Potential changes in air quality associated with increases in SO2 emissions resulting from industrial growth for Jiangsu Province and the Shanghai Municipality in China are evaluated for the years 1990 (current) and 2010 (future) with a... more
Potential changes in air quality associated with increases in SO2 emissions resulting from industrial growth for Jiangsu Province and the Shanghai Municipality in China are evaluated for the years 1990 (current) and 2010 (future) with a “no further control” scenario. Two long-range transport models are used to estimate airborne concentrations and deposition of SO2 and sulfate, based on available data
Research Interests: Environmental Engineering, Environmental Science, Air Quality, Modeling, China, and 13 morePublic Health, Risk Analysis, Atmospheric sciences, Human health, Chine, Energy Use, Environmental Risk Assessment, Critical Loads, Ecological Impact, Spatial Variation, Air Quality Index, Atmospheric Environment, and Critical level
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This paper explores the adaptation of a regional Lagrangian approach for making long-term simulations of SO2 and sulfate ambient concentrations at the resolution needed for health effects risk assessment in Asian megacities and... more
ABSTRACT This paper explores the adaptation of a regional Lagrangian approach for making long-term simulations of SO2 and sulfate ambient concentrations at the resolution needed for health effects risk assessment in Asian megacities and their surroundings. A Lagrangian trajectory model (UR-BAT) is described which simulates transport and diffusion of sulfur within and near urban areas, originating from area and major point sources. The long-range contribution is accounted for by the ATMOS model, simulating all Asian sources. The model has been applied to Beijing and Bombay, by using preliminary emission figures, and the results have been compared with available monitoring data. The computed concentrations in different cities are in the correct range, indicating the potential use of the model in an integrated assessment framework such as RAINS-Asia.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The paper explores the possibility of making long-term simulations of SC>2 ambient concentrations at the resolution needed for health and direct ecosystem effects risk assessment in Asian mega-cities and their surroundings. A... more
The paper explores the possibility of making long-term simulations of SC>2 ambient concentrations at the resolution needed for health and direct ecosystem effects risk assessment in Asian mega-cities and their surroundings. A Lagrangian trajectory model (UR-BAT) is described which simulates transport and diffusion of sulfur near urban areas, originating from area and major point sources. The model has been applied to Bombay, by using preliminary emission figures, and the results have been compared with available monitoring data. The computed concentrations are in the correct range, indicating the potential use of the model in an integrated assessment framework such as RAINSAsia.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Concern about urban air quality problems in large Asian cities is growing due to high pollution levels combined with substantial population increase and rapid economic growth. The number of people exposed to concentrations exceeding WHO... more
Concern about urban air quality problems in large Asian cities is growing due to high pollution levels combined with substantial population increase and rapid economic growth. The number of people exposed to concentrations exceeding WHO guidelines is large, and in most of the cases major urban areas generate also a substantial portion of pollutants responsible of regional environmental degradation. A preliminary modeling study on Southeast Asian megacities has been initiated, in the frame of RAINS-Asia project, sponsored by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and other Asian and international institutions. The purpose is to provide the modeling support to evaluate health problems in major urban areas and their surroundings, coherently within an integrated assessment of acidification in the whole region. As a first step, a Lagrangian multi-level trajectory model (UR-BAT) has so been set up, simulating transport and diffusion of sulfur near urban areas. Emissions from area and ...
