Search

Air pollution is an important cause of adverse health effects, even in the Nordic countries, which have relatively good air quality. Modelling-based air quality assessment of the health impacts relies on reliable model estimates of ambient air pollution concentrations, which furthermore rely on good-quality spatially resolved emission data. While quantitative emission estimates are the cornerstone of good emission data, description of the spatial distribution of the emissions is especially important for local air quality modelling at high resolution. In this paper we present a new air pollution emission inventory for the Nordic countries with high-resolution spatial allocation (1 km × 1 km) covering the years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2012, and 2014. The inventory is available at 10.5281/zenodo.10571094 (Paunu et al., 2023). To study the impact of applying national data and methods to the spatial distribution of the emissions, we compared road transport and machinery and off-road sectors to CAMS-REGv4.2, which used a consistent spatial distribution method throughout Europe for each sector. Road transport is a sector with well-established proxies for spatial distribution, while for the machinery and off-road sector, the choice of proxies is not as straightforward as it includes a variety of different type of vehicles and machines operating in various environments. We found that CAMS-REGv4.2 was able to produce similar spatial patterns to our Nordic inventory for the selected sectors. However, the resolution of our Nordic inventory allows for more detailed impact assessment than CAMS-REGv4.2, which had a resolution of 0.1° × 0.05° (longitude–latitude, roughly 5.5 km × 3.5–6.5 km in the Nordic countries). The EMEP/EEA Guidebook chapter on spatial mapping of emissions has recommendations for the sectoral proxies. Based on our analysis we argue that the guidebook should have separate recommendations for proxies for several sub-categories of the machinery and off-road sectors, instead of including them within broader sectors. We suggest that land use data are the best starting point for proxies for many of the subsectors, and they can be combined with other suitable data to enhance the spatial distribution. For road transport, measured traffic flow data should be utilized where possible, to support modelled data in the proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is an important cause of adverse health effects even in the Nordic countries, which have relatively good air quality. Modelling-based air quality assessment of the health impacts relies on reliable model estimates of ambient air pollution concentrations, which furthermore rely on good quality spatially resolved emission data. While quantitative emission estimates are the cornerstone of good emission data, description of the spatial distribution of the emissions is especially important for local air quality modelling on high resolution. In this paper we present a new air pollution emission inventory for the Nordic countries with high-resolution spatial allocation (1 km × 1 km) covering years 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, 2012, and 2014. The inventory is available at https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.8070155 (Paunu et al., 2023)). To study the impact of applying national data and methods to the spatial distribution of the emissions, we compared road transport and machinery and off-road sectors to CAMS-REGv4.2, which used consistent spatial distribution method throughout Europe for each sector. Road transport is a sector with well-established proxies for spatial distribution, while for machinery and off-road the choice of proxies is not as straightforward as it includes a variety of different type of vehicles and machines operating in various environments. We found that the CAMS-REGv4.2 was able to produce similar spatial patterns as our Nordic inventory for the selected sectors. However, the resolution of our Nordic inventory allows for more detailed impact assessment than the CAMS-REGv4.2, which had resolution of 0.1° × 0.05° (longitude-latitude, roughly 5.5 km × 3.5-6.5 km in the Nordic countries). The EMEP/EEA Guidebook chapter on spatial mapping of emissions has recommendations for the sectoral proxies. Based on our analysis we argue that the guidebook should have separate recommendations for proxies for several sub-categories of the machinery and off-road sectors, instead of including them within broader sectors. We suggest that land use data is the best starting point for proxies for many of the subsectors, and they can be combined with other suitable data to enhance the spatial distribution. For road transport, measured traffic flow data should be utilized where possible, to. support modelled data in the proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed an integrated assessment tool that can be used for evaluating the public health costs caused by the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in ambient air. The model can be used to assess the impacts of various alternative air quality abatement measures, policies and strategies. The model has been applied to evaluate the costs of the domestic emissions that influence the concentrations of PM2.5 in Finland in 2015. The model includes the impacts on human health; however, it does not address the impacts