ATMOSYS - Air QuAliTY MAnAgeMenT DAShbOArD 2014 Layman s report

Transcription

1 ATMOSYS - A ir Q uality M anagement D ashboard Layman s report 2014

2 ATMOSYS factsheet ATMOSYS is co-financed by LIFE+, the financial instrument for the environment of the European Commission (LIFE09 ENV/BE/000409) Duration: Budget: 3 Million Euro Goal: develop a modular web based air quality management dashboard which can be configured and implemented in any air pollution (hotspot) region to support air quality management Partners: Flemish research and technology organisation (VITO) & the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) Demonstration website: Project website:

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5 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 5 Project objectives Despite improvements over recent years, many regions in Europe still fail to meet the air quality standards set out in the European Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC). Air quality limits, which are primarily aimed at protecting public health, are often exceeded in regional/urban hotspot areas. One of the key air pollution hotspot areas in Europe is the Benelux region, in which the region of Flanders lies. In this highly densely populated hotspot, traffic-related air pollution is one of the main concerns. Tackling this problem requires a good understanding of the air quality of these hotspots, and calls for efficient tools at various spatial scales to effectively and successfully quantify and analyse the air pollution. To this end, the core goal of ATMOSYS was to set-up and evaluate an integrated air quality management dashboard that could be used for air pollution management and policy support in hotspot regions. The aim was to establish the system for the hotspot region of Flanders and to demonstrate its replicability and transferability to other hotspot regions in the rest of Europe. The key requirements for the system were identified as follows: High level of usability by focusing on relevant spatial scales (regional to street scale) and polluting species (PM, EC and NO 2 ), air quality forecasts and assessment, and by including human exposure estimates High degree of reliability of the air quality modelling system, both in terms of performance and operational stability, and sustainability to guarantee continued use of the system in Flanders Advanced level of accessibility, by offering interoperable (INSPIRE compliant) web-based interfaces Broad and efficient dissemination, to encourage use of the system in other hotspots and ensure that the findings have a wide outreach both in Flanders and the rest of Europe To meet this goal the implementing partner, the Flemish Research and Technology Organisation (VITO) together with the key end user partners, the Belgian interregional Environment Agency (IRCEL) and the Flemish Environmental Agency (VMM) defined a core set of activities. This started with design of the ATMOSYS architecture and preparation of the air quality modelling tools for use as policy support tools. The implementation phase comprised of development of the web based functionalities and generation of the air quality information through specific urban measurement campaigns, emission inventory development and multi-spatial model simulations. This was followed by an evaluation phase in which the various air quality services and maps were thoroughly reviewed and validated. In the latter stages of the project an Air Quality Management Dashboard was developed to host the resulting air quality system and its various applications as a demonstration platform for potential users to explore. More project info on The air quality forecasts of ATMOSYS give us new and supplementary information to respond quickly when air pollution thresholds are exceeded. Frans Fierens, Belgian Interregional Environment Agency

6 6 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard Why ATMOSYS? The air in our cities contains all kinds of unhealthy pollutants like nitrogen-dioxide and fine dust particles. Obviously we don t want those ending up in our bodies. People living in cities could lose 1 year of their life due to exposure to these pollutants. If we want to improve air quality in our cities we need to know what happens with the air that we breathe. The complexity of the system urges us to keep exploring for better solutions to understand air quality and act properly.

