Effect of the Standard Nomenclature for Air Pollution (SNAP) categories on air quality over europe

Abstract

The contribution of different anthropogenic source-sectors on ozone mixing ratios and PM2.5 concentrations over Europe is assessed for a summer month (July 2006) using the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Models-3 framework and the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) anthropogenic emissions for 2006. Anthropogenic emission sources have been classified into 10 different Standard Nomenclature for Air Pollution (SNAP) categories. The road transport category, which is mainly responsible for NOX emissions, is estimated to have the major impact on Max8hrO3 mixing ratio suggesting an increase of 6.8% on average over Europe, while locally it is more than 20%. Power generation category is estimated to have the major impact on PM2.5 concentrations since it is the major source of SO2 emissions, suggesting an increase of 22.9% on average over Europe, while locally it is more than 60%. Agriculture category is also contributing significantly on PM2.5 concentrations, since agricultural activities are the major source of NH3 emissions, suggesting an increased by 16.1% on average over Europe, while in regions with elevated NH3 emissions the increase is up to 40%.