26 Jan 2022CERC assesses Low Traffic Neighbourhoods in Lambeth and Southwark

As part of an emergency transport response to the pandemic, Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) have been introduced in many London Boroughs, to help people safely walk, cycle and use public transport.

CERC consultants have been evaluating the air quality impact of LTN schemes, including five schemes in Lambeth and the Walworth and Dulwich schemes in Southwark. Using local traffic monitoring data as input, the modelling assessments consider pre-scheme and post-scheme scenarios to assess the air quality impact of these LTNs.

CERC's ADMS-Urban and emissions inventory tool EMIT were used for the modelling. In addition to local traffic data, the model set-up used data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory.

Concentrations of NO₂, PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 were modelled on a grid of receptor points within each LTN, to generate high resolution maps for the scheme areas. Model output was also generated at sensitive receptors, such as schools and hospitals.

LTN monitoring reports for Lambeth can be viewed on the Council website.Where LTNs are finalised, CERC reports are available to view, for example for the Railton LTN. The figure shows the change in annual average NO₂ concentrations at Railton LTN, assessed using significance criteria from EPUK and IAQM guidance for Land Use Planning & Development Control.

A presentation on the assessment of LTNs from the 2021 ADMS User Group Meeting is available to view on the CERC website user area.

4 Jan 20222021 ADMS User Group Meetings - recordings of CERC presentations are available to view

Following last year's ADMS User Group Meetings, which took place online on 24 and 25 November, recordings of the CERC presentations are now available to view in the CERC website User Area, alongside these are PDF copies of all the presentations. 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.

8 Nov 2021COP26: Verifying Glasgow's CO2 emissions using ADMS-Urban and measurements

Verification of carbon dioxide emissions is essential to achieving Net Zero and "keeping 1.5 alive". Researchers from CERC, Cambridge University, and ACOEM have collaborated on a project to verify CO₂ emissions across greater Glasgow by combining measurements and CERC's ADMS-Urban air pollution dispersion model. These methods could be applied to verify the effectiveness of Net Zero policies for other cities.

From June 2021, fifteen AQMesh pods taking measurements of CO₂ and other pollutants at 1-minute resolution have been co-located with Scottish Air Quality Network reference monitors at sites in Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire. From September 2021, two LI-COR reference-grade instruments have also been measuring CO₂ at 1-minute resolution at two sites. ADMS-Urban has been applied to calculate hourly CO₂ concentrations at the measurement sites for the period of the measurements using NAEI gridded emissions and DfT traffic flows, and allowing for the effects of street canyons. Road emissions within 2km of each monitoring site have been modelled explicitly as road sources; other road emissions have been modelled as 1kmx1km gridded emissions. Hourly background CO₂ has been calculated from hourly baselines of the 1-minute AQMesh measurements calculated by the University of Cambridge team.

CERC researchers have applied Bayesian based inversion techniques to combine hourly modelled CO₂ concentrations from ADMS-Urban with hourly averaged AQMesh and LI-COR CO₂ measurements (top figure). The technique allows for the differences in uncertainties between low-cost sensors and reference monitors, for the uncertainties of the emissions from each source and for correlations between source emissions. The differences between the original and inversion-verified emissions (bottom figure) provide an indication of the accuracy of the original emissions inventory.

The project is funded by NERC and the Scottish Government.

12 Oct 2021CERC present at AQE Show and UKHSA Annual Review Meeting

This is a very busy time for CERC, presenting our research results to a wide range of audiences at key events this week.

The Air Quality and Emissions Virtual Event 2021 is being held on the 13^th and 14^th October. Speakers from government, academia and industry are presenting on a range of topics including national air quality monitoring and indoor air quality. Amy Stidworthy is presenting results from the application of CERC's Bayesian-based inversion methodology, which has been used to quantify the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on emissions in London by combining modelling and measurements. Read the abstract to Amy's talk and register for the free event.

The 2021 UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Annual UK Review Meeting on Outdoor and Indoor Air Pollution Research is being held online on the 14^th October. This key national meeting of the UK’s experts in the field of air pollution and health research is aimed at academics, policy makers, directors of public health and health charities; topics covered include air pollutant exposure and the impact of using green cleaning products on indoor air quality. Dr Jenny Stocker is giving an overview of the development of MAQS-Health, CERC's world-leading coupled air quality modelling system that spans national to urban street scales and accounts for physical and chemical processes at all relevant temporal and spatial scales. MAQS-Health is being developed to facilitate the generation of outdoor air pollutant concentration datasets suitable for health research as part of the SPF Clean Air Programme. Read the abstract to Jenny's talk and sign up for the meeting by Tuesday 12^th October.

11 Oct 2021CERC sponsor & present at Routes to Clean Air 2021

CERC are once again proud to sponsor the Institute of Air Quality Management's annual Routes to Clean Air 2021 conference to be held at Mercure Holland House, Bristol, on the 12^th of October 2021.

The Routes to Clean Air conferences provide an opportunity for air quality, public health and transport professionals to share their experiences of improving air quality, particularly in urban areas. This year features an excellent selection of talks from top experts in air quality and related fields, including CERC's Dr Christina Hood presenting a talk entitled 'Modelling complex urban environments: Hong Kong'. Other topics to be discussed include urban Clean Air Zones, agriculture emissions, indoor air quality and materials emissions.

Speaker details, information on how to register and the conference programme can be found on the IAQM website here, and talks from previous years are also available.

CERC will also be exhibiting at the conference, so come and find us to discuss the range of software and consultancy services we provide, or just say hello.