7 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 7 Air quality continues to be a very important issue for public health, the economy and the environment. Europe has significantly cut emissions of several air pollutants in recent decades, greatly reducing emissions and exposure to substances such as sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), benzene (C6H6) and lead (Pb). Despite improvements over several decades, air pollution continues to damage human health and the environment. Particulate matter (PM), ozone (O3), reactive nitrogen substances and some organic compounds still pose a significant threat. This leads to ill health, premature deaths, and damage to ecosystems, crops and buildings. These constitute real losses for the European economy, the productivity of its workforce, and the health of its natural systems. The high resolution air quality maps that are generated within this project help the governmental administrations to better understand the origins of the air pollution in Belgium, which in turn assists them in devising the best solutions to mitigate the problem. The high resolution modelling that is been applied has been shown to be indispensable for determining the regions in exceedence of the European limit values, in particular the NO2 annual limit value of 40µg/m³. Indeed, this limit is mostly breached in the vicinity of highways and in urban areas at locations with high traffic volumes. These are unaccounted for in the regional scale modelling. These urban areas are densely populated and this breach of the European air quality standards is important from a health perspective. Often the general public are not aware of what role they play in the air quality problem. By publishing these high-resolution maps and letting the public explore the map and data (e.g. use the time series receptor tool to retrieve air pollution data for any specific location in the region) increases awareness, helping them to understand the air quality in their local area. When ATMOSYS became national news in Flanders, there was a surge of interest from the national public resulting in a significant peak of visitors to the ATMOSYS website. Informing the public with the most accurate and detailed air quality information is essential in building up public support for an ambitious air quality management program.

8 8 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard What is ATMOSYS? ATMOSYS is an Air Quality Management Dashboard to support Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA s) predict, assess and plan air quality. The services provided will support EPA s in making the right policy decisions to improve their atmospheric environment and allow them to inform the public on the status of the air quality. A complete air quality dashboard is composed of the following 3 main topics: Forecast, Assess, Plan. ATMOSYS offers for each topic different possible solutions to provide the most relevant information. Each solution has a strong emphasis on quality and usability, depending on the city, region or country. ATMOSYS consists of a number of building blocks, each of which can be applied according the specific needs and air quality conditions of the region of implementation. Once the needed building blocks are selected and configured, the ATMOSYS air quality management dashboard is the experts entry point to their own air quality management system. It allows experts and policy makers to monitor, assess, validate, analyze and improve the air quality situation. Demonstration Forecast Assess Plan Regional Air Quality Forecast including data assimilation Forecast validation tool Annual air quality maps including AQ Directive indicators Time evolution and time series Model evaluation tool & exposure calculation Impact assessment of AQ management plans (traffic, LEZ) Pollution roses & source apportion Within the Life+ project the system was set up for the European hotspot region of Flanders (Belgium). Near

9 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 9 real time monitoring data and model results (including data assimilation techniques) are made available by means of INSPIRE compliant ICT technology to offer a multitude of data about local air pollution in Flanders. The ATMOSYS demonstration website is established to demonstrate some of these building blocks which are incorporated in the air quality management system in Belgium (see more in Our services, p.11). However, it can be deployed in other regions as well, with the option to customize both the modelling system itself, i.e. the air quality models, and the associated web-based services. Building blocks A schematic overview of the air quality management system is provided in the picture. It basically consists of three major parts: Front-end air quality management/monitoring dashboard, which is a web-based visualization/control system for air quality management, acting as the air quality expert entry point. Public information interface, which is the general public entry to the information that is made available (based on EPA experts opinion) to the public. ATMOSYS offers widgets to integrate visualisation components into the EPA s existing public website. Back-end components, which are the core of the system and provide most of the modelling, validation, analysis and reporting functionality of the management dashboard. More than just a visualisation dashboard The core components are listed as follows: System database, which integrates all data sources required for air quality management; Model component, which allow calculation of the current and near future state of the air quality; Decision support components, which provide support in deciding which measures to take when problems with air quality occur. This includes validation and analysis tools. Reporting component to fulfill the e-reporting needs in line with over EU legislation. ATMOSYS consolidates information and tools of more than ten years of air quality research and development, applied in one of European s major air quality hotspots. This outcome was only made possible thanks to close cooperation between VITO as a research and technology organisation and the Belgian environmental protection agencies IRCEL and VMM, as well as the financial contribution of LIFE+, the financial instrument for the environment of the European Commission.