Research Interests:
Mountain rural sites can be subject to high ozone concentrations (Puxbaum et al., 1991; Gay, 1991; Sandroni,1994) that can lead to plant injuries. Very often, unfortunately,such sites do not have a sufficient number of monitoring stations... more
Mountain rural sites can be subject to high ozone concentrations (Puxbaum et al., 1991; Gay, 1991; Sandroni,1994) that can lead to plant injuries. Very often, unfortunately,such sites do not have a sufficient number of monitoring stations to accurately capture the spatial patterns and temporal evolution of ozone concentrations. The present studyaims at the reproduction of ozone patterns in a forest site onthe southern slopes of the Alps. The calculation of ozone concentrations has been carried out for a three days episode,by using the CALGRID model. Meteorological fields have been obtained by the application of the CALMET model. Emissions have been calculated for the main sources categories in the area (biogenic and road transport), with a bottom up techniqueand derived from a regional inventory for minor sources. Finally, boundary conditions have been derived from a simulation performed over a larger area (240 × 232 km2). The CALGRID model application has provided realistic ground-...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT
Research Interests:
The comparison of ozone concentrations simulated by MINNI and measured by main monitoring networks (BRACE national database) shows that the modelling system reproduces the maximum hourly ozone concentrations and the daily ozone cycle... more
The comparison of ozone concentrations simulated by MINNI and measured by main monitoring networks (BRACE national database) shows that the modelling system reproduces the maximum hourly ozone concentrations and the daily ozone cycle relatively well for both months, particularly at rural stations. The difference in the model performances at rural stations with respect to urban stations is explained by the low spatial resolution used in the simulation, which artificially creates a dilution of the ozone precursors NOx and VOC in the grid cell determining, thus, low ozone production rates. On the other hand, the measurements made at urban stations show high variability indicating that they are strongly influenced by traffic emissions, which can not be adequately described spatially and temporally in the provincial emission inventory.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The carbonaceous aerosol accounts for an important part of total aerosol mass, affects human health and climate through its effects on physical and chemical properties of the aerosol, yet the understanding of its atmospheric sources and... more
The carbonaceous aerosol accounts for an important part of total aerosol mass, affects human health and climate through its effects on physical and chemical properties of the aerosol, yet the understanding of its atmospheric sources and sinks is still incomplete. This study shows the state-of-the-art in modelling carbonaceous aerosol over Europe by comparing simulations performed with seven chemical transport models (CTMs) currently in air quality assessments in Europe: CAMx, CHIMERE, CMAQ, EMEP/MSC-W, LOTOS-EUROS, MINNI and RCGC. The simulations were carried out in the framework of the EURODELTA III modelling exercise and were evaluated against field measurements from intensive campaigns of European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) and the European Integrated Project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions (EUCAARI). Model simulations were performed over the same domain, using as much as possible the same input data and covering four seasons: summer (1–30 Ju...
ABSTRACT This paper presents the parallelization of FARM, a 3D Eulerian chemical-transport model on structured and nested grids. The parallelization has been developed using the MPI library and OpenMP directives implementing a... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents the parallelization of FARM, a 3D Eulerian chemical-transport model on structured and nested grids. The parallelization has been developed using the MPI library and OpenMP directives implementing a Master-Worker strategy. Benchmarking in different architectures is also discussed.
Research Interests:
In many transport models trajectories computations are based on the three- dimensional wind field. In fact it is important to take into account both the vertical component of wind and the vertical wind shear to obtain a reliable spatial... more
In many transport models trajectories computations are based on the three- dimensional wind field. In fact it is important to take into account both the vertical component of wind and the vertical wind shear to obtain a reliable spatial location of the pollutant cloud; moreover it is particularly crucial to have an accurate estimate of the puff height at each time step.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This study shows part of the results obtained during the operational evaluation of MINNI atmospheric modeling system over Italy. MINNI is the Italian Integrated Assessment Modelling System for supporting the International... more
ABSTRACT This study shows part of the results obtained during the operational evaluation of MINNI atmospheric modeling system over Italy. MINNI is the Italian Integrated Assessment Modelling System for supporting the International Negotiation Process on Air Pollution and assessing Air Quality Policies at national/local level sponsored by the Italian Ministry of the Environment. The evaluation was carried out for both meteorology and air quality for the years 1999 and 2005. Changes of meteorological variables and of ozone concentrations in relation to the change of horizontal grid resolution were also investigated. The results show the capability of the modelling system to reconstruct the meteorological and ozone fields over Italy.
