scholarly journals Supplementary material to "Effects of ship emissions on air quality in the Baltic Sea region simulated with three different chemistry transport models"

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl ◽  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Andreas Uppstu ◽  
Armin Aulinger ◽  
Marja Prank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Transport Models ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
The Baltic

scholarly journals Effects of ship emissions on air quality in the Baltic Sea region simulated with three different chemistry transport models

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl ◽  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Andreas Uppstu ◽  
Armin Aulinger ◽  
Marja Prank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
The Other ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Transport Models ◽  
Ship Traffic ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. The Baltic Sea is highly frequented shipping area with busy shipping lanes close to densely populated regions. Exhaust emissions from ship traffic into the atmosphere are not only enhancing air pollution, they also affect the Baltic Sea environment through acidification and eutrophication of marine waters and surrounding terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the European BONUS project SHEBA (Sustainable Shipping and Environment of the Baltic Sea Region), the transport, chemical transformation and fate of atmospheric pollutants in the Baltic Sea region was simulated with three regional chemistry transport models (CTM) systems, CMAQ, EMEP/MSC-W and SILAM with grid resolutions between 4 km and 11 km. The main goal was to quantify the effect that shipping emissions have on the regional air quality in the Baltic Sea region when the same shipping emissions dataset but different CTMs in their typical setups are used. The performance of these models and the shipping contribution to the results of the individual models was evaluated for sulphur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM2.5). Model results from the three CTMs were compared to observations from rural and urban background stations of the AirBase monitoring network in the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea region. The performance of the three CTM systems to predict pollutant concentrations is similar. However, observed PM2.5 in summer was underestimated strongly by CMAQ and to some extent by EMEP/MSC-W. The spatial average of annual mean O3 in the EMEP/MSC-W simulation is 15–25 % higher compared to the other two simulations, which is mainly the consequence of using a different set of boundary conditions for the European model domain. There are significant differences in the calculated ship contributions to the levels of air pollutants among the three models. SILAM predicted a much weaker ozone depletion through NO emissions in the proximity of the main shipping routes than the other two models. In the entire Baltic Sea region the average contribution of ships to PM2.5 levels is in the range of 4.3–6.5 % for the three CTMs. Differences in ship-related PM2.5 between the models are mainly attributed to differences in the schemes for inorganic aerosol formation. Inspection of the ship-related elemental carbon (EC) revealed that assumptions about the vertical ship emission profile can affect the dispersion and abundance of ship-related pollutants in the near-ground atmosphere. The models are in agreement regarding the ship-related deposition of oxidised nitrogen, reporting a ship contribution in the range of 21–23 ktN y−1 as atmospheric input to the Baltic Sea. Results from the present study show the sensitivity of the ship contribution to combined uncertainties of boundary conditions, meteorological data and aerosol formation and deposition schemes. This is an important step towards a more reliable evaluation of policy options regarding emission regulations for ship traffic and the planned introduction of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea in 2021.

scholarly journals Impact of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) on the future air quality and nitrogen deposition to seawater in the Baltic Sea region

