TECNAIRE NEWS, OCTOBER 2016

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1 ISSUE 2, OCTOBER 2016 TECNAIRE NEWS, OCTOBER UNIÓN EUROPEA Fondos Estructurales Programas de Actividades de I + D entre grupos de investigación de la Comunidad de Madrid en Tecnologías 2013 TECNAIRE-CM Project overview S2013/MAE-2972 IN THIS ISSUE: TECNAIRE-CM Project overview Experimental campaigns Sensors selection and configuration From meso- to micro-scale air quality simulation Understanding urban background pollution Assessing exposure to air pollution Pollution modelling and validation 3 rd CCT project meeting Diffusion activities What is the project about? Improve air quality in cities is critical to minimize the adverse effects of air pollution. This research project aims to solve air quality issues in cities focusing on Madrid (Fig. 1) developing new techniques able to diagnose the problems of air quality in a comprehensive manner for urban environments and evaluating strategies for its resolution. Consortium Fig. 1. Madrid city skyline This collaborative Programme is integrated by research centres, administrations, companies and associate researchers that together constitute the TECNAIRE working group (Fig. 2): Fig. 2. TECNAIRE Consortium

2 2 Experimental campaigns Finished the measurements in a complex urban hot spot Urban hotspot (Madrid, Spain) TECNAIRE-CM experimental campaign In 2015 two intensive campaigns (winter and summer) were carried out in Fernández Ladreda roundabout, an air pollution hotspot in Madrid with complex geometry. In this location several techniques were combined to assess NO 2, PM and meteorology at microscale including turbulence. Also, pedestrian counts were made and fluxes simulated for exposure assessment. Fig. 3. Graphical abstract from the paper Borge et al. (2016) Strong spatio-temporal concentration gradients were found in the roundabout. Variations up to 2 μg/(m 3 m) of NO 2 and 55 μg/(m 3 min) of PM 10 were observed, providing evidence that local measures are important to improve air quality and reduce pedestrian exposure. A full description of the methodology and results can be found in Borge et al., 2016: Assessment of microscale spatiotemporal variation of air pollution at an urban hotspot in Madrid (Spain) through an extensive field campaign; Atmospheric Environment. Volume 140, September 2016, Pages , ISSN New location selected For the second year of the project the TECNAIRE group has selected a new hot-spot location as a follow-up of these experimental campaigns. In this case, the selected area corresponds to the location of the air quality monitoring station Escuelas Aguirre(Fig.4). This area includes a major intersection with several lanes, two tunnels (Alcala Street and one in O'Donnell street) and other crossings under a grid plan street configuration. The area of study includes the roundabout Plaza de la Independencia located west from the site. Retiro park AQ station It is also an interesting spot to study pedestrian fluxes because of the proximity of the Retiro Park where people concentrate. Fig. 4. Location of Escuelas Aguirre air quality monitoring station, close to Retiro Park in Madrid city

3 3 Sensors selection and configuration Laboratory test and measurements on air quality monitoring station Low-cost sensors are an interesting alternative to add to the conventional and expensive Air Quality Monitoring Stations network (Fig. 5). Sensors would allow measuring and mapping concentrations of pollutants such as NO X, O 3 or CO in several points through a dense network. Basically two type of sensors are being developed, electrochemical and metal oxides based sensors. Nevertheless, the main problem is their calibration that remains a challenge. This is due to their dependence on multiple variables such as atmospheric conditions (T, RH) or cross-sensitivity with other chemical species (VOCs or O 3 ) which affect the signal of the sensors. Moreover, the ageing of the sensors produces a drift in their baselines so that the correction and recalibration of every unit is necessary. Also, the physical characteristics of each sensor makes it different from each other, even those of the same model. The solution is the calibration of each sensor separately. Nowadays the research lines are focused on studying their intercomparability attending to their qualitative signals under the same conditions. In addition, they are being studied in laboratory exposure chambers under controlled conditions. The objective is to obtain fitting equations that take into account the main variables that affect the measures so that they may be used for outdoor measures as a complement to conventional air quality monitoring stations. Sensors workshop Fig. 5. Preliminary test with low-cost sensors Fig. 6. Event speakers and organizers. From left to right: Tomás Rivas (SequoPro), Adolfo Narros (TarIndustrial), Leonardo Santiago (Ateknea Solutions), Rafael Borge (TECNAIRE coordinator), Begoña Artíñano (GCCA CIEMAT), Ángeles Cristobal (Madrid city Council), Maria Cruz Minguillón (IDAEA CSIC), Arturo Ariño (University of Navarra) and Lorenzo Díaz de Apodaca (Airestudio) To discuss the state of development of these instruments and their capabilities, the 1 st workshop on sensors for urban air quality monitoring, organized by TECNAIRE, took place the 25 th of February 2016 at CIEMAT. Several sensor s manufacturers, distributors, end-users (ATEKNEA SOLUTIONS, SEQUOPRO, ENVIRODATA, AUTOMATED DEVICES, AIRESTUDIO), research centers (IDAEA-CSIC, CREAL), Universities (Universidad de Navarra) and administrations (Madrid City Council) participated in the Workshop (Fig. 6). The result of this activity was an interesting and fruitful exchange of experiences and prospects for this measurement technology.

