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Long Range Transport |
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13 February 2009 |
Air pollution is not only a local problem, it can also effect the air quality far away form the source. This part of the TEMIS website is dedicated to the monitoring and forecasting of long range transport of air pollution. Satellite observations are used to monitor outflow from the continents over the North Atlantic region. Due to predominant westerly winds, this usually implies transport from the East coast of North America towards the West coast of Europe. In the case of tropospheric NO2, under favorable meteorological conditions, this trace gas can be sufficiently long lived and can be transported fast enough to cross the Atlantic ocean and affect overseas air quality. Apart from satellite measurements, daily trajectory model runs are done to track air parcels from North American NO2 sources. Observations and simulations are here presented side by side to improve interpretation of the observed North American outflow. Results are shown in near real time (based on the forecasted meteorology) and stored in an archive (based on the meteorological analysis). Using the 2 and 3 day forecasted meteorological data, the trajectory model is also be used to predict how the transport of the outflow will develop in the near future. A regional chemical transportmodel over Europe is used to investigate the influence of long range transport of air pollutants on local air quality. To do so, the model is run with climatological boundary conditions, and with boundary conditions based on satellite observations. Results can be found here.
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