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 1721-1752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl ◽  
Johannes Bieser ◽  
Beate Geyer ◽  
Volker Matthias ◽  
Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Nitrogen Deposition ◽  
Fuel Efficiency ◽  
Control Area ◽  
Nox Emissions ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. Air pollution due to shipping is a serious concern for coastal regions in Europe. Shipping emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in air over the Baltic Sea are of similar magnitude (330 kt yr−1) as the combined land-based NOx emissions from Finland and Sweden in all emission sectors. Deposition of nitrogen compounds originating from shipping activities contribute to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and coastal areas in the Baltic Sea region. For the North Sea and the Baltic Sea a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) will become effective in 2021; in accordance with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) target of reducing NOx emissions from ships. Future scenarios for 2040 were designed to study the effect of enforced and planned regulation of ship emissions and the fuel efficiency development on air quality and nitrogen deposition. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate the current and future air quality situation. The meteorological fields, the emissions from ship traffic and the emissions from land-based sources were considered at a grid resolution of 4×4 km2 for the Baltic Sea region in nested CMAQ simulations. Model simulations for the present-day (2012) air quality show that shipping emissions are the major contributor to atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations over the Baltic Sea. In the business-as-usual (BAU) scenario, with the introduction of the NECA, NOx emissions from ship traffic in the Baltic Sea are reduced by about 80 % in 2040. An approximate linear relationship was found between ship emissions of NOx and the simulated levels of annual average NO2 over the Baltic Sea in the year 2040, when following different future shipping scenarios. The burden of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) over the Baltic Sea region is predicted to decrease by 35 %–37 % between 2012 and 2040. The reduction in PM2.5 is larger over sea, where it drops by 50 %–60 % along the main shipping routes, and is smaller over the coastal areas. The introduction of NECA is critical for reducing ship emissions of NOx to levels that are low enough to sustainably dampen ozone (O3) production in the Baltic Sea region. A second important effect of the NECA over the Baltic Sea region is the reduction in secondary formation of particulate nitrate. This lowers the ship-related PM2.5 by 72 % in 2040 compared to the present day, while it is reduced by only 48 % without implementation of the NECA. The effect of a lower fuel efficiency development on the absolute ship contribution of air pollutants is limited. Still, the annual mean ship contributions in 2040 to NO2, sulfur dioxide and PM2.5 and daily maximum O3 are significantly higher if a slower fuel efficiency development is assumed. Nitrogen deposition to the seawater of the Baltic Sea decreases on average by 40 %–44 % between 2012 and 2040 in the simulations. The effect of the NECA on nitrogen deposition is most significant in the western part of the Baltic Sea. It will be important to closely monitor compliance of individual ships with the enforced and planned emission regulations.

scholarly journals Impact of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) on the future air quality and nitrogen deposition to seawater in the Baltic Sea region

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl ◽  
Johannes Bieser ◽  
Beate Geyer ◽  
Volker Matthias ◽  
Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Nitrogen Deposition ◽  
Fuel Efficiency ◽  
Nox Emissions ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Nitrogen Emission ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. Air pollution due to shipping is a serious concern for coastal regions in Europe. Shipping emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) to air on the Baltic Sea are of similar magnitude (330 kt y−1) as the combined land-based NOx emissions from Finland and Sweden in all emission sectors. Deposition of nitrogen compounds originating from shipping activities contribute to eutrophication of the Baltic Sea and coastal areas in the Baltic Sea region. For the North Sea and the Baltic Sea a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) will become effective in 2021; in accordance with the International Maritime Organization (IMO) target of reducing NOx emissions from ships. Future scenarios for 2040 were designed to study the effect of enforced and planned regulation of ship emissions and the fuel efficiency development on air quality and nitrogen deposition. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to simulate the current and future air quality situation. The meteorological fields, the emissions from ship traffic and the emissions from land-based sources were considered at a grid resolution of 4 × 4 km2 for the Baltic Sea region in nested CMAQ simulations. Model simulations for the present-day (2012) air quality show that shipping emissions are the major contributor to atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations over the Baltic Sea. In the business as usual (BAU) scenario, with the introduction of the NECA, NOx emissions from ship traffic in the Baltic Sea are reduced by about 80 % in 2040. An approximate linear relationship was found between ship emissions of NOx and the simulated levels of annual average NO2 over the Baltic Sea in year 2040, when following different future shipping scenarios. The burden of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) over the Baltic Sea region is predicted to decrease by 35–37 % between 2012 and 2040. The reduction of PM2.5 is larger over sea, where it drops by 50–60 % along the main shipping routes, and smaller over the coastal areas. The introduction of NECA is critical for reducing ship emissions of NOx to levels that are low enough to sustainably dampen ozone (O3) production in the Baltic Sea region. A second important effect of the NECA over the Baltic Sea region is the reduction of secondary formation of particulate nitrate. This lowers the ship-related PM2.5 by 72 % in 2040 compared to present-day, while it is reduced by only 48 % without implementation of the NECA. The effect of a lower fuel efficiency development on the absolute ship contribution of air pollutants is limited. Still, the annual mean ship contributions in 2040 to NO2, sulphur dioxide and PM2.5 and daily maximum O3 is significantly higher if a slower fuel efficiency development is assumed. Nitrogen deposition to the seawater of the Baltic Sea decreases on average by 40–44 % between 2012 and 2040 in the simulations. The effect of the NECA on nitrogen deposition is most significant in the western part of the Baltic Sea. It will be important to closely monitor compliance of individual ships with the planned nitrogen emission regulations.