10 10 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard Multi-scale nature of air quality Part of the complexity of air quality policy is understanding the multi-scale nature of air pollution. Policy support needs a modelling approach integrating both international, regional and local effects to explain the air quality variations at a specific location. Regional scale Typically 3x3 km² resolution At the regional scale, cities and industrial areas appear as the major air pollution hot spots. Depending on the pollutant selected, also the mayor highways become visible. Regional scale air quality modelling allows to downscale the impact of European and regional policy measures by taking into account variable regional background concentrations. The results can be used by city authorities to estimate current and future urban background concentrations. Urban scale Typically 50x50 m² resolution Inside urban areas, important differences in air quality levels do exist. Using a classical Gaussian modelling approach with a receptor grid that follows the traffic line sources, a high resolution roof-top air quality map can be produced. Roof-top indicates that the impact of the buildings on the dispersion phenomenon is not taken into account. The modelling results allow to evaluate the impact of individual (e.g. speed limits) or zonal (e.g. low emission zone) traffic measures on the global urban air pollution exposure. Local scale Typically 10x10 m² resolution Roads inside urban areas that are flanked by high buildings ( street cayons ) on both sides give rise to very high air pollution levels, sometimes even leading to exceedances of the European air quality limit values. Combining a 3D-city model with a street cayon model, one can detect all local hotspots and analyse how to reduce air pollution locally. Detailed traffic flow data is needed to prescribe the transport emission sources. Micro scale Up to 1x1 m³ resolution Individual buildings and building configurations have an important impact on local wind flow patterns. These local deviations (wind speeding or change in wind direction) from the large scale wind field impact the air pollution dispersion. They can be resolved using Computational Fluent Dynamics (CFD)-models. With a CFD-model, one has a powerful engineering tool to optimize building configurations with respect to air pollution. Also the impact of urban greening elements on urban climate and air pollution can be analysed.

11 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 11 Our services The ATMOSYS demonstration website was established to demonstrate the services specifically designed to evaluate and analyse air pollution in European hotspot regions, and to share information on the underlying components. The demonstration website is a test environment for a multitude of state of the art air quality services. It allows potential users to explore the various services and information available in a real test case environment. The Services section presents an overview of the forecasting and assessment services that are available for integration into an environmental agency s Air Quality System for management of their air quality. Under the Expertise section, air quality experts can learn about the underlying components and methodologies used to generate the services. 1. Forecast services and validation tool This service offers the daily air quality forecasting that was established for the Belgian Environment Agencies and is designed to cover more European hotspots on request. A three day forecast of Particulate Matter (PM 10, PM 2.5 ), Elementary Carbon (EC), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) and Ozone (O 3 ) is supplied. The forecast validation allows a user to validate the model output of an ATMOSYS air quality forecast using measurement data. It was developed to allow a user to validate recent model forecasting results (ideally over a few days), automatically on the fly. The tool uses the same basic validation statistics as those of the DELTA tool from JRC and it allows the user to generate scatter plots and time series charts.

12 12 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 2. Assessment services This service offers demonstrative tools to access, visualize and analyse an archive of historic air quality records for a specific region/country. The user friendly interface also allows the user to extract the complete set of hourly maps to obtain a better insight into specific pollution episodes. Visualize and analyse historic air quality maps The annual maps service offers average concentration patterns of Particulate Matter (PM 10, PM 2.5 ), Elementary Carbon (EC), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) and Ozone (O 3 ), together with several specific statistical indicator maps for each pollutant, like the number of exceedences of the daily threshold allowed for NO 2. The time evolution maps are based on a set of 8760 hourly maps which are generated by the model. With a user-friendly interface, the user is able to scroll through these time Evolution maps to get an animated hourly view of a specific air pollution episode that occurred during a certain year. The time series offers a functionality to extract at any location in the region a time series of each pollutant available. The user can select a whole year, but can also zoom in on specific time intervals and compare the different pollutants with each other. The model evaluation tool in the ATMOSYS web application is an online version of the desktop DELTA tool that is being developed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) as part of the FAIRMODE model benchmarking initiative. The target plot and the summary statistics table developed for the DELTA tool are included in the online tool. The tool is upgraded in-line with version updates of the DELTA tool. Finally, the exposure calculation tool allows the user to calculate human exposure based on the chosen simulation results and given population data for the same region.