4 4 From meso- to micro-scale air quality simulation Mesoscale simulation Eulerian 3D mesoscale models can consistently describe a wide range of spatial scales, from continental to urban scale. Meteorological models such as the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) incorporate urban parameterizations to take into account changes in albedo, roughness length and thermal properties imposed by buildings. In this contribution, two different urban canopy models implemented within WRF are tested in Madrid and the impact on high-resolution annual air quality simulations through the Community Air Quality Model (CMAQ) is assessed. Fig. 7. Impact of urban parameterization on WRF Temperature and CMAQ NO 2 predictions Promising emission estimations at microscale level in a complex urban hot spot Fig. 8. Graphical abstract from the paper Quaassdorff et al. (2016) The system has been optimized and implemented for the Madrid urban area (Fig. 7) by means of improving the urban settings to generate better boundary conditions for the integration into the microscale model. The study indicates that wind speed is the most relevant meteorological variable air quality-wise. Although temperature predictions were poorer and the differences on wind direction and PBLH were not remarkable, a more realistic description of wind speed succeeded in providing considerably better air quality predictions. In this sense it is clear that momentum balances are satisfactory resolved by the Building Energy Parameterization (BEP) although thermal balances may be reviewed within this scheme in the future. These results are taken from de la Paz et al., 2016: Assessment of a high resolution annual WRF-BEP/CMAQ simulation for the urban area of Madrid (Spain); Atmospheric Environment. Volume 144, November 2016, Pages , ISSN Microscale traffic and related NO X and PM 10 emissions were simulated in Fernández Ladreda square. There 12 representative traffic situations throughout the week were analysed. It is observed that peak-hour emission factors are up to 43% higher than those for free-flow conditions but a non-proportional dependency of total emissions with intensity in saturated conditions is remarkable. These emission results from ENVIVER (VERSIT+ emission model) fit well with the widely validated model COPERT 4 average speed emission model. Further details regarding the methodology used to calculate traffic related emissions for different traffic scenarios as well as preliminary model assessment can be found in Quaassdorff et al., 2016: Microscale traffic simulation and emission estimation in a heavily trafficked roundabout in Madrid (Spain); Science of The Total Environment. Volumes , 1 October 2016, Pages , ISSN (Fig. 8).

