Assessment of the Effects of the Spanish National Air Pollution Control Programme on Air Quality

oleh: Marta G. Vivanco, Juan Luis Garrido, Fernando Martín, Mark R. Theobald, Victoria Gil, José-Luis Santiago, Yolanda Lechón, Ana R. Gamarra, Eugenio Sánchez, Angelines Alberto, Almudena Bailador

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2021-01-01

Deskripsi

During the last few decades, European legislation has driven progress in reducing air pollution in Europe through emission mitigation measures. In this paper, we use a chemistry transport model to assess the impact on ambient air quality of the measures considered for 2030 in the for the scenarios with existing (WEM2030) and additional measures (WAM2030). The study estimates a general improvement of air quality for the WAM2030 scenario, with no non-compliant air quality zones for NO<sub>2</sub>, SO<sub>2</sub>, and PM indicators. Despite an improvement for O<sub>3</sub>, the model still estimates non-compliant areas. For this pollutant, the WAM2030 scenario leads to different impacts depending on the indicator considered. Although the model estimates a reduction in maximum hourly O<sub>3</sub> concentrations, small increases in O<sub>3</sub> concentrations in winter and nighttime in the summer lead to increases in the annual mean in some areas and increases in other indicators (SOMO35 for health impacts and AOT40 for impacts on vegetation) in some urban areas. The results suggest that the lower NO<sub>x</sub> emissions in the WEM and WAM scenarios lead to less removal of O<sub>3</sub> by NO titration, especially background ozone in winter and both background and locally produced ozone in summer, in areas with high NO<sub>x</sub> emissions.