on climate change or the state of the environment. First, the national Finnish emissions were evaluated using the Finnish Regional Emission Scenarios (FRESs) model on a resolution of 250×250m2 for the whole of Finland. Second, the atmospheric dispersion was analysed by using the chemical transport model, namely the System for Integrated modeLling of Atmospheric coMposition (SILAM) model, and the source receptor matrices contained in the FRES model. Third, the health impacts were assessed by combining the spatially resolved concentration and population data sets and by analysing the impacts for various health outcomes. Fourth, the economic impacts of the health outcomes were evaluated. The model can be used to evaluate the costs of the health damages for various emission source categories and for a unit of emissions of PM2.5. It was found that the economic benefits, in terms of avoided public health costs, were largest for measures that will reduce the emissions of (i) road transport, (ii) non-road vehicles and machinery, and (iii) residential wood combustion. The reduction in the precursor emissions of PM2.5 resulted in clearly lower benefits when compared with directly reducing the emissions of PM2.5. We have also designed a user-friendly, web-based assessment tool that is open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the ECHAM-HAMMOZ aerosol-climate model to assess the effects of black carbon (BC) mitigation measures on Arctic climate. To this end we constructed several mitigation scenarios that implement all currently existing legislation and then implement further reductions of BC in a successively increasing global area, starting from the eight member states of the Arctic Council, expanding to its active observer states, then to all observer states, and finally to the entire globe. These scenarios also account for the reduction of the co-emitted organic carbon (OC) and sulfate (SU). We find that, even though the additional BC emission reductions in the member states of the Arctic Council are small, the resulting reductions in Arctic BC mass burdens can be substantial, especially in the lower troposphere close to the surface. This in turn means that reducing BC emissions only in the Arctic Council member states can reduce BC deposition in the Arctic by about 30% compared to the current legislation, which is about 60% of what could be achieved if emissions were reduced globally. Emission reductions further south affect Arctic BC concentrations at higher altitudes and thus only have small additional effects on BC deposition in the Arctic. The direct radiative forcing scales fairly well with the total amount of BC emission reduction, independent of the location of the emission source, with a maximum direct radiative forcing in the Arctic of about - 0.4 W m-2 for a global BC emission reduction. On the other hand, the Arctic effective radiative forcing due to the BC emission reductions, which accounts for aerosol-cloud interactions, is small compared to the direct aerosol radiative forcing. This happens be cause BC- and OC-containing particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei, which affects cloud reflectivity and lifetime and counteracts the direct radiative forcing of BC. Additionally, the effective radiative forcing is accompanied by very large uncertainties that originate from the strong natural variability of meteorology, cloud cover, and surface albedo in the Arctic. We further used the TM5-FASST model to assess the benefits of the aerosol emission reductions for human health. We found that a full implementation in all Arctic Council member and observer states could reduce the annual global number of premature deaths by 329 000 by the year 2030, which amounts to 9% of the total global premature deaths due to particulate matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential wood combustion (RWC) is an important contributor to air quality in numerous regions worldwide. This study is the first extensive evaluation of the influence of RWC on ambient air quality in several Nordic cities. We have analysed the emissions and concentrations of PM 2.5 in cities within four Nordic countries: in the metropolitan areas of Copenhagen, Oslo, and Helsinki and in the city of Umeå. We have evaluated the emissions for the relevant urban source categories and modelled atmospheric dispersion on regional and urban scales. The emission inventories for RWC were based on local surveys, the amount of wood combusted, combustion technologies and other relevant factors. The accuracy of the predicted concentrations was evaluated based on urban concentration measurements. The predicted annual average concentrations ranged spatially from 4 to 7 µgm-3 (2011), from 6 to 10 µgm-3 (2013), from 4 to more than 13 µgm-3 (2013) and from 9 to more than 13 µgm-3 (2014), in Umeå, Helsinki, Oslo and Copenhagen, respectively. The higher concentrations in Copenhagen were mainly caused by the relatively high regionally and continentally transported background contributions. The annual average fractions of PM 2.5 concentrations attributed to RWC within the considered urban regions ranged spatially from 0 % to 15 %, from 0 % to 20 %, from 8 % to 22 % and from 0 % to 60 % in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Umeå and Oslo, respectively. In particular, the contributions of RWC in central Oslo were larger