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT Fine particulate air pollution represents one of the most relevant environmental concerns in Lombardia region (Northern Italy). PM10 concentrations overcome air quality limit values especially during wintertime, when frequently... more
ABSTRACT Fine particulate air pollution represents one of the most relevant environmental concerns in Lombardia region (Northern Italy). PM10 concentrations overcome air quality limit values especially during wintertime, when frequently occurring thermal inversions and calm conditions tend to inhibit pollutants dispersion. To have a better understanding of the spatial distribution of PM10, a modelling system has been applied to a winter PM10 episode considering a computational domain centered on Milano metropolitan area. The modelling system software suite is based on an Eulerian photochemical model (FARM – Flexible Air quality Regional Model) and includes an emission pre-processor to apportion data from the regional emission inventory, a diagnostic meteorological model coupled with a micrometeorological module and data visualization and post-processing tools. FARM model has been applied with two aerosol modules: the aero3 modal aerosol module implemented in CMAQ framework and a bulk aerosol module (aero0), based on a simplified thermodynamic scheme. Both tested modules show a good agreement with observed concentrations. A performance analysis of modelling results by means of typical statistical measures has evidenced an acceptable model performance for both models and a better reproduction of PM10 levels using the more complete aerosol module (aero3). Furthermore, the application of the latter aerosol module provides a PM10 chemical composition that results in good agreement with data collected within Milano urban area.
Research Interests: Environmental Science, Thermodynamics, Air Quality, Multidisciplinary, Data Visualization, and 14 morePerformance Analysis, Environmental Concern, Aerosol, Performance Model, Data Collection, Spatial Distribution, Urban Air Pollution, Air Quality Modelling, Emission Inventory, Chemical Composition, Particulate Air Pollution, Model coupling, Urban Area, and Model performance
... ground level concentrations have been compared with measured values at different sites (urban,sub-urban and remote). The analysis of results reveals that the system capability in reproducing concentrations behavior is higher in “urban... more
... ground level concentrations have been compared with measured values at different sites (urban,sub-urban and remote). The analysis of results reveals that the system capability in reproducing concentrations behavior is higher in “urban background” or suburban stations, and ...
Research Interests: Environmental Science, Computer Science, Air Quality, Air pollution, Multidisciplinary, and 10 moreSoftware modelling and simulation, System Reliability, Urban Air Pollution, Spatial resolution, Emission Inventory, Integrated Modelling, Urban Area, urban boundary layer, modelling software, and traffic emission
... using the SNAP (Selected Nomenclature for Sources of Air Pollution) classification scheme ... largest part of computer power are: meteorological downscaling (Section 3.2) and air quality modelling (Section ... RAMS is a parallel code... more
... using the SNAP (Selected Nomenclature for Sources of Air Pollution) classification scheme ... largest part of computer power are: meteorological downscaling (Section 3.2) and air quality modelling (Section ... RAMS is a parallel code realised using MPI techniques and it takes about ...
Research Interests:
ABSTRACT This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of AMS-MINNI modelling system for the year 2005, over Italian peninsula and major islands Sicily and Sardinia, for gas-phase species ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and... more
ABSTRACT This paper presents a comprehensive evaluation of AMS-MINNI modelling system for the year 2005, over Italian peninsula and major islands Sicily and Sardinia, for gas-phase species ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 μm (PM10), against surface measurements from the Italian air quality database. Statistical indicators currently used in air quality models performance assessment and recommended by European Union (EU) guidelines were calculated at rural, urban and suburban background air quality monitoring stations, on purpose of understanding the model behaviour in areas not directly affected by anthropogenic pollution sources. Results show that measured O3 concentrations are generally well reproduced by the model, with the best agreement between model and observations at rural stations. Simulated PM10 annual average concentrations are generally lower than those observed but simulated and observed variabilities are comparable at urban and suburban stations. As for NO2, the model underestimates concentrations at all stations but gives similar variability to the observed one. Overall, the values of the statistical indicators comply with the acceptance criteria requested by EU legislation and are similar with those published by previous studies for the three pollutants investigated in this study. Further work will be carried out to evaluate the impact of uncertainties in input data (meteorology, emissions and boundary conditions) and in description of gaseous and aerosol chemical and physical processes on the simulated concentrations.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper reports the results of an integrated assessment of traffic impact on a tourist-popular high altitude region which includes mountain passes and road tunnels. A modeling system for air quality assessment and management has been... more
This paper reports the results of an integrated assessment of traffic impact on a tourist-popular high altitude region which includes mountain passes and road tunnels. A modeling system for air quality assessment and management has been established and revised. The system has been used to evaluate the impact of traffic due to the re-opening of the Mont Blanc tunnel: the increase in NO(x) concentrations ranges from 50% at the bottom of the upper valley to 150% near to tunnel entrance.