13 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 13 European valorisation and harmonisation The Forum for Air quality Modelling FAIRMODE is a joint response action of the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the European Environment Agency (EEA). Its aim is to bring together air quality modellers and users in order to promote and support the harmonised use of models by EU member countries, with emphasis on their application to the European Air Quality Directive. One of the FAIRMODE Working Groups is developing a procedure for the evaluation and benchmarking of air quality models. The key component of the model benchmarking is the DELTA tool ( which, based on paired modelled and monitored data, performs a rapid diagnostic of air quality model performance in terms of various statistical indicators. JRC were asked to join ATMOSYS as a user to advise on design of the ATMOSYS validation application tool so that it would be comparable to the Desktop DELTA tool. Since FAIRMODE is proposing that this tool should be the benchmark used in the future when reporting model results for compliance with EU regulations, it was essential that the ATMOSYS online validation tool is based on the exact same statistics as that of the DELTA tool so that the results generated are the same. In addition the format of the input files in the online tool is similar to the one used by the desktop tool. A certain positive momentum exists currently in the countries to contribute with and to exchange modelling and mapping air quality information European Topic Centre, Technical paper 2013/3 A European compilation of national air quality maps based on modelling

14 14 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard How reliable are the maps? The annual air quality maps that are shown in the assessment services on the ATMOSYS-portal for Belgium are the result of a newly developed methodology integrating high-resolution features on top of the regional background variations. This unique coupling of models has been validated and outperforms all previous attemps to map the whole Belgian air quality. Today it is realized that many of the persistent air pollution hotspots are situated within urban agglomerations. However, due to the multi-scale character of the air pollution phenomenon, policies have to be developed at various levels to deal with this problem. At the local level city authorities can for example use urban development and traffic management plans to tackle air pollution exposure of their citizens. At the same time policy is developed at the European (e.g. EURO standards for transport) as well as the regional levels (e.g. congestion charge) to mitigate the same air pollution problem. When the combined effectiveness of all these measures has to be assessed at the local scale, especially the attainment of the EU limit values at a given time horizon such as 2015 or 2020, methodologies have to be developed to deal with this multi-scale character of air pollution and its related policies. Policy impacts on the regional background as well as the impact of local actions plans have to be combined into one overall air quality projection. The Belgium case In Belgium, the air quality is measured via permanent monitoring stations spread across the country. These measurements are made by automatic monitoring devices and provide a very accurate picture of the air quality at

15 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 15 those locations. It is however impossible to measure everywhere. To estimate the air quality at locations where no measurements are made, computer models are used. RIO is an interpolation model. It uses the available measurements from the permanent monitoring stations and interpolates them in a smart way. Smart, because RIO also takes into account information about land use. In cities, and therefore areas with high residential and traffic density, there is, for example, more air pollution than in wooded areas. RIO is unable to differentiate between, for example, smaller woodland areas and more urbanised areas or high-traffic locations within such a 4x4 km² grid cell. In other words, a single average concentration can be calculated per 4x4 km² grid cell. In order to obtain more detailed air quality information within a 4x4 km² grid cell, the RIO interpolation technique is combined with the IFDM model. IFDM calculates the impact of the emissions from point and line sources (eg. industrial and traffic sources) on the air quality in the immediate vicinity of those point or line sources. Unlike the RIO interpolation method, the IFDM model does not use measurements but calculates the concentration of pollutants based on emission data and meteorological data such as wind speed, wind direction, and temperature. These meteorological data determine the extent to which and to where the pollution is distributed. IFDM calculations are made for more than 600,000 points for the whole of Belgium along roads and in the vicinity of industrial sources. Along major roads, the concentrations are calculated at distances of 25, 175, 500 and 1000m. A more detailed concentration map is then elaborated by interpolation. Validation A first series of validation exercises shows that RIO-IFDM provides a reliable estimate of the concentrations. Validation is based on comparison of the model results with the measured results. An additional and extensive validation exercise started in December 2013 and will be completed in June The RIO-IFDM model is also continuously improved and refined as new scientific insights become available. Better information The big advantage of the RIO-IFDM combination is that it allows the air quality to be estimated with a higher spatial resolution. This allows the population to be better informed about the air quality and the exposure of the Belgian population, and also allows the impact on health to be estimated in greater detail and at a more accurate level. These types of calculations are important because one of the targets of the European air quality policy is to achieve a reduction in health impact of approx. 50% by Also bottleneck areas where the EU limit values are exceeded, can be mapped more accurately. This would enable policy-makers to adopt more targeted measures to further improve the air quality.

