Air Quality, Health and Environmental Impact Assessment

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality and Human Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2022) | Viewed by 3174

Special Issue Editors

Department of Sustainability, Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, 00196 Rome, Italy
Interests: air pollution modeling; aerosol composition; air pollution and climate change; real world emissions experiment; air quality management at national level
Laboratory of Atmospheric Pollution, ENEA―Air Pollution Laboratory, 00196 Roma, Italy
Interests: air quality; atmospheric emissions; air quality impact assessment; air quality modelling; integrated assessment modelling; air quality planning; air quality evaluation measures

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue is to collate the most recent advances in the study of atmospheric pollution and its impacts. For over two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly focused our attention on the link between pollution and health and encouraged debates regarding the role of air pollution as a booster or carrier of the virus. The climate crisis also raises questions on the increasing trend of pollutant concentrations in the near future and the possible consequences of this on public health and ecosystems. Furthermore, the complexity of the reactions and counter-reactions in the atmospheric system raises questions about the adequacy of simulation tools and the characteristics of measurements, suggesting the use of integrated and interdisciplinary approaches. An example of this is the growing attention to "nature-based solutions" as an opportunity to restore natural environments and, at the same time, the contribution of decarbonization to the reduction in atmospheric pollution.

The main objective of this Special Issue is to collect original research on air pollution modeling and measurements, the assessment of impacts on public health and natural environments, and the effectiveness of technological and non-technological solutions to be transformed into policies. We await contributions the focus on the comparison of model measurements, the assimilation of satellite data or the use of artificial intelligence techniques.

Original contributions on potential links between the COVID-19 pandemic and air pollution as well as the possible effects of climate change on air quality are also welcome. We would be happy to publish studies on the effectiveness of natural solutions as a stable solution to improve air quality and microclimates.

Dr. Gabriele Zanini
Dr. Ilaria D'Elia
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • air quality
  • air pollution
  • air pollution and health impact
  • air pollution and environmental impact
  • air quality and climate change
  • integrated assessment

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 2929 KiB  
Article
Wildfires Impact Assessment on PM Levels Using Generalized Additive Mixed Models
by Gianluca Leone, Giorgio Cattani, Mariacarmela Cusano, Alessandra Gaeta, Guido Pellis, Marina Vitullo and Raffaele Morelli
Atmosphere 2023, 14(2), 231; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14020231 - 24 Jan 2023
Viewed by 1706
Abstract
Wildfires are relevant sources of PM emissions and can have an important impact on air pollution and human health. In this study, we examine the impact of wildfire PM emissions on the Piemonte (Italy) air quality regional monitoring network using a Generalized Additive [...] Read more.
Wildfires are relevant sources of PM emissions and can have an important impact on air pollution and human health. In this study, we examine the impact of wildfire PM emissions on the Piemonte (Italy) air quality regional monitoring network using a Generalized Additive Mixed Model. The model is implemented with daily PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations sampled for 8 consecutive years at each monitoring site as the response variable. Meteorological data retrieved from the ERA5 dataset and the observed burned area data stored in the Carabinieri Forest Service national database are used in the model as explanatory variables. Spline functions for predictive variables and smooths for multiple meteorological variables’ interactions improved the model performance and reduced uncertainty levels. The model estimates are in good agreement with the observed PM data: adjusted R2 range was 0.63–0.80. GAMMs showed rather satisfactory results in order to capture the wildfires contribution: some severe PM pollution episodes in the study area due to wildfire air emissions caused peak daily levels up to 87.3 µg/m3 at the Vercelli PM10 site (IT1533A) and up to 67.7 µg/m3 at the Settimo Torinese PM2.5 site (IT1130A). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality, Health and Environmental Impact Assessment)
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9 pages, 1826 KiB  
Article
Effects of Home Office Order on Ambient Particulate Matters Assessed by Interrupted-Time-Series Analysis: Evidence from Shanghai, China
by Ling Tong, Yongping Liu, Yangyang Ren, Huihui Xu, Fengchan Han, Hailei Qian and Shaofeng Sui
Atmosphere 2022, 13(10), 1659; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13101659 - 12 Oct 2022
Viewed by 1079
Abstract
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a pandemic globally since its outbreak in 2019. As an important port city with prosperous foreign trade, Shanghai has been under severe pressure to prevent the input of COVID-19. With this in mind, solid policies and measures [...] Read more.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused a pandemic globally since its outbreak in 2019. As an important port city with prosperous foreign trade, Shanghai has been under severe pressure to prevent the input of COVID-19. With this in mind, solid policies and measures have always been taken in Shanghai to control the input of COVID-19 strictly. In March 2022, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant swept Shanghai, and then the home office order was rapidly carried out in most of the districts. This article focuses on quantifying the changes in concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 in Shanghai after implementing the home office order and exploring the spatial-distribution characteristics and time trend of the impact of the home office order on airborne particulate matters (PMs) through an interrupted-time-series (ITS) analysis. This study found that PM10 and PM2.5 decreased by 31.40 μg/m3 (p = 0.028) and 10.33 μg/m3 (p = 0.276), respectively, with the fastest decrease speed in the first 10 days of the home office order. Meanwhile, the changes in PM concentrations in eastern areas such as Fengxian District and Chongming District are less than those in central and western areas of Shanghai. Therefore, it can be concluded that implementing the home office order for 10 days could effectively cut down PM concentrations, and the reduction values can be affected by spatial difference and time factor. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Air Quality, Health and Environmental Impact Assessment)
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