Research Interests:
ObjectivesTo investigate the association between long-term exposure to airborne pollutants and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 up to March 2021 in a prospective study of residents in Varese city.MethodsCitizens of Varese aged ≥18 years as of... more
ObjectivesTo investigate the association between long-term exposure to airborne pollutants and the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 up to March 2021 in a prospective study of residents in Varese city.MethodsCitizens of Varese aged ≥18 years as of 31 December 2019 were linked by residential address to 2018 average annual exposure to outdoor concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, NO and ozone modelled using the Flexible Air quality Regional Model (FARM) chemical transport model. Citizens were further linked to regional datasets for COVID-19 case ascertainment (positive nasopharyngeal swab specimens) and to define age, sex, living in a residential care home, population density and comorbidities. We estimated rate ratios and additional numbers of cases per 1 µg/m3 increase in air pollutants from single- and bi-pollutant Poisson regression models.ResultsThe 62 848 residents generated 4408 cases. Yearly average PM2.5 exposure was 12.5 µg/m3. Age, living in a residential care home, history of stroke a...
Research Interests:
INTRODUCTION The Aosta Valley, an alpine Italian region located close to the northern border between Italy, France and Switzerland, is characterized by an extreme terrain complexity, including the Italian side of the Mont Blanc, as... more
INTRODUCTION The Aosta Valley, an alpine Italian region located close to the northern border between Italy, France and Switzerland, is characterized by an extreme terrain complexity, including the Italian side of the Mont Blanc, as depicted in Figure 1. In such a difficult topographical situation, the application of steady state regulatory dispersion models becomes very critical and a more advanced methodologies are required: models implementing simple algorithms for complex terrain appear to be unable to reproduce relevant features of pollutant dispersion in that conditions (Brusasca et al., 2001).
Research Interests:
The aim of this work is to analyze the origin and the dispersion of the particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in a mountainous region: the Aosta Valley. To meet this goal, different simulations were performed, using the flexible air quality... more
The aim of this work is to analyze the origin and the dispersion of the particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) in a mountainous region: the Aosta Valley. To meet this goal, different simulations were performed, using the flexible air quality regional model (FARM), to study two scenarios: winter and summer situations. To evaluate the performance of the FARM model in order to simulate the air quality situation of the selected periods, a comparison of modelled results against observed air quality data was carried out for both primary pollutants and particulate matter next to the measurement stations . Farm performed well in simulating especially ozone (O3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations, showing a good reproduction of both daily peaks and their daytime variations. PM model results revealed the tendency to under-predict the observed values, so we tried to use a different emission factor for the road traffic (Lohmeyer factor). The new results were good for the urban and suburban ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Tropospheric ozone in urban areas is the result of complex photochemical interactions between radicals, NOx (anthropogenic emissions), VOCs (anthropogenic + biogenic emission), UV-irradiance. Moreover, actual levels of ozone, particles... more
Tropospheric ozone in urban areas is the result of complex photochemical interactions between radicals, NOx (anthropogenic emissions), VOCs (anthropogenic + biogenic emission), UV-irradiance. Moreover, actual levels of ozone, particles and other pollutants are mediated by atmospheric transport and re-circulation, leading to concentration spatial patterns that may be de-coupled from anthropogenic emission areas, leading to high concentrations in peri-urban or sea areas that may be further advected into cities. This poses a challenge of elucidating these mechanisms and assessing to which extent emission reduction policies can aim at reaching pollution reduction targets. The transport and diffusion of atmospheric pollutants depend on meteorological conditions which makes the study of meteorological conditions of prime importance to study air quality. In this study we deploy a modeling framework (WRF + FARM) and validate it on specific intensive aircraft measurements of meteorological p...