5 5 From meso- to micro-scale air quality simulation Development and integration into a CFD simulation model Microscale transport processes were simulated with a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model which provides results of wind and concentration with very high spatial resolution (meters), in domains of the order of 1 km 2. A RANS (Reynolds-Averaged Navier- Stokes) approach model was implemented in Fernández Ladreda (Fig. 9) and Escuelas Aguirre (Fig. 10) areas, taking into account a very detailed geometry. Some improvements were progressively implemented such as linking with microscale traffic emissions, inputs from WRF mesoscale model and a steady-state chemistry scheme. Fig. 10. CFD-modelled and passive sampling-derived NO 2 concentration in μg m -3 in the Escuelas Aguirre area Understanding urban background pollution Fig. 9. Traffic emissions and concentration levels in F. Ladreda square Sanchez et al., 2016 (submitted to EM&S). Modelling NO X concentrations through CFD-RANS for an urban hot-spot using high resolution traffic emissions and meteorology from a mesoscale model (Fig. 9). Numerous simulations for NOx and NO 2 in a real urban canopy have been run for several scenarios with different wind directions and traffic emissions, including the assessment of basic photochemical reactions within the CFD model as well as its sensibility to emissions. A full dynamic linkage between WRF/CMAQ and the microscale model will be addressed during the next year of the project. Characterization of urban background pollution An analysis of the pollution time series during the campaign periods was performed to characterize the background pollution in the city and accurately assess the influence of processes taking place at different scales. This analysis aims at knowing the temporal variations of different pollutants in a wider perspective. It allows understanding the phenomena of urban pollution at the city scale and identifying changes that may be related to variations in meteorology or in the main sources. For this purpose, and from the point of view of particle matter, a series of physico-chemical properties of aerosols was analyzed (Fig. 11). The MAX-DOAS and the LP DOAS are being used for the analysis of trace gases in the urban atmosphere of Madrid that can reveal interesting features of the boundary layer structure (Fig. 12). Fig. 11. Background PM composition measured at CIEMAT Fig. 12. Evolution of NO 2 vertical profiles measured at CSIC

6 6 Assessing exposure to air pollution Multi-scale assessment of population exposure to air quality in Madrid Adverse healh effects are the main reason to improve air qualiity in urban areas. Therefore, effectively reducing population exposure is the ultimate target of policies and measures. New methodologies to assess exposure to air pollution combining air quality models and alternative methods to characterize population fluxes such as microscale traffic-pedestrian simulations or call detail records from mobile phones are being explored within TECNAIRE. Preliminary results are encouragin. Options to harmonize and improve their applicability would be adressed during the next year as well as option for validation. Borge et al., Multi-scale assessment of urban population exposure to airpollution in Madrid. Excellent poster award in Clean Air for Cities: Perspectives and Solutions, where Clean Air Asia s Better Air Quality (BAQ) Conference and IUAPPA s World (South Korea, August 29-September 2, 2016)

7 7 Pollution modelling and validation Validation of the multiscale system The validation is done in several ways. On the one hand the capacity of the models to reproduce atmospheric variables such as wind speed (Fig. 13), direction and turbulence has been studied at the different scales. On the other hand, the simulation results have been compared with time-resolved measurements, focussing on hot-spots. A methodology called WA-CFD-RANS, was developed for obtaining NOx and NO 2 maps, which were evaluated against measurements obtained with the deployment of a large set of passive samplers under winter conditions (Fig. 14). This is the first time that this methodology is evaluated over such a large and dense set of measurements, demonstrating that the CFD model reproduces the pollutant concentration gradients with a very high spatial resolution. It is foreseen to compare model results also with data from mobile measurement techniques (e.g. Fig. 15) within TECNAIRE. This mobile measurement techniques are of special interest because this data could be used to validate pedestrian exposure estimates. Fig. 13. Wind speed measured (blue) and CFD modelled (red) Fig. 14. NO X concentration simulation and passive samplers More details in Santiago et al., 2016: Evaluation of a CFD-based approach to estimate pollutant distribution within a real urban canopy by means of passive samplers; Science of The Total Environment. Volume 576, January 2017, Pages (Fig. 14). Fig. 15. AirBeam and DustTrak instruments for mobile PM measurements 3 rd CCT project meeting The 3 rd plenary scientific meeting of TECNAIRE-CM has been held on October 25 th at CSIC headquarters. The activities carried out were presented and assessed and the techno-scientific program for the next year was discussed.

