Tuesday 4 June 2019 16:00 – 17:00 A. Payatakes Seminar Room
” Changes of PM2.5 concentrations and its sources during the last 20 years in the US”
Dr. Xakousti Skyllakou Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (ICE-HT)
Abstract
Quantification of the spatial and temporal variations in the sources of air pollutants, especially PM2.5, can inform control strategies and, potentially, the understanding of PM2.5 health effects. Three-dimensional chemical transport models (CTMs) are well suited to help address this problem, since they simulate all the major processes that impact PM2.5 concentrations and transport. In this study we quantify the changes in the concentration, composition, and sources of PM2.5 in the US from the early 1990s to the early 2010s.
The CTM PMCAMx is applied over US to together with the Particulate Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) source apportionment algorithm. PSAT is used to quantify the contribution of seven source categories (on road transport, non-road transport, biogenic, electrical generation units (EGU) non EGU point sources, long-range transport from outside the domain and all other sources) to all the simulated primary and secondary PM components (and also gas-phase air pollutants) as a function of space and time. The same version of the CTM PMCAMx using consistent emissions and meteorology was used to simulate the changes in source contributions over two decades. The performance of the model was similar to those of its previous evaluation exercises in the same domain. The significant changes that have taken place in the contributions of the PM major sources during this extended period are highlighted.