A gas/aerosol air pollutants study over the urban area of Rome using a comprehensive chemical transport model

The aim of this study was to identify areas of potential relevant exposure to pollutants within Rome's urban core. To meet this goal, intensive field campaigns were conducted and simulations were performed, using the flexible air quality regional model (FARM), to study winter and summer polluti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Atmospheric environment (1994) Vol. 41; no. 34; pp. 7286 - 7303
Main Authors:	Gariazzo, Claudio, Silibello, Camillo, Finardi, Sandro, Radice, Paola, Piersanti, Antonio, Calori, Giuseppe, Cecinato, Angelo, Perrino, Cinzia, Nussio, Fabio, Cagnoli, Marco, Pelliccioni, Armando, Gobbi, Gian Paolo, Di Filippo, Patrizia
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01-11-2007 Elsevier Science
Subjects:	Air. Soil. Water. Waste. Feeding Applied sciences Atmospheric pollution Biological and medical sciences Data assimilation Environment. Living conditions Exact sciences and technology Medical sciences Ozone PM 10 Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution Pollution Population exposure Public health. Hygiene Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine VOC Italy Europe Latium Africa, Sahara Desert Population exposure PM 10 Ozone VOC Data assimilation Nitrogen oxide Air quality Volatile organic compound Exposure Urban area Forecast model Urban atmosphere Sulfur dioxide Emission inventory Ammonia Health and environment Atmospheric pollution forecasting Aerosols Air pollution Numerical simulation PM10 Carbon monoxide Public health Organic compounds Concentration distribution
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Summary:	The aim of this study was to identify areas of potential relevant exposure to pollutants within Rome's urban core. To meet this goal, intensive field campaigns were conducted and simulations were performed, using the flexible air quality regional model (FARM), to study winter and summer pollution episodes. The simulations were performed using a complete emission inventory that included traffic flow model results of the Roman street network to better describe, with respect to the available diffuse national emission inventory, the hourly variation of traffic emissions in the city. The meteorological reconstruction was performed by means of both prognostic and diagnostic models by using experimental data collected during the field campaigns. To evaluate the capability of the FARM model to capture the main features of the selected episodes, a comparison of modelled results against observed air quality data for different pollutants was performed at urban and rural sites. FARM performed well in predicting ozone (O 3) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) concentrations, showing a good reproduction of both daily peaks and their diurnal variations. The model also showed a good capability to reproduce the magnitude of volatile alkane, aromatic and carbonyl compound concentrations. PM 10 model results revealed the tendency to under-predict the observed values. PM composition model results were compared with observed data, evidencing good results for elemental carbon (EC), nitrate (NO 3 −) and ammonium (NH 4 +), underestimation for sulphate (SO 4 2−) and poor performance for organic matter (OM). The soil components of PM were found to be significantly under-predicted by the model, especially during Saharan dust episodes. Overall, the study results show large areas of high O 3 and PM 10 concentrations where levels of pollutants should be carefully monitored and population exposure evaluated.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	1352-2310 1873-2844
DOI:	10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.05.018