) and very detailed dispersion modelling of pollution sources across York using CERC's ADMS-Urban model. The cloud-based containerised system uses Microsoft’s Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), GDAL and GeoServer to process model data to create maps and calculate alert levels. CERC provide similar services for London and South-East England (airTEXT), Manchester (Clean Air for Greater Manchester) and Riga (Riga airTEXT).

Benchmarking nitrogen deposition models

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC are taking part in a model inter-comparison study led by RIVM in the Netherlands to benchmark local scale nitrogen deposition dispersion models. The project was motivated by the significant number of nitrogen deposition limit value exceedances in Dutch Natura 2000 areas and a 2019 High Court Ruling, which concluded that the current Dutch policy to reduce nitrogen deposition was inadequate. In response, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature initiated a research programme to propose and implement improvements in the Dutch measurement and modelling system that is used to evaluate the nitrogen deposition on nature areas. This model-intercomparison study for local scale is part of that research programme.

The study has two parts. Firstly, participating models have been set up to represent a wide range of source types and terrain, for example agricultural and traffic sources in mixed land use areas. Ten years of hourly and annual concentration and deposition values have been generated for each model configuration, and then inter-compared. The second stage of the project involves evaluation of model outputs using measurement data from a number of field campaigns. RIVM are currently finalizing the campaign datasets, and models will be set up and run over the summer.

The UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, VITO (Belgium), and Aarhaus University (Denmark) are also participating in the benchmarking study using Gaussian dispersion models. In addition, a group from the Dutch Wageningen University is running Large Eddy Simulations to inform the study outcomes. Results will be made public following project completion, which is scheduled for the end of 2024.

The Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling Liaison Committee (ADMLC), which has been supporting research into atmospheric dispersion modelling methods for over 25 years, has part-funded CERC's participation in this project.

Source apportionment analysis for London’s bus fleet

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Transport for London (TfL) red-liveried bus fleet are part of the city's identity, but were a key area for improvement in the Mayor of London's 2018 Environment Strategy. Southwark Borough Council commissioned CERC consultants to assess the contribution of bus emissions to total pollutant concentrations in Southwark.

Using the ADMS-Urban model and emissions inventory tool EMIT, we created air quality maps of the borough for nitrogen dioxide and particulates, based on all emissions and then on bus emissions only. We also modelled pollutant concentrations at a large set of roadside receptors along Southwark's bus routes.

We took traffic data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory, using EMIT to create a traffic scenario including only buses. The figure shows source apportionment results for NO_x, with concentrations due to bus emissions shown as a proportion of the concentration from all emissions sources.

At locations where the modelled annual average NO₂ objective is exceeded, buses may contribute to less than 10% of the total NO_x, as seen along Old Kent Road. In contrast, at Elephant Square and St. George's Circus, buses can be responsible for over 40% of total NO_x. This highlights key areas where improving bus infrastructure would result in tangible improvements to air quality.

ADMS 6.0.2 released

Wed, 15 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC are pleased to announce the release of ADMS 6.0.2. This is a minor update providing additional output options that were requested at the 2023 ADMS User Group Meeting.

The first of these new options is the ability to output additional plume properties for point sources to the .cen file. The plume density and Richardson number used in the plume rise calculations can now be output, which can be useful when examining the behaviour of elevated dense releases. Additionally, wind speed and turbulence values at the mean plume height can now be output allowing for greater understanding of the behaviour of the plume.

The other new output option is the ability to output the accumulated horizontal concentration flux at specific locations. This output is given per wind direction sector making for easy comparison with measurements obtained from directional passive air samplers.

In addition to these new output options we have decreased run times for runs with spatially varying deposition. For full details on the changes within ADMS 6.0.2 please see the What's New document.

ADMS 6.0.2 is available to download from the User Area for licence holders with current support.

Air quality assessment of amine-based carbon capture

Fri, 03 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The Environment Agency commissioned CERC to carry out a project instigated by their modelling team AQMAU, entitled Improving Post-Combustion Carbon Capture Air Quality Risk Assessment Techniques. The project aimed to increase confidence in risk assessments for regulatory purposes, to integrate practical tools and evidence, and to inform decision-making.

The decarbonisation of industry is pushing the evolution of air dispersion modelling to assess the risk of emissions from emerging techniques such as amine-based post-combustion carbon capture.

As developers of the state-of-the-art ADMS amines chemistry module, CERC were ideally placed to carry out this project and have published their report.

The project addresses the uncertainties of ADMS input data and assumptions and improves the transparency and significance of the assessment process. It will further increase confidence and understanding of the ADMS approach and assessment strategies.

As part of the project, CERC developed an additional user-friendly tool and user guide to help model users calculate and document the amine-related input parameters.

Booking is now open for the ADMS User Group Meetings, 4-5 December 2024, Cambridge

Thu, 02 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

You can now book your tickets for the 2024 ADMS User Group Meetings, which will be held at Murray Edwards College on 4th and 5th December.

The annual ADMS User Group Meetings are a great opportunity to hear the latest ADMS model news and advice from CERC consultants and model developers, to hear talks by model users about their own applications of the software, and to network with other model users.

Tickets are available to order through Eventbrite until 23:30 on Tuesday 12th November. Organisations with a valid software support contract are entitled to one or more tickets free of charge depending on the type of licence held. The draft programme will be published soon.

Air quality impact of paint spraying facilities

Mon, 29 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

CERC has carried out assessments of the air quality impact of exhaust plumes from vehicle and aircraft paint spraying facilities to support planning applications, using ADMS 6.

CERC's consultancy team worked from a list of paint products, together with Safety Data Sheets and Technical Data Sheets for paint components. These were combined with paint usage data and Emission Limit Values (ELVs) to calculate emission rates of particulates, VOCs and isocyanates from spray booth exhaust stacks.

Process-specific ELVs are provided in Defra Process Guidance Notes such as 6/47(11): Statutory guidance for original coating of road vehicles and trailers.

The Guidance Note 6/47(11) refers to the calculation of a suitable stack height using HMIP Technical Guidance Note (Dispersion) D1, now obsolete. The Note states that alternative dispersion models may be used.

We have found that the application of ADMS can lead to the calculation of a lower stack height than screening methods such as D1, especially where working hours are represented.