8 8 Diffusion activities Meetings and conferences Urban Environment Symposium UES2015 (1-3 June 2015, Oslo, Norway) Artíñano et al Experimental characterization of the ambient particulate mass concentration field in complex urban areas. ICCS 2015 International Conference on City Sciences 2015: new architectures, infrastructures and services for future cities (Shanghai, June 4-5, 2015). Borge et al., Development of urban air quality plans and measures in Madrid (Spain) under a multi-scale air quality modeling approach. Iberian Meeting on Aerosol Science and Technology RICTA 2015, (29 June-1 July 2015, Elche, Alicante, Spain) Artíñano et al Microscale variations of ambient particle Concentration levels in an urban traffic hot spot.. European Aerosol Conference (Milan, September 6-11, 2015). Alonso et al., Aerosol Hygroscopic Properties during a Local Stagnation Episode in an Urban Background Site in Madrid, Spain. Air Quality manager Meeting (Madrid, 2015). Borge et al., Simulación del O 3 troposférico. Seminar at the National Epidemiology Center (Madrid, 2015). Borge et al., Estimación de la calidad del aire para la evaluación de efectos en la salud: modelización y otras alternativas. Conference Sensors for measuring urban air quality (Madrid, February 25, 2016). Borge, Técnicas innovadoras para la evaluación y mejora de la calidad del aire urbano. Innovative techniques for the evaluation and improvement of urban air quality (TECNAIRE-CM). XXXIV Scientific Conference of the Spanish Meteorological Association (Teruel, February 29 March 2, 2016). Yagüe et al., Campaña invernal del proyecto TECNAIRE: caracterización turbulenta y su influencia en las condiciones de calidad del aire. 10 th International Conference on Air Quality - Science and Application (Milan, March 14-18, 2016). Quaassdorff et al., High resolution emission estimation in a heavily trafficked urban area in Madrid (Spain). Sánchez et al., Modelling NO 2 concentration using CFD-RANS model with high resolution traffic emissions. Artíñano et al., Distribution of particulate mass concentrations in a complex traffic hot-spot. Santiago & Martín., Modelling of the impact of consumption of biomass for home heating on air quality in a district of Madrid city. European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly (Vienna, April 17-22, 2016). Yagüe et al., 2016 TECNAIRE winter field campaign: turbulent characteristics and their influence on air quality conditions. Industriales Research Meeting 2016 (Madrid, April 20, 2016). Borge et al., Innovative technologies for the assessment and improvement of urban air quality (TECNAIRE-CM). de la Paz et al., Impact of WRF urban parametrizations in the performance of CMAQ on 1 km 2 resolution annual runs in Madrid (Spain). Quaassdorff et al., High resolution emission estimation in hot-spots of Madrid (Spain). 17 th International Conference on Harmonisation within Atmospheric Dispersion Modelling for Regulatory Purposes (Budapest, May 9-12, 2016). Sanchez et al., Effects of traffic emission resolution on NO 2 concentration obtained by CFD-RANS modeling over a real urban area in Madrid (Spain). de la Paz et al., Impact of WRF urban parameterizations in the performance of CMAQ on 1 km 2 resolution annual runs in Madrid (Spain). Picornell et al., Evaluation of exposure to air pollution through mobile phone data in the city of Madrid (Spain). XII Congress of Transport Engineering (Valencia, June 7 9, 2016). Quaassdorff, Aplicación del modelo de microsimulación PTV VISSIM para el cálculo de emisiones del tráfico. ICCS International Conference on City Sciences (Santiago de Chile, June 16-17, 2016.) Borge et al Recent developments for the assessment of air pollution exposure of urban population under the TECNAIRE-CM research project. 9 th Spanish-Portuguese Assembly of Geodesy and Geophysics (Madrid, June 28 30, 2016). Yagüe et al., 2016 Campañas experimentales 2015 del proyecto TECNAIRE (Madrid): análisis micrometeorológico y su influencia en la calidad del aire. ICUR 2016, International Conference on Urban Risks (Lisbon, 30 June - 2 July) Borge et al., Influence of climate change on future air quality in the Iberian Peninsula 9 th Clean Air Asia s Better Air Quality (BAQ) Conference and 17 th IUAPPA World Clean Air Congress (South Korea, August 29-Sept. 2, 2016) Borge et al., Assessment of NO 2 concentration levels in a traffic urban hotspot in Madrid (Spain) through an experimental field campaign and high resolution modelling. Borge et al., Multi-scale assessment of urban population exposure to air-pollution in Madrid. Excellent Poster Award. European Aerosol Conference (Tours, September 4-9, 2016) Gómez-Moreno et al., Temporal and spatial particulate matter distribution in a complex hot spot. 14th Workshop on Urban and Regional air quality (Valencia, October 5-6) Borge et al., Air quality assessment in a traffic urban hotspot in Madrid (Spain) through an experimental field campaign and high resolution modelling. For more information please visit our website