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Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Science and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 12718

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Tiziano Tirabassi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Center for Natural and Exact Sciences, Federal University of Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul 97105-900, Brazil
Interests: air pollution modeling; air pollution dispersion; advection-diffusion equation; atmospheric boundary layer; boundary layer meteorology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The processes that govern the transport and diffusion of pollutants are numerous and of such complexity that it is not possible to describe them without the use of mathematical models, which are, therefore, an indispensable technical instrument for environmental management. The scope of this Special Issue reflects and summarizes some recent developments relevant to the pollutant dispersion in the Atmospheric Boundary Layer (ABL). In atmospheric dispersion models, turbulence parameterization is a key parameter. The reliability of each model strongly depends on the way turbulent parameters are calculated and related to the current understanding of the ABL.

The Special Issue will include original and review papers on the issue of pollutant dispersion in the ABL, concerning both theoretical and experimental aspects: transport and diffusion models (Eulerian, Lagrangian and statistical models), model parameterization, comparison between different models, field or laboratory measurements, as well as measures of meteorology variables that govern turbulence and diffusion in ABL.
 
We are organizing a Special Issue on the study of the diffusion of air pollution in the ABL and on the structure of the ABL itself in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. This is a peer-reviewed scientific journal that publishes articles and communications in the interdisciplinary area of environmental health sciences and public health. For detailed information on the journal, we refer you to https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph.  

Improving public health is an important objective for urban planners and policy makers. Public health refers to preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting physical, mental, and social well-being. Research, both in cities and rural areas, and in both developing and developed countries, can offer a critical guide for policy efforts and planning for public health.
Air pollution models are important tools in assessing the concentration of pollutants in the atmosphere and are used by regulatory agencies to estimate environmental impacts, risk analysis, and industrial plant planning. They allow us to analyse the contribution of different sources to overall pollution, and then correctly address any actions to limit emissions. Only with mathematical models is it possible to make predictions or simulate pollutant concentration in order to define plans for improving the population's quality of life.

This Special Issue is open to any subject area related to the air pollution dispersion in ABL (and the consequent impact on health) and in particular to the use and enhancement of mathematical models of air pollution. The listed keywords suggest just a few of the many possibilities. 

Dr. Tiziano Tirabassi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 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 2500 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

  • meteorological observations
  • laboratory experiments
  • field measurements
  • air pollution modelling
  • model parameterizations
  • rural and urban dispersion
  • wet and dry deposition
  • source emissions
  • atmospheric boundary layer
  • environmental exposure