scholarly journals Effects of strengthening the Baltic Sea ECA regulations

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Michael Gauss ◽  
Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen ◽  
Lasse Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Emission Control ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
The North ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
Sulphur Emissions ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Oxidised Nitrogen

Abstract. Emissions of most land based air pollutants in western Europe have decreased in the last decades. Over the same period emissions from shipping have also decreased, but with large differences depending on species and sea area. At sea, sulphur emissions in the SECAs (Sulphur Emission Control Areas) have decreased following the implementation of a 0.1 % limit on sulphur in marine fuels from 2015. In Europe the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are designated as SECAs by the International maritime Organisation (IMO). Model calculations assuming present (2016) and future (2030) emissions have been made with the regional scale EMEP model covering Europe and the sea areas surrounding Europe including the North Atlantic east of 30 degrees west. The main focus in this paper is on the effects of ship emissions from the Baltic Sea. To reduce the influence of meteorological variability, all model calculations are presented as averages for 3 meteorological years (2014, 2015, 2016). For the Baltic Sea, model calculations have also been made with higher sulphur emissions representative of year 2014 emissions. From Baltic Sea shipping the largest effects are calculated for NO2 in air, but effects are also seen for PM2.5 and depositions of oxidised nitrogen, mainly in coastal zones close to the main shipping lanes. As a result country averaged contributions from ships are small for large countries that extend far inland like Germany and Poland, and larger for smaller countries like Denmark and the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where ship emissions are among the largest contributors to concentrations and depositions of anthropogenic origin. Following the implementations of stricter SECA regulations, sulphur emissions from ships in the Baltic Sea shipping now have virtually no effects on PM2.5 concentrations and sulphur depositions in the Baltic Sea region. Following the expected reductions in European emissions, model calculated NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations, depositions of oxidised nitrogen, and partially also surface ozone levels, in the Baltic Sea region are expected to decrease in the next decade. Parts of these reductions are caused by reductions in the Baltic Sea ship emissions mainly as a result of the Baltic Sea being defined as a Nitrogen Emission Control Area from 2021.

scholarly journals Effects of strengthening the Baltic Sea ECA regulations

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (21) ◽  
pp. 13469-13487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Michael Gauss ◽  
Jukka-Pekka Jalkanen ◽  
Lasse Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Coastal Zones ◽  
Ship Emissions ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Model Calculations ◽  
The North ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Sulfur Emissions

Abstract. Emissions of most land-based air pollutants in western Europe have decreased in the last decades. Over the same period emissions from shipping have also decreased, but with large differences depending on species and sea area. At sea, sulfur emissions in the SECAs (Sulphur Emission Control Areas) have decreased following the implementation of a 0.1 % limit on sulfur in marine fuels from 2015. In Europe the North Sea and the Baltic Sea are designated as SECAs by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Model calculations assuming present (2016) and future (2030) emissions have been made with the regional-scale EMEP model covering Europe and the sea areas surrounding Europe, including the North Atlantic east of 30∘ W. The main focus in this paper is on the effects of ship emissions from the Baltic Sea. To reduce the influence of meteorological variability, all model calculations are presented as averages for 3 meteorological years (2014, 2015, 2016). For the Baltic Sea, model calculations have also been made with higher sulfur emissions representative of year 2014 emissions. From Baltic Sea shipping the largest effects are calculated for NO2 in air, accounting for more than 50 % of the NO2 concentrations in central parts of the Baltic Sea. In coastal zones contributions to NO2 and also nitrogen depositions can be of the order of 20 % in some regions. Smaller effects, up to 5 %–10 %, are also seen for PM2.5 in coastal zones close to the main shipping lanes. Country-averaged contributions from ships are small for large countries that extend far inland like Germany and Poland, and larger for smaller countries like Denmark and the Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, where ship emissions are among the largest contributors to concentrations and depositions of anthropogenic origin. Following the implementations of stricter SECA regulations, sulfur emissions from Baltic Sea shipping now have virtually no effects on PM2.5 concentrations and sulfur depositions in the Baltic Sea region. Adding to the expected reductions in air pollutants and depositions following the projected reductions in European emissions, we expect that the contributions from Baltic Sea shipping to NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations, and to depositions of nitrogen, will be reduced by 40 %–50 % from 2016 to 2030 mainly as a result of the Baltic Sea being defined as a Nitrogen Emission Control Area from 2021. In most parts of the Baltic Sea region ozone levels are expected to decrease from 2016 to 2030. For the Baltic Sea shipping, titration, mainly in winter, and production, mainly in summer, partially compensate. As a result the effects of Baltic Sea shipping on ozone are similar in 2016 and 2030.

