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Applied Sciences
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Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies
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Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2019) | Viewed by 28144

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Mihaela Mircea

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA), Via Martiri di Monte Sole, 4, 40129 Bologna,Italy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue aims to bring together air quality evaluation studies at different scales: from street level to regional scale; using models, observations (measurements, retrievals from ground and satellite instruments) or both; addressing traditional pollutants (SO2, NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5), as well as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, mercury, sea-salt aerosol, dust, etc. The studies including different kind of models or models’ inter-comparisons are also welcomed, as well as those dedicated to evaluate, in detail, the chemical composition of aerosol, in particular of secondary organic fraction.

As you know, air-quality evaluation studies are fundamental for understanding atmospheric processes and developing improved air quality and climate models, for assessing the impact of pollutants on human health and ecosystems, and for developing and evaluating air quality plans.

Recent technological developments (low-cost sensors, air pollution data from satellites, aerosol chemical speciation monitors, heavy metal monitors, etc.) make more detailed and more extensive evaluations possible; therefore, new approaches are continuously developed and need to be shared. In addition, studies which evaluate the impact of nature-based solutions on air quality in urban environments would enhance knowledge in this area.

This Special Issue seeks to collect contributed papers and review articles from different countries and different continents, synthesizing the current understanding of this area and suggesting new questions and directions for further research.

Sincerely,

Dr. Mihaela Mircea
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. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

Jump to: Review

13 pages, 1699 KiB  
Article
Desert Dust Contribution to PM10 Loads in Styria (Southern Austria) and Impact on Exceedance of Limit Values from 2013–2018
by Marion Greilinger, Johannes Zbiral and Anne Kasper-Giebl
Appl. Sci. 2019, 9(11), 2265; https://doi.org/10.3390/app9112265 - 31 May 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1983
Abstract
From a legislators point of view, the contribution of natural sources to PM10 loads is relevant since their impact can be subtracted from the daily limit value of PM10 as regulated in a working staff paper by the European Commission (EC), [...] Read more.
From a legislators point of view, the contribution of natural sources to PM10 loads is relevant since their impact can be subtracted from the daily limit value of PM10 as regulated in a working staff paper by the European Commission (EC), supporting the European Air Quality Directive (2008/50/EC). This work investigates its applicability for two stations in Austria over a time period of six years (2013 to 2018), as the occurrence of long-range transport of desert dust is observed on a regular base. Different stations and different statistical parameters were evaluated to determine the regional background load and subsequently the net dust load (NDL). Results reveal an adapted approach of the methodology described by the EC, using the +/− 15-day mean average of the PM10 at the regional background station, together with threshold criteria to identify only desert dust affected days. The results of calculated NDLs were in good agreement with crustal loads determined on filter samples during two desert dust events in 2016. Thus, the application of the EC method for a region in Central Europe, which experiences a regular but less pronounced impact of desert dust than stations in the Mediterranean, is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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17 pages, 10349 KiB  
Article
Estimation of High-Resolution Daily Ground-Level PM2.5 Concentration in Beijing 2013–2017 Using 1 km MAIAC AOT Data
by Weihong Han, Ling Tong, Yunping Chen, Runkui Li, Beizhan Yan and Xue Liu
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2624; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122624 - 14 Dec 2018
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 2941
Abstract
High-spatiotemporal-resolution PM2.5 data are critical to assessing the impacts of prolonged exposure to PM2.5 on human health, especially for urban areas. Satellite-derived aerosol optical thickness (AOT) is highly correlated to ground-level PM2.5, providing an effective way to reveal spatiotemporal [...] Read more.
High-spatiotemporal-resolution PM2.5 data are critical to assessing the impacts of prolonged exposure to PM2.5 on human health, especially for urban areas. Satellite-derived aerosol optical thickness (AOT) is highly correlated to ground-level PM2.5, providing an effective way to reveal spatiotemporal variations of PM2.5 across urban landscapes. In this paper, Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) AOT and ground-based PM2.5 measurements were fused to estimate daily ground-level PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing for 2013–2017 at 1 km resolution through a linear mixed effect model (LMEM). The results showed a good agreement between the estimated and measured PM2.5 and effectively revealed the characteristics of its spatiotemporal variations across Beijing: (1) the PM2.5 level is higher in the central and southern areas, while it is lower in the northern and northwestern areas; (2) the PM2.5 level is higher in autumn and winter, while it is lower in spring and summer. Moreover, annual PM2.5 concentrations decreased by 24.03% for the whole of Beijing and 31.46% for the downtown area from 2013 to 2017. The PM2.5 data products we generated can be used to assess the long-term impacts of PM2.5 on human health and support relevant government policy decision-making, and the methodology can be applied to other heavily polluted urban areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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19 pages, 4344 KiB  
Article
Intercomparison of the CALMET/CALPUFF Modeling System for Selected Horizontal Grid Resolutions at a Local Scale: A Case Study of the MSWI Plant in Krakow, Poland
by Robert Oleniacz and Mateusz Rzeszutek
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(11), 2301; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8112301 - 19 Nov 2018
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3435
Abstract
Increase in grid resolution in atmospheric non-steady-state dispersion models induces a more faithful reflection of the area surface, and thus contributes to more detailed and diversified calculation results but also significantly prolongs the calculation time. This paper presents the influence of horizontal grid [...] Read more.
Increase in grid resolution in atmospheric non-steady-state dispersion models induces a more faithful reflection of the area surface, and thus contributes to more detailed and diversified calculation results but also significantly prolongs the calculation time. This paper presents the influence of horizontal grid resolution in the CALMET/CALPUFF modeling system on the results of air quality impact assessment in a local scale carried out for the Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI) Plant in Krakow using the maximum permissible emission of NOx. Subject to comparative analysis were four grids of the following resolutions: 100, 250, 500 and 1000 m. A direct intercomparison of air concentrations was made for 676 discrete receptors with the use of statistical indicators. On the basis of the calculations and analyses, it has been stated that, depending on the regular grid spacing, some differences in calculated concentrations can occur affecting the results of the air quality impact assessment. The highest concentrations in all computational receptors present in the given case were obtained for 100 m grid spacing. When compared to a grid of 100 m, the relatively smallest discrepancies were obtained for a grid of 250 m, with an already significantly shortened calculation time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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12 pages, 3057 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Water Curtain Effectiveness in the Elimination of Airborne Vapours of Ammonia, Acetone, and Low-Molecular Aliphatic Alcohols
by Tomasz Węsierski and Małgorzata Majder-Łopatka
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(10), 1971; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8101971 - 18 Oct 2018
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3098
Abstract
The paper presents results of comparative tests related to the effectiveness of water curtains in the elimination of airborne vapours of ammonia, acetone, and low-molecular aliphatic alcohols. The determined effectiveness of water curtains for acetone and methanol is by about half an order [...] Read more.
The paper presents results of comparative tests related to the effectiveness of water curtains in the elimination of airborne vapours of ammonia, acetone, and low-molecular aliphatic alcohols. The determined effectiveness of water curtains for acetone and methanol is by about half an order of magnitude smaller than for ammonia. An evident reduction in curtain effectiveness was recorded with an increase of the length of aliphatic chain of alcohols. Tests conducted for the four lightest representatives of primary alkanols point to an evident decrease in t1/2 for further representatives according to the equation t1/2 = 203.3N − 41.5. It was found that methanol is removed by the curtain in the shortest time from among the tested alcohols (t1/2 = 137 s) and 1-buthanol the most slowly (t1/2 = 782 s). The obtained results indicate the effectiveness of water curtains in incidents that comprise uncontrolled release of vapours of compounds being tested. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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16 pages, 8617 KiB  
Article
Optimization Scheme for Construction Ventilation in Large-Scale Underground Oil Storage Caverns
by Heng Zhang, Jianchun Sun, Fang Lin, Shougen Chen and Jiasong Yang
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(10), 1952; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8101952 - 17 Oct 2018
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2999
Abstract
The ventilation effect has a direct influence on the efficiency and security of the construction of an underground cavern group. Traditional forced ventilation schemes may be ineffective and result in resource wastage. Based on the construction ventilation of the Jinzhou underground oil storage [...] Read more.
The ventilation effect has a direct influence on the efficiency and security of the construction of an underground cavern group. Traditional forced ventilation schemes may be ineffective and result in resource wastage. Based on the construction ventilation of the Jinzhou underground oil storage project, an axial flow gallery ventilation mode using shafts as the fresh air inlet was proposed. A 3D steady RANS (Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes) approach with the RNG (Renormalization-group) k-ε turbulence model was used to study airflow behavior and hazardous gas dispersion when different ventilation schemes were employed. Field test values of the air velocity and CO concentration in the main cavern and construction roadway were also adopted to validate the RNG k-ε turbulence model. The results showed that the axial flow gallery ventilation mode can ensure that the direction of air flow is the same as that of heavy trucks, fresh air is always near the excavation face, and the disturbance of the construction process is greatly reduced. The scheme is suitable for large-scale caverns with a ventilation distance less than 2 km, and an intermediate construction shaft is not needed. When the ventilation distance exceeds 2 km, it is possible to use jet fans to assist the axial flow gallery ventilation mode or to completely adopt jet-flow gallery ventilation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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Review