The EURODELTA III (ED-III) exercise aimed to perform a comprehensive chemistry transport model inter-comparison study exploiting the data from four intensive measurement campaigns carried out by EMEP. The campaigns were held in different... more
The EURODELTA III (ED-III) exercise aimed to perform a comprehensive chemistry transport model inter-comparison study exploiting the data from four intensive measurement campaigns carried out by EMEP. The campaigns were held in different seasons (1–30 June 2006; 8 January–4 February 2007; 17 September–15 October 2008; 25 February–26 March 2009) thus allowing to test the influence of different meteorological conditions on models’ results. Seven models simulated the air quality over the whole Europe: CHIM (CHIMERE; version chim2013), EMEP (rv 4.1.3), LOTO (LOTOSEUROS, V1.8), CAMX (CAMx, v5.41 VBS), MINNI (version 4.7), CMAQ (V5.0.1) and RCG (v.2.1). Except CMAQ, all the models performed simulations over the same domain with the same horizontal spatial resolution. They also used the same input data (emissions, meteorology and boundary conditions) as much as possible. This work presents and discusses the behaviour of the models with regard to the criteria defined in the EU Directive on ...
INTRODUCTION The Italian law 1999/351, implementing the EU Directive 96/62/CE, assigns to the Regions the task of Air Quality Assessment, aimed to the subdivision of the Regional land in different areas, according to their air pollution... more
INTRODUCTION The Italian law 1999/351, implementing the EU Directive 96/62/CE, assigns to the Regions the task of Air Quality Assessment, aimed to the subdivision of the Regional land in different areas, according to their air pollution conditions. The law suggests the integrated application of different tools: monitoring, emission inventory and dispersion modelling. To fulfil this request, an integrated air quality assessment has been executed for the Valle d’Aosta Region.
Research Interests:
Slovenia is a country of very complex terrain and many problems with air pollution in the valleys, canyon and basins, where industrial air pollution is combined with traffic and domestic heating air pollution, giving rise to problems for... more
Slovenia is a country of very complex terrain and many problems with air pollution in the valleys, canyon and basins, where industrial air pollution is combined with traffic and domestic heating air pollution, giving rise to problems for the health impact and the ecosystems directly or indirectly. Among indirect effects is also effect on solar radiation budget because of photochemical smog and especially particles air pollution. To assess air pollutants over the country, a preliminary application of an experimental forecast system is presented here, with the aim of exploring its potentials and limitations in modelling the background air quality, and to focus the aspects where improvements are needed for a true operational use.
Research Interests:
Aims We aimed at investigating the relationship between particulate matter (PM) and daily admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) at national level in Italy. Methods and results Daily numbers of cardiovascular hospitalizations were... more
Aims We aimed at investigating the relationship between particulate matter (PM) and daily admissions for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) at national level in Italy. Methods and results Daily numbers of cardiovascular hospitalizations were collected for all 8084 municipalities of Italy, in the period 2013–2015. A satellite-based spatiotemporal model was used to estimate daily PM10 (inhalable particles) and PM2.5 (fine particles) concentrations at 1-km2 resolution. Multivariate Poisson regression models were fit to estimate the association between daily PM and cardiovascular admissions. Flexible functions were estimated to explore the shape of the associations at low PM concentrations, also in non-urban areas. We analysed 2 154 810 acute hospitalizations for CVDs (25% stroke, 24% ischaemic heart diseases, 22% heart failure, and 5% atrial fibrillation). Relative increases of total cardiovascular admissions, per 10 µg/m3 variation in PM10 and PM2.5 at lag 0–5 (average of last 6 days sinc...