scholarly journals Effects of ship emissions on air quality in the Baltic Sea region simulated with three different chemistry transport models

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 7019-7053 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Karl ◽  
Jan Eiof Jonson ◽  
Andreas Uppstu ◽  
Armin Aulinger ◽  
Marje Prank ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Baltic Sea ◽  
Transport Processes ◽  
The Other ◽  
Aerosol Formation ◽  
The Baltic Sea ◽  
Ship Traffic ◽  
Baltic Sea Region ◽  
The Baltic

Abstract. The Baltic Sea is a highly frequented shipping area with busy shipping lanes close to densely populated regions. Exhaust emissions from ship traffic into the atmosphere do not only enhance air pollution, they also affect the Baltic Sea environment through acidification and eutrophication of marine waters and surrounding terrestrial ecosystems. As part of the European BONUS project SHEBA (Sustainable Shipping and Environment of the Baltic Sea region), the transport, chemical transformation and fate of atmospheric pollutants in the Baltic Sea region were simulated with three regional chemistry transport model (CTM) systems, CMAQ, EMEP/MSC-W and SILAM, with grid resolutions between 4 and 11 km. The main goal was to quantify the effect that shipping emissions have on the regional air quality in the Baltic Sea region when the same shipping emission dataset but different CTMs are used in their typical set-ups. The performance of these models and the shipping contribution to the results of the individual models were evaluated for sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM2.5). Model results from the three CTMs for total air pollutant concentrations were compared to observations from rural and urban background stations of the AirBase monitoring network in the coastal areas of the Baltic Sea region. Observed PM2.5 in summer was underestimated strongly by CMAQ and to some extent by EMEP/MSC-W. Observed PM2.5 in winter was underestimated by SILAM. In autumn all models were in better agreement with observed PM2.5. The spatial average of the annual mean O3 in the EMEP/MSC-W simulation was ca. 20 % higher compared to the other two simulations, which is mainly the consequence of using a different set of boundary conditions for the European model domain. There are significant differences in the calculated ship contributions to the levels of air pollutants among the three models. EMEP/MSC-W, with the coarsest grid, predicted weaker ozone depletion through NO emissions in the proximity of the main shipping routes than the other two models. The average contribution of ships to PM2.5 levels in coastal land areas is in the range of 3.1 %–5.7 % for the three CTMs. Differences in ship-related PM2.5 between the models are mainly attributed to differences in the schemes for inorganic aerosol formation. Differences in the ship-related elemental carbon (EC) among the CTMs can be explained by differences in the meteorological conditions, atmospheric transport processes and the applied wet-scavenging parameterizations. Overall, results from the present study show the sensitivity of the ship contribution to combined uncertainties in boundary conditions, meteorological data and aerosol formation and deposition schemes. This is an important step towards a more reliable evaluation of policy options regarding emission regulations for ship traffic and the planned introduction of a nitrogen emission control area (NECA) in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea in 2021.

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