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28 pages, 2170 KiB  
Review
Machine Learning Approaches for Outdoor Air Quality Modelling: A Systematic Review
by Yves Rybarczyk and Rasa Zalakeviciute
Appl. Sci. 2018, 8(12), 2570; https://doi.org/10.3390/app8122570 - 11 Dec 2018
Cited by 138 | Viewed by 13231
Abstract
Current studies show that traditional deterministic models tend to struggle to capture the non-linear relationship between the concentration of air pollutants and their sources of emission and dispersion. To tackle such a limitation, the most promising approach is to use statistical models based [...] Read more.
Current studies show that traditional deterministic models tend to struggle to capture the non-linear relationship between the concentration of air pollutants and their sources of emission and dispersion. To tackle such a limitation, the most promising approach is to use statistical models based on machine learning techniques. Nevertheless, it is puzzling why a certain algorithm is chosen over another for a given task. This systematic review intends to clarify this question by providing the reader with a comprehensive description of the principles underlying these algorithms and how they are applied to enhance prediction accuracy. A rigorous search that conforms to the PRISMA guideline is performed and results in the selection of the 46 most relevant journal papers in the area. Through a factorial analysis method these studies are synthetized and linked to each other. The main findings of this literature review show that: (i) machine learning is mainly applied in Eurasian and North American continents and (ii) estimation problems tend to implement Ensemble Learning and Regressions, whereas forecasting make use of Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines. The next challenges of this approach are to improve the prediction of pollution peaks and contaminants recently put in the spotlights (e.g., nanoparticles). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring and Modeling: Air Quality Evaluation Studies)
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