Purpose This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of South Korea’s Emission Control Area (ECA) policy in reducing fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) emissions at Incheon Port, focusing on emissions from maritime activities and their spatial diffusion in a densely populated metropolitan area. Design/methodology/approach A comparative analysis was conducted using two scenarios: one without ECA policy enforcement and one with phased ECA implementation from 2020 to 2022. Emissions were calculated using the Tier 3 methodology of the European Environment Agency (EEA) emission inventory guidebook and pollutant dispersion was modeled using the CALPUFF atmospheric dispersion system. Findings The ECA policy significantly reduced PM emissions over a three-year period. Total emissions under the ECA scenario declined from 96 tons in 2020 to 59 tons in 2022, compared to 144–156 tons under the no-policy scenario. CALPUFF simulations also showed marked reductions in both the concentration and diffusion range of PM10 and PM2.5, indicating improved air quality in the Incheon Port area. Originality/value This study is among the first to provide a multi-year empirical assessment of ECA policy impacts in a Korean port using both emission inventory and dispersion modeling. It offers critical insights for policymakers and port authorities aiming to design evidence-based environmental strategies in urban port settings.

Northern Thailand experiences recurrent seasonal haze driven by biomass burning (BB), which results in hazardous PM2.5 exposure and elevated environmental health risks. To address the need for timely and spatially resolved emission information, this study developed and evaluated an operational near-real-time (NRT) biomass-burning PM2.5 emission estimation system using the Fire INventory from NCAR version 2.5 (FINNv2.5). The objectives of this study are threefold: (1) to construct a high-resolution (≤1 km) NRT biomass-burning PM2.5 emission inventory for Northern Thailand; (2) to assess its temporal and spatial consistency with ground-based PM2.5 measurements and satellite fire observations; and (3) to examine its potential utility for informing environmental health risk management. The developed system captured short-lived, high-intensity burning episodes that defined the haze crisis, revealing a distinct peak period from late February to early April. Cumulative emissions from January to April 2024 exceeded 250,000 tons, dominated by Chiang Mai (25.8%) and Mae Hong Son (25.5%), which together contributed 51.3% of regional emissions. Strong correspondence with MODIS/VIIRS FRP (r = 0.79) confirmed the reliability of the NRT emission signal, while regression against observed PM2.5 concentrations indicated a substantial background burden (intercept = 40.41 μg m−3) and moderate explanatory power (R2 = 0.448), reflecting additional meteorological and transboundary influences. Translating these relationships into operational metrics, an Emission Control Threshold of 1518 tons day−1 was derived to guide targeted burn permitting and reduce population exposure during peak-risk periods. This NRT biomass-burning PM2.5 emission estimation framework offers timely emissions information that may support decision makers in environmental health risk management, including the development of early warnings, adaptive burn-permit strategies, and more coordinated responses across Northern Thailand.

Abstract. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a key atmospheric pollutant, primarily emitted through human activities such as fossil fuel combustion. In atmospheric models, accurate representation of SO2 emission sources, transport, and removal processes are essential for evaluating air quality and radiative forcing. In this study, we present, for the first time, a comprehensive examination of atmospheric SO2 simulated by the ECHAM/MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) model, here operated under the Chemistry–Climate Model Initiative (CCMI-2022) protocol. First, the tropospheric sulfur budget simulated by EMAC is verified to be closed. This closure means that all sulfur sources and sinks are balanced and no artificial gain or loss occurs over time due to numerical or conceptual errors. This budget closure is a prerequisite for any further analysis. Second, the results of EMAC simulations are compared with observations from three ground-based networks (the Clean Air Status and Trends Network (CASTnet), the European Monitoring and Evaluation Program (EMEP), and the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET)), mainly over polluted regions, and with vertical column densities retrieved from a TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on board the Copernicus Sentinel-5 Precursor mission (Sentinel-5P) satellite. The EMAC simulated SO2 concentrations near the Earth's surface for the year 2019 are, depending on the region, between 1.4 and 1.8 times larger than observed. This discrepancy aligns well with the differences between simulated and retrieved satellite-based measurements of SO2 vertical column densities over the same regions. It indicates that the prescribed SO2 emissions used for the EMAC simulations might be overestimated. Over a longer time period (2000–2019), the EMAC simulation reproduces the measured declining trends of SO2 concentrations and deposited sulfur fluxes in the USA and Europe, but fails to simulate the observed trends in East Asia. This is most likely attributable to the prescribed SO2 emission inventories. Furthermore, sensitivity simulations are performed to assess the emitted amount of SO2 following the Raikoke and Ulawun volcanic eruptions in 2019. The results show a very good agreement of the simulated temporal evolution of the amount of atmospheric SO2 after the eruptions with that retrieved from satellite-based observations.

