Abstract
Abstract. The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality. The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions. The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions. Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community. The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.
Highlights
Air pollution is a crucial environmental concern because of its detrimental impacts on health, ecosystems, the built environment, and short-term climate forcing
The executive body of the Convention has requested an assessment of the evolution of air pollution and subsequent effects from its two scientific and technical bodies: (i) the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and (ii) the Working Group on Effects (WGE)
The Task Force on Measurement and Modelling (TFMM) of EMEP published an assessment of air pollution trends (Colette et al, 2016), whereas the WGE published an assessment of corresponding effects on health and ecosystems (De Wit et al, 2015), and an overall assessment report encompassing all the activities undertaken under the Convention was released (Maas and Grennfelt, 2016)
Summary
Air pollution is a crucial environmental concern because of its detrimental impacts on health, ecosystems, the built environment, and short-term climate forcing Whereas it was originally regarded as an urban issue, in the late 1970s the large-scale acidification of precipitation made it clear that at least part of the problem could only be solved through international cooperation (OECD, 1977). The main vehicles of the LRTAP Convention are the protocols that aim to reduce the emission of various compounds (sulfur in 1985, nitrogen oxides in 1988, volatile organic compounds in 1991, heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants in 1998, and the multi-pollutant multi-effect Gothenburg Protocol to abate acidification, eutrophication, and ground-level ozone in 1999, with subsequent revision in 2012) The design of such mitigation strategies was largely supported by the development of models (chemistry-transport and integrated assessment tools) and monitoring networks. The models participating in the experiment will be presented, as well as the project database of model results
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