Investigation of the European summer 2018 air pollution episode using novel satellite data and modelling
Abstract
Satellite measurements of multiple tropospheric trace gases (e.g. ozone-O3, nitrogen dioxide-NO2, and formaldehyde-HCHO) show a strong degradation in European air quality (AQ) during the summer of 2018. State-of-the-art satellite retrievals of lower tropospheric O3 (0-6 km) from the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) show a significant enhancement in summer-time O3 concentrations of up to 50% and 25% over north-western Europe and the Mediterranean in comparison to 2017. However, summer 2018 enhancements in tropospheric column NO2 and HCHO occurred over north-western Europe and Scandinavia, respectively, with negligible changes over the Mediterranean. Therefore, multiple processes (e.g. anthropogenic/biogenic emissions, photochemistry, meteorological dynamics and stratospheric O3 intrusion) appear to be driving the widespread tropospheric O3 enhancements in different regions of Europe. Here, we present a range of modelling sensitivity experiments, using the TOMCAT global 3-D offline chemistry transport model (CTM), to investigate which governing process are responsible for the European O3 enhancements and how this impacts on surface AQ. Initial model simulations, using fixed chemical emissions, suggest dynamics and stratospheric intrusion contribute significantly to O3 enhancements over the Mediterranean.
- Publication:
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EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019EGUGA..2110966P