Abstract. Isoprene, the globally most abundant volatile organic compound, significantly impacts air quality. Determining isoprene concentration variations and their drivers is a persistent challenge. Here, we developed a robust machine learning framework to simulate isoprene concentrations, without requiring localized emission inventories and explicit chemistry. Temperature, radiation, and surface pressure were the primary drivers of short-term isoprene variations across Chinese cities. On climatic timescales, urban greenspace expansion and climate warming drove isoprene increases by 341 pptv in Hong Kong during 1990–2023, but traffic emission reductions in London counteracted the isoprene rise that climate warming would have otherwise caused (−755 pptv vs. +31 pptv). Driven by rising temperatures and isoprene levels, ozone would increase by up to 1.7-fold by 2100 under the high-emission scenario. However, ambitious reduction in nitrogen oxides would alleviate this growth to 1.2-fold. The study has the potential to inform air quality management in a warming climate.

With new-type urbanization, urban expansion in 35 major Chinese cities increasingly encroaches on ecological spaces. Integrating Landsat-8/Sentinel-2 data, statistics, and emission inventories, this study constructs a “development–ecology” coupling framework. Entropy-AHP weighting balances NDVI, NDBI, LST, and PM2.5, while multi-scale spatial regression examines impacts of precipitation, temperature, and policy as exogenous shocks. CA-Markov and random forest models simulate baseline, compact, and ecology-priority scenarios. Results show strong bidirectional feedback: compact, ecology-focused growth improves coordination, while sprawl worsens ecological stress. Climate and policy combinations critically shape coupling trajectories. Findings support integrated planning, ecological redline management, and smart governance, offering a basis for real-time monitoring and sustainable urban development.

Air pollution imposes significant health and ecological damages. However, previous studies targeted on air quality improvement, focused on one of the two impacts independently of the other and fail to consider both health and ecological losses. This study establishes a dynamic multicity and multisector modeling framework by integrating emission inventories, future mitigation pathways, response surface models, and monetization methods of health and ecological benefits. Taking the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China as a case, we quantify the integrated benefits of air pollution control and propose coordinated emission reduction strategies of multiple species aiming at maximizing integrated benefits. Results show that from 2013 to 2020, emission reductions lowered annual economic losses by 709.5 billion CNY, with ecological benefits accounting for nearly half of health benefits. NH3 and NOx reductions were found to be particularly effective in achieving integrated benefits nowadays, with an optimal reduction ratio of approximately 0.75 across the YRD, and stronger NH3 mitigation needed in northeastern regions. Carbon neutrality pathways combined with targeted NH3 and VOCs controls yield greater equity, especially benefiting less-developed areas. On-road vehicles and agriculture are identified as key sectors for achieving overall health and ecological benefits. These findings provide a replicable model for multipollutant, multiobjective air quality management in rapidly industrializing regions worldwide.

Macro- and microplastic emissions and marine input flux in the Yangtze River Delta, China, from 1990 to 2020.

Abstract Emmision of Volatile chemical products (VCPs) China: An Updated High‐Resolution Mass Balance‐Based Invenotry have emerged as a significant source of organic compound emissions in China, contributing to ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. Previous work established the VCP emission inventory by the mass balance (MB) method in China from 2000 to 2017, but localized component emissions and spatial variations have not been systematically investigated. This study presents a high‐resolution VCP‐gridded emission inventory in China, incorporating an updated method for emission estimation, localized source profiles, and spatial allocation. Results reveal that VCP emissions amounted to 13.88 Tg in 2022, dominated by coatings and adhesives. Industrial and domestic VCPs contribute two‐thirds and one‐third of total VCP emissions, respectively. Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) and aromatics constitute over 70% of total emissions and ozone formation potential (OFP), with aromatics (3.86 Tg, primarily from coatings) contributing 17.45 Tg to OFP. The component emissions of VCPs in China exhibit distinct characteristics compared to the United States, marked by higher contributions of aromatics and N/S‐containing compounds. Spatial analysis highlights industrial VCP emissions dispersed across suburban regions, whereas domestic VCP emissions are concentrated in urban cores. Key species like m/p‐xylene and methanol align with industrial emissions, whereas ethanol and D5‐siloxane match domestic emission patterns, indicative of promising application as industrial and domestic VCP tracers, respectively. The model‐ready gridded emission inventory for VCP developed in this study can be used by a chemical transport model to evaluate the impacts of VCP emissions on atmospheric chemistry and secondary pollution at different times and spatial scales in China.

Development of a Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission inventory in Korea

Impact of temperature on the biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions in China: A review.

Anthropogenic black carbon as short-lived climate pollutants: Critical advancements in global-regional monitoring, characterization, emission inventory, and impact analysis

Mitigating methane emissions from municipal solid waste in Chinese cities.

Atmospheric emission inventory of trace elements from non-ferrous metal smelting industries in China

Assessing the co-benefits of reductions in mobile-source CO2 and pollutant emissions for urban air qualityand public health.

Evaluation of greenhouse gas emissions from a biogas plant in Korea.

Random Forest approach to air quality assessment for port emissions in a coastal area in the Gulf of Mexico.