than 40 % as annual averages. In Oslo, wood combustion was used mainly for the heating of larger blocks of flats. In contrast, in Helsinki, RWC was solely used in smaller detached houses. In Copenhagen and Helsinki, the highest fractions occurred outside the city centre in the suburban areas. In Umeå, the highest fractions occurred both in the city centre and its surroundings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use the aerosol-climate model ECHAM-HAMMOZ to assess the effects of black carbon (BC) mitigation measures on Arctic climate. To this end we constructed several mitigation scenarios that implement all currently existing legislation and then implement further reductions of BC in a successively increasing global area, starting from the eight member states of the Arctic Council, expanding to its active observer states, then to all observer states, and finally to the entire globe. These scenarios also account for the reduction of the co-emitted organic carbon (OC) and sulphate (SU). We find that, even though the additional BC emission reductions in the member states of the Arctic Council are small, the resulting reductions in Arctic BC mass burdens can be substantial, especially in the lower atmosphere close to the surface. This in turn means that reducing BC emissions only in the Arctic Council member states can reduce BC deposition in the Arctic by about 30% compared to the current legislation, which is about 60% of what could be achieved if emissions were reduced globally. Emission reductions further south affect Arctic BC concentrations at higher altitudes and thus only have small additional effects on BC deposition in the Arctic. The direct radiative forcing scales fairly well with the total amount of BC emission reduction, independent of the location of the emission source, with a maximum direct radiative forcing in the Arctic of about 0.4 W/m² for a global BC emission reduction. On the other hand, the Arctic effective radiative forcing due to the BC emission reductions, which accounts for aerosol-cloud interactions, is small compared to the direct aerosol radiative forcing. This happens because BC and OC containing particles can act as cloud condensation nuclei, which affects cloud reflectivity and lifetime, and counter-acts the direct radiative forcing of BC. Additionally the effective radiative forcing is accompanied by very large uncertainties that origin from the strong natural variability of meteorology, cloud cover, and surface albedo in the Arctic. We further used the model TM5-FASST to assess the benefits of the aerosol emission reductions on human health. We found that a full implementation in all Arctic Council member and observer states could reduce the annual global amount of premature deaths by 339 000 by 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have developed an integrated tool of assessment that can be used for evaluating the public health costs caused by the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in ambient air. The model can be used in assessing the impacts of various alternative air quality abatement measures, policies and strategies. The model has been applied for the evaluation of the costs of the domestic emissions that influence the concentrations of PM2.5 in Finland in 2015. The model includes the impacts on human health; however, it does not address the impacts on climate change or the state of the environment. First, the national Finnish emissions were evaluated using the Finnish Regional Emission Scenarios model (FRES) on a resolution of 250 × 250 m² for the whole of Finland. Second, the atmospheric dispersion was analyzed by using the chemical transport model SILAM and the source-receptor matrices contained in the FRES model. Third, the health impacts were assessed by combining the spatially resolved concentration and population datasets, and by analyzing the impacts for various health outcomes. Fourth, the economic impacts for the health outcomes were evaluated. The model can be used to evaluate the costs of the health damages for various emission source categories, for a unit of emissions of PM2.5. It was found that economically the most effective measures would be the reduction of the emissions in urban areas of (i) road transport, (ii) non-road vehicles and machinery, and (iii) residential wood combustion. The reduction of the precursor emissions of PM2.5 was clearly less effective, compared with reducing directly the emissions of PM2.5. We have also designed a user-friendly web-based tool of assessment that is available open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential wood combustion (RWC) is an important contributor to air quality in numerous regions worldwide. This study is the first extensive evaluation of the influence of RWC on ambient air quality in several Nordic cities. We have analyzed the emissions and concentrations of PM2.5 in cities within four Nordic countries: the metropolitan areas of Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki, and Umeå. We have evaluated the emissions for the relevant urban source categories and modelled atmospheric dispersion on regional and urban scales. The emission inventories for RWC were based on local surveys, the amount of wood combusted, combustion technologies and other relevant factors. The accuracy of the predicted concentrations was evaluated based on urban concentration