How changing climate may influence air pollution control strategies for 2030

Source apportionment of air pollution in European urban areas: Lessons from the ClairCity project.

Are green roofs the path to clean air and low carbon cities

Forest fires have been a major threat to forest ecosystems and its biodiversity, as well as the environment in general, particularly in the Mediterranean regions. To mitigate fire spreading, this study aims at finding a fire-break solution for territories prone to fire occurrence. To the effect, here follows a model to map and predict phase transitions in fire regimes (spanning fires vs. penetrating fires) based on terrain morphology. The structure consists of a 2-scale network using site percolation and SIR epidemiology rules in a cellular automata to model local fire Dynamics. The target area for the application is the region of Serra de Ossa in Portugal, due to its wildfire incidence. The study considers the cases for a Moore neighbourhood of warm cells of radius 1 and 2 and also considers a heterogeneous terrain with 3 classes of vegetation. Phase transitions are found for different combinations of fire risk for each of these classes and use these values to parametrize the resulting landscape network.

https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/10/4/588/pdf?version=1645028399

A Multi-Scale Network with Percolation Model to Describe the Spreading of Forest Fires

Particulate matter represents a serious hazard to human health, and air quality models contribute to the understanding of its dispersion. This study describes particulate matter with a ≤10 μm diameter (PM10) dynamics in an urban–industrial area, through the comparison of three datasets: modeled (TAPM—The Air Pollution Model), measured concentration (environmental control stations—ECS), and leaf deposition values. Results showed a good agreement between ECS and TAPM data. A steel plant area was used as a PM10 emissions reference source, in relation to the four sampling areas, and a distance/wind-based factor was introduced (Steel Factor, SF). Through SF, the three datasets were compared. The SF was able to describe the PM10 dispersion values for ECS and leaf deposition (r2 = 0.61–0.94 for ECS; r2 = 0.45–0.70 for leaf); no relationship was found for TAPM results. Differences between measured and modeled data can be due to discrepancies in one district and explained by a lack of PM10 inventory for the steel plant emissions. The study suggests the use of TAPM as a suitable tool for PM10 modeling at the urban scale. Moreover, tree leaves are a low-cost tool to evaluate the urban environmental quality, by providing information on whether and when data from leaf deposition can be used as a proxy for air pollution concentration. Further studies to include the re-suspension of particles as a PM10 source within emission inventories are suggested.

/pdf/particulate-matter-in-an-urban-industrial-environment-2zjitr9r.pdf

Particulate Matter in an Urban–Industrial Environment: Comparing Data of Dispersion Modeling with Tree Leaves Deposition

Impacts of nature-based solutions on the urban atmospheric environment: a case study for Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Resumo O BRAMS-SFIRE e um novo sistema de modelacao atmosferica com componente de propagacao de fogo desenvolvido no Centro de Previsao de Tempo e Estudos Climaticos (CPTEC / INPE) no Brasil em colaboracao com o Instituto Mediterrâneo de Agricultura, Ambiente e Desenvolvimento (MED) em Portugal. O presente artigo descreve a incorporacao do modelo de propagacao de fogo no Brazilian developments on the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (BRAMS). Os principais objetivos foram desenvolver o acoplamento entre um modelo atmosferico e um modelo de propagacao de fogo que simulasse os efeitos da circulacao atmosferica sobre um incendio florestal e vice-versa. Esta ferramenta tem como objetivo ajudar a entender as relacoes entre o fogo e a paisagem nas florestas de carvalho mediterrâneas, e avaliar os resultados das simulacoes deste acoplamento na escala fina no ecossistema do Montado na regiao do Alentejo. Para isso, tres grades de alta resolucao espacial ao longo de tres incendios foram configuradas com dados de caracterizacao de superficie realistas e propriedades dos modelos de combustivel. Uma grade foi colocada sobre fogo em uma planicie e as outras nas montanhas, para avaliar os diferentes tipos de propagacao do fogo. Este trabalho demonstra que este sistema simula de forma consistente a interacao entre o fogo, os modelos de combustivel e a atmosfera, mostrando que o fogo altera a circulacao local ao nivel da superficie, intensifica as correntes de vento ascendentes e descendentes, alterando a estrutura da atmosfera.

Isilda C. Menezes

Papers

Impacts of nature-based solutions on the urban atmospheric environment: a case study for Eindhoven, The Netherlands

Aplicação dos Modelos de Interação Atmosférica e de Incêndio Florestal BRAMS-SFIRE no sul de Portugal