Hemispheric, Transboundary

& Regional Air Pollution

Colin O’Dowd & Team C-CAPS

National University of Ireland Galway

Dublin Borough

0

200

400

600

800

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31

January 1982

Bla

ck S

mo

ke (

ug

/m3)

15

20

25

30

35

40

Death

sDeaths

Black

Smoke

Climate Impacts - Radiative Forcing

Warming

Cooling

Health Impacts Beijing 2013

Irish perspective: where our air come from?

An ideal world………………

Marine Polluted

PM

1

Organics (41%)

Nitrate (10%)

Sulphate (30%) Ammonium (13%)

Sea Salt (1%)

BC (5%) Organics (5%)

Nitrate (2%)

Sea Salt (86%)

BC (1%)

Sulphate (5%)

Is it how much or what?

Carbon Isotope Analysis – offline source apportionment

Realtime aerosol chemistry: Aerosol Mass Spectrometry

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0.0

NE

M, µ

g m

-3

100908070605040302010

m/z

Org NO3

SO4

NH4

Chl

Nitrate

Organics

Sea salt &

etc.

Sulphate 20

15

10

5

0

Conce

ntr

atio

n, µ

g m

-3

12:0009/02/2009

00:0012/02/2009

12:0014/02/2009

00:0017/02/2009

Date

What organics

come from where?

The need to source apportion:

Informed effective emissions control

Cork city air quality

Traffic/Industry

Peat/Coal burning

Wood burning

Aged/Processed

20

15

10

5

0

Co

nce

ntr

atio

n,

µg

m-3

12:0009/02/2009

00:0012/02/2009

12:0014/02/2009

00:0017/02/2009

Date

86420

10/02/2009 13/02/2009 16/02/2009Date

864208642086420

Organics

PMF

5 2

5 0

87 0

8 2

10 1

79 0

13 2 20

4

61

0

15 3 24

4

52

1

22 2

32

6

36

3

33 1

45

5 12

4

21 1

59

3 9

7

40 1

38 4

15

4

24 2

36

4 31

3

28 3

34

6 29

1

11

2 12 1

73 0

7

2 6 1

84 0

19%

25%

3%

50%

2%

2%

mP

Jan

Feb March

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

AugSep

Oct

Nov

Dec

14 4 26

1

54

0

23 2 16

1

58

0

16 3 20

3

57

0

20 2

48

4 24

1

21 2

46

6 21

4

35 2

40

5 15

3

18 1

50

4 22

5 20

1

56

5 13

5

21 4

21

3

49

1

9 2

9 1

78 0

11 3

11 1

75

0

20% 35%

4%

37%

3%

2%

mA

Jan

Feb March

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

AugSep

Oct

Nov

Dec

9 2

4 0

85 0

14 3

14 1

69

0

17 3 27

4

49

0

14 2 35

5

41

1

21 2

51

6 14

5

20 2

51

10 14

4

20 1

56

3 14

6 32 2

47

4 12

3

30 2

32

4 30

2

28 3

28

6 34

1

10 2

25 4

58

0

14

5 20 3

58

0

18% 36%

4%

37%

2%

2%

mT

Jan

Feb March

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

AugSep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Sea salt

NO3

-

Organics

MSA

SO4

2-

NH4

+

43

11

32 13

1 0

38

11

33 17

1 0

43

23

21

12 0 0

37

24

23

15

0 1

49

6

30

13 1 1

43

4

37 14

0 2

36 2

47 10 1 4 58

5 27

9 0 1

33 4

46 15

1 0

44

7

38

10 0

0

49

6

33

11 1

0

43%

13%

30%

13%

1% 1%

cP

Jan

Feb March

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

AugSep

Oct

Nov

Dec

5 years of continuous AMS measurements

at Mace Head revealed seasonal trends in

the chemical composition of aerosol as

well as general chemical signatures

associated with air masses of different

origin.

50

40

30

20

10

0

AM

S,

g m

-3

1/May 3/May 5/May 7/May 9/May 11/May 13/May 15/May 17/May 19/May

Date

Sea salt

NO3

-

Organics

MSA

SO4

2-

NH4

+

Ash

Cloud

Local Biomass

Burning

Volcanic ash Mace Head

Plume entered the surface layer at 22 UTC, sulphate increased from 23 UTC.

Ground measurements with

AMS

• Non spherical particles detected using depolarisation ratio

• Biomass burning aerosols 02/04/2013 to 07/04/2013

Biomass burning aerosol: transported from Wales to Shannon

CO2 Time Series

CO2 Time Series Biomass burning aerosol: North America

Biomass burning aerosol: North America

Biomass burning aerosol: North America

Modelling Capability: WRF-CHEM- FLEXPART

Weather forecasting

Air Pollution

Volcanic Ash

Biomass Burning

Radioactive Fallout

Modelling Capability: WRF-CHEM- FLEXPART

160

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

Em

iss

ion

s-I

rela

nd

, G

g y

ea

r-1

200920082007200620052004200320022001

Year

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

Su

lph

ate

(P

M1

0),

g

m-3

120100806040200

SOx Emissions-Ireland, Gg year-1

NOx PM2.5 x 10

SOx

a) b)

1.6

1.4

1.2

1.0

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

Su

lph

ate

(P

M1

0),

g

m-3

130

125

120

115

110

105

100

95

Su

rface g

lob

al ra

dia

tio

n,

W m

-2

1.61.41.21.00.80.60.4

Sulphate (PM10), g m-3

2012201020082006200420022000

Year

r = -0.77 r = -0.73

a) b)

Reduced Emissions, Reduced Air Pollution:

Annual Averages for sulphate aerosol mass, all sector, Mace Head.

Annual Averages, all sector, Mace Head & Valentia Observatory:

SO2 and SO4.

Conclusion

Aerosol Mass Spectrometry an excellent method for realtime in-

situ source apportionment.

LIDAR useful for identifying upper air pollution transport.

Combined LIDAR and AMS most effect for evaluating pollution

transport.

Multiple sources of transboundary air pollution (ash, biomass

buring, radioation, etc.)

Need integrated and multi-purpose modelling capacity in Ireland

Long term observations demonstrate a reduction in air pollution

in line with a reduction on emissions.

Effective emissions control.