Carlos Silveira

Integrating health on air quality assessment — review report on health risks of two major european outdoor air pollutants: PM and NO

Quantifying the impact of air pollution on the public’s health has become an increasingly critical component in policy discussion. Recent data indicate that more than 70% of the world population lives in cities. Several studies reported that current levels of air pollutants in urban areas are associated with adverse health risks, namely, cardiovascular diseases and lung cancer. IARC recently classified outdoor air pollution and related particulate matter (PM) as carcinogenic to humans. Despite the air quality improvements observed over the last few years, there is still continued widespread exceedance within Europe, particularly regarding PM and nitrogen oxides (NOx). The European Air Quality Directive 2008/50/EC requires Member States to design appropriate air quality plans for zones where air quality does not comply with established limit values. However, in most cases, air quality is only quantified using a combination of monitored and modeled data and no health impact assessment is carried out. An integrated approach combining the effects of several emission abatement measures on air quality, impacts on human health, and associated implementation costs enables an effective cost–benefit analysis and an added value to the decision-making process. Hence, this review describes the basic steps and tools for integrating health into air quality assessment (health indicators, exposure-response functions). In addition, consideration is given to two major outdoor pollutants: PM and NO2. A summary of the health metrics used to assess the health impact of PM and NO2 and recent epidemiologic data are also described.

Current air quality plans in Europe designed to support air quality management policies

Abstract The intensification of the human activity in urban areas as a result of the increasing population has contributed to the air pollution worsening in cities. To reverse this trend, the European Commission established a legal framework to improve the air quality. Thereby the Member States need to develop air quality plans (AQP) for zones and agglomerations where air quality limit values are exceeded, in order to implement pollution control strategies and meet the legal requirements. Understanding the reasons for the levels of air quality non–compliance as well as evaluating available and commonly used tools to predict the air quality and their effects, is crucial for the decision–making process on air quality management policies. Based on a compilation of regional and local AQP, a review of assessment capabilities and used modeling tools to evaluate the effects of emission abatement measures on the air quality and health was performed. In most cases, models are applied to estimate emissions and to assess the resulting air quality from both reference and emission abatement scenarios. Air quality’s impacts on the health and environment are rarely quantified. Regarding the air quality assessment, beyond the modeling, monitored data for validation of simulations are also used. Some studies, however, do not include the use of air quality models, considering the monitoring network as spatially representative of the study domain (e.g. Lisbon Region, Riga, Malta). In order to overcome methodological limitations for quantifying the impacts of emission abatement measures, economic evaluation techniques or even Integrated Assessment Methodologies (IAM) have been developed. IAM, already applied in some AQP or case studies, namely for Antwerp and London, are used for assessing how reductions in emissions contribute to improve air quality, reduce exposure and protect human health.

Assessment of health benefits related to air quality improvement strategies in urban areas: An Impact Pathway Approach

Air pollution is, increasingly, a concern to our society given the threats to human health and the environment. Concerted actions to improve air quality have been taken at different levels, such as through the development of Air Quality Plans (AQPs). However, air quality impacts associated with the implementation of abatement measures included in AQPs are often neglected. In order to identify the major gaps and strengths in current knowledge, a literature review has been performed on existing methodologies to estimate air pollution-related health impacts and subsequent external costs. Based on this review, the Impact Pathway Approach was adopted and applied within the context of the MAPLIA research project to assess the health impacts and benefits (or avoided external costs) derived from improvements in air quality. Seven emission abatement scenarios, based on individual and combined abatement measures, were tested for the major activity sectors (traffic, residential and industrial combustion and production processes) of a Portuguese urban area (Grande Porto) with severe particular matter (PM10) air pollution problems. Results revealed a strong positive correlation between population density and health benefits obtained from the assessed reduction scenarios. As a consequence, potential health benefits from reduction scenarios are largest in densely populated areas with high anthropic activity and, thus, where air pollution problems are most alarming. Implementation of all measures resulted in a reduction in PM10 emissions by almost 8%, improving air quality by about 1% and contributing to a benefit of 8.8 million €/year for the entire study domain. The introduction of PM10 reduction technologies in industrial units was the most beneficial abatement measure. This study intends to contribute to policy support for decision-making on air quality management.

Influence of the spatial resolution of satellite-derived vegetation parameters on the biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emission modeling

Vegetation is a natural source of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) that plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. The main objective of the current study is to implement a model to quantify process-based VOC emissions from plants that focuses on the relationship between the sensitivity of VOC emission estimates to spatial resolution data, based on scientific knowledge and vegetation dynamics derived from satellite observations. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) were elected to examine this issue using different resolutions of satellite-derived products: 22m from the DEIMOS-1 satellite, and 250m and 1000m provided by MODIS. The study is focused on an area of 80×80km2 in Portugal for 2011. Detailed land cover and meteorological data are also included in the emission quantification algorithm. The primary outcomes were determined using a multi-scale analysis showing spatial and temporal variations in the vegetation parameters and modeling results. The results confirm that the emissions model is highly sensitive to the spatial resolution of the satellite-derived data, resulting in about a 30% difference in total isoprene emissions for the study area.