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 4591 KiB  
Article
Accounting for Area Sources in Air Pollution Models
by Akula Venkatram and Ranga Rajan Thiruvenkatachari
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(12), 6110; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20126110 - 12 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1177
Abstract
Area sources are important components of comprehensive air pollution models. The literature describes several approaches to modeling dispersion from such sources, but there is little consensus on an approach that can be applied to arbitrarily shaped area sources and is numerically efficient at [...] Read more.
Area sources are important components of comprehensive air pollution models. The literature describes several approaches to modeling dispersion from such sources, but there is little consensus on an approach that can be applied to arbitrarily shaped area sources and is numerically efficient at the same time. This paper brings together ideas from previous work to propose an approach that meets these requirements. It is based on representing an area source as a set of line sources perpendicular to the wind direction; the number of line sources is determined by the specified precision of the concentration computed at a receptor impacted by the area source. Although AERMOD and the OML model incorporate versions of this approach, the open literature lacks an adequate description. This paper fills this important gap and also provides examples of its application. We show that different shaped area sources with the same emissions and emission density yield significantly different downwind concentration patterns. We then demonstrate the utility of the method through inverse modeling to estimate methane emissions from manure lagoons located in a dairy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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16 pages, 5973 KiB  
Article
Exposure Assessment of Ambient PM2.5 Levels during a Sequence of Dust Episodes: A Case Study Coupling the WRF-Chem Model with GIS-Based Postprocessing
by Enrico Mancinelli, Elenio Avolio, Mauro Morichetti, Simone Virgili, Giorgio Passerini, Alessandra Chiappini, Fabio Grasso and Umberto Rizza
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(8), 5598; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20085598 - 20 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1626
Abstract
A sequence of dust intrusions occurred from the Sahara Desert to the central Mediterranean in the second half of June 2021. This event was simulated by means of the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) regional chemical transport model (CTM). The [...] Read more.
A sequence of dust intrusions occurred from the Sahara Desert to the central Mediterranean in the second half of June 2021. This event was simulated by means of the Weather Research and Forecasting coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) regional chemical transport model (CTM). The population exposure to the dust surface PM2.5 was evaluated with the open-source quantum geographical information system (QGIS) by combining the output of the CTM with the resident population map of Italy. WRF-Chem analyses were compared with spaceborne aerosol observations derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and, for the PM2.5 surface dust concentration, with the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) reanalysis. Considering the full-period (17–24 June) and area-averaged statistics, the WRF-Chem simulations showed a general underestimation for both the aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the PM2.5 surface dust concentration. The comparison of exposure classes calculated for Italy and its macro-regions showed that the dust sequence exposure varies with the location and entity of the resident population amount. The lowest exposure class (up to 5 µg m−3) had the highest percentage (38%) of the population of Italy and most of the population of north Italy, whereas more than a half of the population of central, south and insular Italy had been exposed to dust PM2.5 in the range of 15–25 µg m−3. The coupling of the WRF-Chem model with QGIS is a promising tool for the management of risks posed by extreme pollution and/or severe meteorological events. Specifically, the present methodology can also be applied for operational dust forecasting purposes, to deliver safety alarm messages to areas with the most exposed population. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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18 pages, 1359 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Low-Carbon City (LCC) on Elderly People’s Health: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in China
by Shaohong Mu, Weixiu Li and Muhammad Mohiuddin
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9424; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159424 - 01 Aug 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1727
Abstract
Rapid urbanization has increased haze pollution, affecting the health of elderly people. This study uses low-carbon city (LCC) data and examines the effects of LCCs on improving the health of elderly residents. Our main purpose is to explore the following question: Can the [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization has increased haze pollution, affecting the health of elderly people. This study uses low-carbon city (LCC) data and examines the effects of LCCs on improving the health of elderly residents. Our main purpose is to explore the following question: Can the new urbanization model presented by the LCC alleviate haze pollution and enhance the health of middle-aged and elderly people? This study uses data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and the 2012 LCC pilot to explore whether the LCC can alleviate haze pollution and improve elderly people’s health. The study found that the building of LCCs can reduce blood pressure, improve vital capacity, decrease obesity, and improve memory levels, including short-term and long-term memory. The building of LCCs also reduces the probability of being exposed to haze pollution by increasing the city’s green total factor productivity and the use of green technologies. The study concludes that elderly people received health dividends as a result of the enhancement of living conditions, transportation, and medical support in the LCCs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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28 pages, 3733 KiB  
Article
Characteristics Analysis and Identification of Key Sectors of Air Pollutant Emissions in China from the Perspective of Complex Metabolic Network
by Jiekun Song, Lina Jiang, Zeguo He, Zhicheng Liu and Xueli Leng
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(15), 9396; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19159396 - 31 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1463
Abstract
Presently, China is in a critical period of economic transformation and upgrading. At the same time, it is also facing the pressure of serious atmospheric environmental pollution, which seriously threatens human health and hinders the sustainable economic development. Air pollutants are closely related [...] Read more.
