Using Higher Order Sensitivity Approaches to Assess Aircraft Emissions Impacts on O3 and PM2.5

Abstract

This study utilized an advanced sensitivity analysis, the higher order Decoupled Direct Method (HDDM-3D) as implemented in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) to quantify the impacts of aviation emissions during the landing and takeoff (LTO) cycle at nine individual airports; five located in regions of attainment of O3 and PM2.5 NAAQS: Boston Logan (BOS), Kansas City (MCI), Raleigh Durham (RDU), Seattle-Tacoma (SEA), and Tucson (TUS); and four located in regions of nonattainment: Chicago O’Hare (ORD), Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta (ATL), John F. Kennedy (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX). Fuel burn changes needed at the four nonattainment airports ranged from −14.9 (357,185 less tons) to −3.3 (55,715 less tons) times less fuel burned and from 1.6 (29,826 more tons) to 3.1 (79,584 more tons) times more fuel burned to reduce ambient PM2.5 by 0.1 μg/m3 and O3 by 1 ppb, respectively. Fuel burn changes needed at the five attainment airports ranged from 20.4 (39,516 more tons) to 48.0 (397,180 more tons) times more fuel burned and from −449.0 (−477,734 less tons) to −24.0 (46,648 less tons) times less fuel burned to increase ambient PM2.5 by 0.1 μg/m3 and O3 by 1 ppb, respectively. Using these estimates for a range of airports, we demonstrate an illustration of how HDDM-based sensitivity calculations can be used to develop source specific impacts on potential attainment designations for a region.