Economic evaluation of air pollution impacts on human health: an overview of applied methodologies

Air pollution is a worldwide problem with broadly known harmful effects on health and environment. A great research challenge lies in quantifying the intensity of these adverse effects as well as the associated external costs. To this end, several methodologies involving exposure-response relationships and economic evaluation of externalities have been developed. A literature review of existing methodologies to estimate air pollution impacts on human health and subsequent external costs has been performed aiming to identify strengths and major gaps in current knowledge. The most common practice is to estimate health impacts taking into account morbidity (disability-adjusted life years due to episodes of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases) and mortality (e.g. years of life lost due to lung cancer) indicators. For the quantification of the resulting external costs, a monetary valuation of the extent of damage, grounded in treatment/remediation costs, is applied. Notwithstanding the significant efforts to improve the economic evaluation of air pollution impacts, there is some controversy on damage cost estimates. For example, the monetary valuation is not a straightforward procedure as many of the impacts have no market value. In addition, it is increasingly recognized that

Emissions from residential combustion sector: how to build a high spatially resolved inventory

Usually, annual emission data from residential combustion sector are spatially disaggregated by population density to the sub-municipality spatial level. The aim of the present work is to define a methodological approach to develop/build a high-resolution emission inventory from residential combustion following a bottom–up approach. The conceptual model considers different approaches by fuel category (solid fuel–wood, gas and liquid fuels) according to distinct spatial coverage and type of activity data available for each category. For solid fuels, detailed activity data (per district), disaggregated according to the number and type of equipment, burned wood species and consumption rate, as well as specific emission factors (per wood species) were used. With regard to the gas and liquid fuels, the total national emission by fuel type using national consumption data and broader emission factors was disaggregated to the sub-municipality scale based only on the number of heating equipment. The choice of these disaggregation factors was influenced by both data availability and relevance. The results of the new disaggregated emission data have been compared with emission values resulting from the classical top–down approach using census/population data. The selected case study is Portugal. The results pointed out that major differences exist when comparing both approaches, namely regarding the spatial distribution/allocation of emissions. In the new approach, emissions are more redistributed over the territory, while in the old distribution, emissions are concentrated in the coastal urban areas (with hotspots in the main urban areas of Porto and Lisbon).

Air Quality Modelling to Support Decision-Making: Scenario and Optimization Approaches

In this work a multi-objective approach to define air quality policies is proposed based on the RIAT+ (Regional Integrated Assessment Modelling Tool) system. The solutions of the decision problem represent cost-effective policies at the sectorial level. The methodology is being applied to the Porto urban area, one of the most polluted areas in Portugal, and optimal control policies up to 2020 will be selected.

Investigating the Contribution of Biogenic Emissions to the Formation of Secondary Pollutants in Portugal

This work aims to quantify the contribution of biogenic emissions to air quality levels of secondary pollutants in distinct areas of a study region taking into account the relevance of different processes, such as transport, deposition, and chemistry. In this sense the air quality model CAMx, with its source apportionment and process analysis tools, has been applied to Portugal, aiming to assess ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) levels during a summer month for three biogenic emission scenarios, which were defined considering the variability of emission factors. Results for secondary gases and particulate pollutants have been explored in terms of source and process contributions. The quantitative analysis showed that biogenic emissions contribute up to 90 % of SOA predictions. The uncertainty in isoprene emission factors may affect the concentration of SOA by ±30 % in average; however, because the O3 production is NOx limited at the studied areas biogenic emissions scenarios did not affect O3 concentration levels, which varied only ±1 % in average.

Urban Air Quality Plans In Europe:A Review On Applied Methodologies

Air pollution is seen as one of the most pressing problems in many urban areas with serious implications on the environment and human health. Focusing on this critical issue, the 2008 European Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC) requires European Member States to design appropriate Air Quality Plans (AQP) for zones and agglomerations where the air quality does not comply with the limit/target values. A review of assessment capabilities and modelling tools used to evaluate the effects of emission abatement measures on the air quality and health has been performed based on a compilation of regional and local AQP. In general, models are applied to estimate emissions and to assess the current air quality and the impact of emission abatement scenarios. Some studies, however, still consider the monitoring network as spatially representative of the study domain and do not include the use of air quality models (e.g. Lisbon Region, Riga, Malta). At this regional/local scale it is not a common practice to apply a more integrated air quality and health approach based on Integrated Assessment Methodologies (IAM). Notwithstanding, there are some exceptions, such as the AQP of Stockholm, Antwerp, Athens, London and several regions of Italy and Denmark, which integrate the assessment of how reductions in emissions improve air quality, reduce human exposure and protect human health. The costs associated to the effectiveness of emission abatement measures are also included in these IAM contributing to the selection of the most cost-effective abatement measures. Air Pollution XXII 315 www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line) WIT Transactions on Ecology and The Environment, Vol 183,

Multiscale analysis of satellite-derived vegetation parameters for biogenic VOC emission modeling

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted by vegetation play an important role in atmospheric chemistry contributing to tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosol formation. Quantification of biogenic VOC may be performed using emission modeling tools that require information on vegetation dynamics. For this purpose satellite-derived parameters such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Leaf Area Index (LAI) are considered. However, spatial resolution of the satellite data could be an important source of uncertainties in biogenic VOC quantification. The main objective of the current study is to accomplish a sensitivity analysis of the biogenic emission modeling to the changes in data resolution of the satellite-derived vegetation parameters. This study is performed for an area of 80x 80km2 in Portugal for 2011. Satellite observations provided by DEIMOS-1 (22 m resolution) and MODIS (250m and 1000m resolution) are analyzed for NDVI and LAI. Also, meteorological data from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model and detailed land cover data are considered by the emission quantification algorithm. Multi-scale analysis of LAI and NDVI was performed. Also, the modeling results are analyzed in terms of spatial and temporal variations of the emissions. The results confirm high sensitivity of the emission model to spatial resolution of the satellite-derived data resulting in about 30% difference in total isoprene emissions for the study area.