Presently, China is in a critical period of economic transformation and upgrading. At the same time, it is also facing the pressure of serious atmospheric environmental pollution, which seriously threatens human health and hinders the sustainable economic development. Air pollutants are closely related to economic sectors, which together constitute a complex network. Air pollutants form an input–output ecological metabolic relationship among different sectors. Therefore, from the perspective of complex metabolic network, this study first constructs an environmental input–output model and then comprehensively uses the relevant methods of ecological network analysis and complex network analysis to analyze the characteristics of China’s air pollutant emission system. Secondly, the key joint sectors of NOx and PM emissions are determined from the supply side and the demand side, respectively. Finally, the corresponding emission reduction measures are proposed for the identified key sectors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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20 pages, 6763 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of PM2.5 Concentrations in China Based on Multiple Sources of Data and LUR-GBM during 2016–2021
by Hongbin Dai, Guangqiu Huang, Jingjing Wang, Huibin Zeng and Fangyu Zhou
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 6292; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19106292 - 22 May 2022
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 1918
Abstract
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has a continuing impact on the environment, climate change and human health. In order to improve the accuracy of PM2.5 estimation and obtain a continuous spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration, this paper proposes a LUR-GBM [...] Read more.
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has a continuing impact on the environment, climate change and human health. In order to improve the accuracy of PM2.5 estimation and obtain a continuous spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration, this paper proposes a LUR-GBM model based on land-use regression (LUR), the Kriging method and LightGBM (light gradient boosting machine). Firstly, this study modelled the spatial distribution of PM2.5 in the Chinese region by obtaining PM2.5 concentration data from monitoring stations in the Chinese study region and established a PM2.5 mass concentration estimation method based on the LUR-GBM model by combining data on land use type, meteorology, topography, vegetation index, population density, traffic and pollution sources. Secondly, the performance of the LUR-GBM model was evaluated by a ten-fold cross-validation method based on samples, stations and time. Finally, the results of the model proposed in this paper are compared with those of the back propagation neural network (BPNN), deep neural network (DNN), random forest (RF), XGBoost and LightGBM models. The results show that the prediction accuracy of the LUR-GBM model is better than other models, with the R2 of the model reaching 0.964 (spring), 0.91 (summer), 0.967 (autumn), 0.98 (winter) and 0.976 (average for 2016–2021) for each season and annual average, respectively. It can be seen that the LUR-GBM model has good applicability in simulating the spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentrations in China. The spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentrations in the Chinese region shows a clear characteristic of high in the east and low in the west, and the spatial distribution is strongly influenced by topographical factors. The seasonal variation in mean concentration values is marked by low summer and high winter values. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control of regional PM2.5 pollution in China and can also provide new ideas for the acquisition of data on the spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentrations within cities. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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14 pages, 3918 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Thermal and Roughness Effects on the Turbulent Characteristics of Experimentally Simulated Boundary Layers in a Wind Tunnel
by Giuliano Demarco, Luis Gustavo Nogueira Martins, Bardo Ernst Josef Bodmann, Franciano Scremin Puhales, Otávio Costa Acevedo, Adrian Roberto Wittwer, Felipe Denardin Costa, Debora Regina Roberti, Acir Mércio Loredo-Souza, Franco Caldas Degrazia, Tiziano Tirabassi and Gervásio Annes Degrazia
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(9), 5134; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19095134 - 23 Apr 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1664
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to analyse the thermal effects in a wind tunnel experiment to simulate the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Experiments were performed in the wind tunnel of the Laboratory of Constructions Aerodynamics at the Federal University of Rio Grande [...] Read more.
The aim of this paper is to analyse the thermal effects in a wind tunnel experiment to simulate the planetary boundary layer (PBL). Experiments were performed in the wind tunnel of the Laboratory of Constructions Aerodynamics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil. This wind tunnel is a closed return low-speed wind tunnel specifically designed for dynamic and static studies on civil construction models. As a novelty, one of the experimental sections of the wind tunnel was equipped with a metal sheet with Peltier elements coupled to it. In other words, thermal effects generating new flow patterns become feasible and open pathways to compare wind tunnel simulations to those in the PBL. Furthermore, measurements obtained with the smooth floor of the wind tunnel were repeated under the same conditions with the addition of the roughness in the floor, and the mechanical turbulence generated by the surface roughness significantly amplified the exchange of momentum and heat between the regions located in vertical direction of the wind tunnel boundary layer. In the presence of turbulent heat flux near the surface, thermal effects contribute to the increase of the turbulence intensity. Turbulent energy spectra for flow velocities and different heights were obtained using the Hilbert–Huang transform method, and the observed convective turbulence energy spectra behavior reproduced those measured in an unstable surface PBL. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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11 pages, 7580 KiB  
Article
Employing Spectral Analysis to Obtain Dispersion Parameters in an Atmospheric Environment Driven by a Mesoscale Downslope Windstorm
by Cinara Ewerling da Rosa, Michel Stefanello, Silvana Maldaner, Douglas Stefanello Facco, Débora Regina Roberti, Tiziano Tirabassi and Gervásio Annes Degrazia
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 13027; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413027 - 10 Dec 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1865
Abstract
Considering the influence of the downslope windstorm called “Vento Norte” (VNOR; Portuguese for “North Wind”) in planetary boundary layer turbulent features, a new set of turbulent parameterizations, which are to be used in atmospheric dispersion models, has been derived. Taylor’s statistical diffusion theory, [...] Read more.
Considering the influence of the downslope windstorm called “Vento Norte” (VNOR; Portuguese for “North Wind”) in planetary boundary layer turbulent features, a new set of turbulent parameterizations, which are to be used in atmospheric dispersion models, has been derived. Taylor’s statistical diffusion theory, velocity spectra obtained at four levels (3, 6, 14, and 30 m) in a micrometeorological tower, and the energy-containing eddy scales are used to calculate neutral planetary boundary layer turbulent parameters. Vertical profile formulations of the wind velocity variances and Lagrangian decorrelation time scales are proposed, and to validate this new parameterization, it is applied in a Lagrangian Stochastic Particle Dispersion Model to simulate the Prairie Grass concentration experiments. The simulated concentration results were shown to agree with those observed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Air Pollution Modelling)
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