16 16 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard Infrastructure for spatial information It was agreed that the web-based interface should be open, evolutive and be based on standard proven solutions. This meant that the data publishing and sharing are based where possible on INSPIRE Network Services. The ATMOSYS daily operational air quality forecasting system needs access to real-time measurement data from a database maintained by the Environment Protection Agency. Publishing and sharing the resulting air quality maps is done via so called INSPIRE Network Services. Within ATMOSYS, this was achieved through the development of: - a Sensor Observation Service to have direct access to the (near real time) data bases with monitoring data - Web Map Services and Web Feature Services to share the wide variety of maps that are produced by the ATMOSYS modelling tools. Considering the obligations for EU member states both under the INSPIRE directive (2007/2/EC) and the revision of the Implementing Provisions for Reporting (IPR /850/EU) under the Air Quality Directive (2008/107/EC), the in house ICT-infrastructure at the Belgian Interregional Environment Agency was remodelled through the ATMOSYS project to conform to the system design paradigm of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). Through the ATMOSYS project IRCEL became an early adopter within the European Air Quality community of both INSPIRE and ereporting. INSPIRE offers an answer to the European data puzzle

17 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 17 Scientific excellence To deliver the high-quality information that is available on the ATMOSYS air quality management dashboard, significant scientific improvements were made to the backbone of the ATMOSYS system. First ever EC emission inventory for Flanders A key part of the project was to establish the first elemental carbon (EC) emissions inventory for Flanders and to generate geographically distributed EC and Particulate Matter (PM) emission maps. The EC inventory is being used to help policymakers better determine the extent of traffic pollution in the country s city hotspots as EC is a more suitable indicator of traffic pollution than PM. Furthermore, using this dataset, the first air quality assessment maps and forecasts for EC were produced for Belgium. City and highway measurement campaigns Typically, the existing measurement network of a city is insufficient to provide detailed information to comprehensively assess the air quality in a city hotspot. To gain a better insight into how the concentrations of PM and NO 2 vary within a city hotspot, between several city hotpots and nearby a busy highway, an intensive city and highway campaign was carried out. As a result of this study a comprehensive measurement database is available, which is being used to gain important knowledge of the air quality variation throughout the city hotspots. The measurement database is also being used to validate some of the high resolution air quality modelling assessments being carried out in the region. 3D environmental analysis at super-resolution Air pollution is an issue that plays on a broad range of different scales. For some purposes, it is needed to zoom in and consider air quality at the level of individual streets, buildings and human beings. This level of detail is referred to as the micro-scale. This micro-scale comes into play when investigating the impact of very localized measures onto the air quality in the direct vicinity. Urban planners questioning how screens can best be implemented to protect pedestrians from noxious traffic emissions is a typical micro scale air quality issue. Data assimilation In order to improve the performance of chemical transport models (CTM) models in predicting pollutant concentrations for O 3, NO 2, PM 10 and PM 25, ensemble forecasts of different models or data assimilation techniques can be used. Data assimilation techniques (DA) combine measurements of the pollutant concentrations with model results to obtain better estimates of the true (unknown) concentration levels. Within ATMOSYS several different DA techniques were studied. After thorough investigation, a Kalman Filter (KF)-based air quality forecast bias adjustment data assimilation technique was chosen. The forecasted air quality results provided within the ATMOSYS dashboard are the data assimilated results.