We used the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory (MOST) flux-variance relationship to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes from high-precision mole fraction measurements at 3 instrumented urban communication towers over several years, demonstrating the ability of this method to detect and quantify changes in emissions. Depending on data availability, we used carbon dioxide (CO2) and carbon monoxide (CO) measurements and/or tracer ratios to estimate fluxes at 1 urban site (Site 3) and 1 suburban site (Site 7) in Indianapolis, IN, USA, and 1 urban site (COM) in Los Angeles, CA, USA. We also compared the estimated fluxes of CO2 from fossil fuel sources (CO2ff) at Sites 3 and 7 and the total CO2 fluxes at Site 3 to 20 m, hourly resolution subdomains of the high-resolution CO2 emissions inventory, Hestia, for the year 2020, introducing a new way to evaluate emissions inventories at small spatial and temporal scales. Using the flux-variance relationship, we detected and quantified abrupt decreases in CO and CO2 fluxes at Site 3 and COM in April 2020, coinciding with the stay-at-home order due to COVID-19 pandemic, as well as abrupt decreases in CO and CO2 fluxes at Site 3 in July 2018 coinciding with a highway closure next to the site. The Hestia emissions inventory detected a decrease in emissions in April 2020 at Sites 3 and 7, but this decrease differed in magnitude from those detected in the atmospheric estimates. Seasonal trends in emissions are similar between Hestia and the atmospheric estimates at Site 7. We use differences in seasonal and spatial trends between the flux estimation methods to identify potential sources of uncertainty in both the atmospheric and inventory methods. The results from this study show that the flux-variance estimation method is a useful tool to monitor local-scale emissions and evaluate high-resolution emissions inventories.

Wildland fires are significant sources of organic compounds, but traditional global fire emission inventories only include primary organic aerosols (POA) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and lack intermediate-volatility and semivolatile organic compounds (IVOCs and SVOCs), which could underestimate the environmental impact of wildland fires. We developed a global wildland fire organic emission inventory (1997-2023) with full-volatility coverage using volatility-binned and chemically specific emission factors by vegetation type. Compared to the traditional POA + VOC framework, full-volatility organic emission inventories filled a gap of 25.1 Mt/year of I/SVOCs; grassland, tropical forest, boreal forest, peatland, and temperate forest fires contributed 66%, 13%, 11%, 6%, and 4%, respectively, to full-volatility emissions (averaged over 1997-2023). Southern Hemisphere Africa was the top emission hotspot, with full-volatility organic emissions of 4.4 t/km2/year, 1.3-6.9 times greater than the next highest-emitting emission hotspots: Northern Hemisphere Africa, Southern Hemisphere South America, and Equatorial Asia. On a global scale, wildland fire organic emissions are 79% of anthropogenic organic emissions, but their I/SVOC emissions are comparable. With a more comprehensive consideration of the mass and chemical speciation of full-volatility organics, this emission inventory could enhance our understanding of the impact of wildland fires on air quality and human health.

Climate changing is caused not only by natural factors, but also human activity. According to the FAO, the greenhouse gas emissions’ share from agriculture (including indirect ones) reaches 30%. Most of them are accounted with livestock. This industry is being intensified in our country at the new farms constructing and existing ones modernization. The assessment of these measures on greenhouse gas emissions impact is becoming relevant. This assessment is carried out according to National Methodologies in accordance with the Guidelines of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) developing, for calculations at different methodological levels providing. The aim of this work was the of the assessment of greenhouse gas generation from the livestock industry calculating results by the first and second levels using on Leningradsky region’s example comparing. The study was conducted by the developed computer program "Inventory of emissions of climatically active substances in animal husbandry" using, which calculations in according to the National Methodology at different levels implementing. The conducted studies showed comparable results with higher values for the second level (574,06 Gg in CO2 eq.) in compared with the first level (559, 66 Gg in CO2 eq.), which is explained by taking into account the diets of second level that to modern types of with high protein feeds corresponding. Therefore cows nitrous oxide emissions of Leningradsky region as leading in production were more than in 2 times higher when calculated by the second level method (hereinafter referred to as Level 2) using and amounted to 31 Gg in CO2 eq., and according to the first level method (hereinafter referred to as Level 1) - only 14 Gg in CO2 eq. The main emissions’ share is accounted for by methane from cattle enteral fermentation: for Level 2 it amounted to 433,9 Gg in CO2 eq., for Level 1 - 428,4 Gg in CO2 eq.

Air pollution is monitored worldwide through networks of sensors. They provide information on local air pollution, which also provides a basis for a multitude of research. To reduce health hazards caused by air pollution, the concentrations of pollutants as measured by sensors need to be apportioned to particular sources. Although several methods to achieve this have been developed, only a few works on the contributions of pollution sources to health hazards are available in the literature. In this work, a simple scheme is proposed to compare health hazards from each of the main sources of air pollution in a given country, region, or area. The comparison involves the main air pollutants of PM2.5, NO2, and O3 for chronic exposures and PM2.5, NO2, O3, and SO2 for acute exposures. The actual health hazard from each substance is determined from concentrations measured by sensors and the concentration-response functions found in the literature. The apportionment of substances to sources is based on emission inventories, thus avoiding costly methods of source apportionment. This method has been applied to the entire country, i.e., Poland, yielding the average proportion of health hazards from particular sources. The example demonstrates the flexibility and ease of application of the scheme. Uncertainties in the results were subjected to discussion. The key advantage of the scheme lies in its ability to provide an indication of the most harmful sources of pollution, thus highlighting efficient interventions.