measurements. The predicted annual average concentrations ranged spatially from 4 to 7 μg/m³ (2011), from 6 to 10 μg/m³ (2013), from 4 to more than 13 μg/m³ (2013) and from 9 to more than 13 μg/m³ (2014), in Umeå, Helsinki, Oslo and Copenhagen, respectively. The higher concentrations in Copenhagen were mainly caused by the higher long-range transported background. The annual average fractions of PM2.5 concentrations attributed to RWC within the considered urban regions ranged spatially from 0 to 15 %, from 0 to 20 %, from 8 to 30 % and from 0 to 60 % in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Umeå and Oslo, respectively. In particular, the contributions of RWC in central Oslo were larger than 40 % as annual averages. In Oslo, wood combustion was used mainly for the heating of larger blocks of flats. On the contrary, in Helsinki, RWC was solely used in smaller detached houses. In Copenhagen and Helsinki, the highest fractions occurred outside the city center in the suburban areas. In Umeå, the highest fractions occurred both in the city centre and its surroundings. Stricter and more efficient emission regulations should be set in the Nordic countries with respect to RWC, especially in urban areas, for the protection of human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a case study where emission metric values from different studies are applied to estimate global and Arctic temperature impacts of emissions from a northern European country. This study assesses the climate impact of Finnish air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from 2000 to 2010, as well as future emissions until 2030. We consider both emission pulses and emission scenarios. The pollutants included are SO2 , NOx , NH3 , non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC), black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), CO, CO2 , CH4 and N2O , and our study is the first one for Finland to include all of them in one coherent dataset. These pollutants have different atmospheric lifetimes and influence the climate differently; hence, we look at different climate metrics and time horizons. The study uses the global warming potential (GWP and GWP *), the global temperature change potential (GTP) and the regional temperature change potential (RTP) with different timescales for estimating the climate impacts by species and sectors globally and in the Arctic. We compare the climate impacts of emissions occurring in winter and summer. This assessment is an example of how the climate impact of emissions from small countries and sources can be estimated, as it is challenging to use climate models to study the climate effect of national policies in a multi-pollutant situation. Our methods are applicable to other countries and regions and present a practical tool to analyze the climate impacts in multiple dimensions, such as assessing different sectors and mitigation measures. While our study focuses on short-lived climate forcers, we found that the CO2 emissions have the most significant climate impact, and the significance increases over longer time horizons. In the short term, emissions of especially CH4 and BC played an important role as well. The warming impact of BC emissions is enhanced during winter. Many metric choices are available, but our findings hold for most choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a case study where emission metric values from different studies are applied to estimate global and Arctic temperature impacts of emissions from a Northern European country. This study assesses the climate impact of Finnish air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions in 2000-2010 as well as future emissions until 2030. The pollutants included are SO2, NOX, NH3, NMVOC, BC, OC and CO as well as CO2, CH4 and N2O, and our study is the first one for Finland to include all of them in one coherent dataset. These pollutants have different atmospheric lifetimes and influence the climate differently; hence, we look at different climate metrics and time horizons. The study uses the Global Warming Potential (GWP), the Global Temperature change Potential (GTP) and the Regional Temperature change Potential (RTP) with different time scales for estimating the climate impacts by species and sectors globally and in the Arctic. We compare the climate impacts of emissions occurring in winter and summer. This assessment is an example of how the climate impact of emissions from small countries and sources can be estimated, as it is challenging to use climate models to study the climate effect of national policies in a multi-pollutant situation. Our methods are applicable to other countries and regions and present a practical tool to analyse the climate impacts in multiple dimensions, such as assessing different sectors and mitigation measures. While our study focuses on short-lived climate forcers, we find that the CO2 emissions have the most significant climate impact, and the significance increases with longer time horizons. In the short term, emissions of especially CH4 and BC played an important role as well. The warming impact of BC emissions is enhanced during winter. There can be relatively large differences between results from studies using different metrics, which can partly be explained by different study setup and inherent uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]