18 18 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard What will the future bring? The advantage of the ATMOSYS air quality management dashboard is that it consists of various modular parts that together or apart could improve the air quality management system of any environmental agency. ATMOSYS was build to suit the needs of a wide range of expert end users. It can be tailored to meet the requirements of various environmental agencies, those that already have comprehensive AQ systems, to those with minimal AQ management capabilities. The system is designed to easily integrate into an existing framework and use existing data, information or models to adapt quickly to the local situation. Thanks to the modular structure, the end user can choose which components (services and tools) they would like from the ATMOSYS air quality management dashboard, and depending on the data available, configure and integrate them into their own AQ dashboard. The services shown in the demonstration website are currently being used by the Flemish environmental administrations to help them improve management of the air quality sitatution in Flanders and by extension Belgium by providing them with efficient innovative tools and services. Once their new public website is launched, the interactive high resolution air quality maps and the air quality forecasting results will be made available to the public. IRCEL will continue together with VITO to refine and improve the AQ maps and the forecast results. Furthermore, a new chemical characterization city campaign has been started by VMM to further confirm the results from the ATMOSYS measurement city campaign. Key developments To set up a fully automated Air Quality Management Dashboard as demonstrated for Belgium on the ATMOSYS website, a whole range of different components, starting with the air quality monitoring data, and including data capture and processing tools are needed. For each step, the system can be customized, tested and validated to local circumstances.

19 ATMOSYS - Air Quality Management Dashboard 19 Here s a list of ATMOSYS key developments which could improve the AQ management capabilities of environmental agencies in local hotspots: application of the relatively simple data assimilation scheme to an existing Chemistry Transport Model driven AQ forecast to improve the performance using or integrating the online forecast validation tool into an existing AQ forecast service in order to assess on the fly the quality and performance of recent forecasts integrating and using the online Model Evaluation tool to quickly evaluate an agency s air quality modelling work or that of an external consultant using the methodology to produce high resolution maps which combine regional background information with urban and street canyon effects integrating the ATMOSYS AQ management dashboard with the various visualisation (map viewer) and AQ analysis tools into an existing AQ system to allow an agency to costefficiently explore and analyse their AQ data learning about the EC inventory and how it was developed to apply it to their own emissions inventory reading the deliverable on how VMM applied the method of Spangl et al. to classify and determine the spatial representativeness of VMM s monitoring stations for each of the pollutants PM 10 and NO 2. Although the ATMOSYS tools will be made freely available, an initial investment cost is often necessary. The amount depends on the required application (e.g. validation tool, receptor analysis tool.. ) and the existing AQ information systems available. Since this investment is not always evident, the ATMOSYS tools could be made available to future hotspot areas under appropriate future EU funded initiatives such as the continuing LIFE programme. Dissemination The ATMOSYS demonstration ( website is the center piece of our dissemination plan to encourage environmental agencies in other regional and local hotspots across Europe to avail of the ATMOSYS modular tools and consider establishing such services in their area. Potential users can explore the various applications available and also learn about some of the scientific developments that could be relevant for them or future projects. Since the website launch in June 2013, it has already been used extensively to demonstrate the services and tools developed during the project. In particular the air quality modelling tools that are available to air quality experts to help them reduce and eventually mitigate their high air pollution hotspots. Further to our most recent dissemination events, potential users have shown a particular interest in the high resolution methodology and production of the maps, as well as the model evaluation tool. Since the project has ended we have been investigating possible financing options (EU funded, bilateral, contract work) for application of the tools in air quality hotspot areas of central/eastern Europe. In those discussions we have learned that there is a definite need for the web based analysis tools and further dissemination of many of the techniques applied in ATMOSYS. The number and geographical spread of future applications of the various methodologies and tools could be seen as quantifiable indicators of the long term success of the project. If you want more information on ATMOSYS or wish to use one or more of the tools we ve developed, just contact us (lisa.blyth@vito.be or filip. lefebre@vito.be) and join the ATMOSYS community.

20 VITO Boeretang Mol, Belgium Tel: E: