Importance of Ship Emissions to Local Summertime Ozone Production in the Mediterranean Marine Boundary Layer: A Modeling Study

Atmosphere

Christian N. Gencarelli²  Ian M. Hedgecock²  Francesca Sprovieri²  Gregor J. Schürmann²  Nicola Pirrone¹ 

[1] CNR-Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, via Salaria km 29,300, Monterotondo 00015, Italy; E-Mail:;Division of Rende, CNR-Institute of Atmospheric Pollution Research, Rende 87036, Italy; E-Mails:

关键词: ozone;    Mediterranean;    modeling;    shipping;   

DOI  :  10.3390/atmos5040937

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Ozone concentrations in the Mediterranean area regularly exceed the maximum levels set by the EU Air Quality Directive, 2008/50/CE, a maximum 8-h mean of 120 µg·m⁻³, in the summer, with consequences for both human health and agriculture. There are a number of reasons for this: the particular geographical and meteorological conditions in the Mediterranean play a part, as do anthropogenic ozone precursor emissions from around the Mediterranean and continental Europe. Ozone concentrations measured on-board the Italian Research Council’s R. V. Urania during summer oceanographic campaigns between 2000 and 2010 regularly exceeded 60 ppb, even at night.  The WRF/Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model coupled with Chemistry) model has been used to simulate tropospheric chemistry during the periods of the measurement campaigns, and then, the same simulations were repeated, excluding the contribution of maritime traffic in the Mediterranean to the anthropogenic emissions inventory. The differences in the model output suggest that, in large parts of the coastal zone of the Mediterranean, ship emissions contribute to 3 and 12 ppb to ground level daily average ozone concentrations. Near busy shipping lanes, up to 40 ppb differences in the hourly average ozone concentrations were found. It seems that ship emissions could be a significant factor in the exceedance of the EU directive on air quality in large areas of the Mediterranean Basin.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.