Open Access Publication of the Month – Dr. Philipp Franke (ICE-3) et al.
2 July 2024
To encourage us all to broaden our horizons, each month the Central Library selects one open access publication from the JuSER publications portal to be featured in the newsletter of Forschungszentrum Jülich.
In this month’s open access publication, Dr. Philipp Franke, Dr. Anne Caroline Lange, and Prof. Dr. Andreas Wahner (all ICE-3) write about the state of European air quality in relation the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and the impact of different scenarios for reducing anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants on mortality.
For this study, the team modelled European air quality using the Jülich chemical transport model EURopean Air pollution Dispersion – Inverse Model (EURAD-IM). The emission scenarios within this model simulate the EU targets up to 2030 as well as further emission restrictions, which are aimed in particular at avoiding particulate matter that is harmful to health. The model calculations are based on 4-dimensional (spatio-temporal) variational data assimilation analyses of emissions in 2016.
The results of the simulations show that the WHO guidelines for ozone and particulate matter in particular were exceeded by a factor of up to 2 and 5.6, respectively. Emissions from individual sectors would have to be reduced by between 41 % and 79 % in order to achieve the EU’s targets. However, these emission reductions would lead to a 47 % decrease in mortality from air pollution compared to 2016. In order to reduce particulate matter to concentrations below the WHO guidelines, strong emissions prevention strategies are needed that go far beyond the current EU targets.
The open access publication entitled “European air quality in view of the WHO 2021 guideline levels: Effect of emission reductions on air pollution exposure” was published in the journal Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene.
JuSER publications database – European air quality in view of the WHO 2021 guideline levels: Effect of emission reductions on air pollution exposure
Internet – Institute of Climate and Energy Systems – Troposphere (ICE-3)