Modelling Street-Scale Resolution Air Quality for the West Midlands (UK) Using the ADMS-Urban RML System

Abstract

Air pollution is a major environmental concern in urban areas, causing substantial adverse effects on human health. This study simulated street-scale resolution air quality for the West Midlands region in the UK using a regional-to-local coupled system, which combined the regional CMAQ model with the local ADMS-Urban model, without double-counting emissions. CMAQ was used to represent dispersion on large temporal and spatial scales, while ADMS-Urban represents the local short-term dispersion from explicit point and road sources. Both models were evaluated against observations with reasonable performance, i.e. CMAQ captured measured air pollutant concentrations at background sites, while coupled ADMS-Urban RML (Regional Model Link) also captured air pollution concentrations at roadside sites, where local effects were important. Street scale air quality maps were produced from the ADMS-Urban RML, which can be linked to health-related exposure studies. The coupled air quality modelling system for WM serves as an effective tool to evaluate potential regional and local air pollution mitigation policies.