Journal article
Multiscale predictions of aviation-attributable PM2.5 for U.S. airports modeled using CMAQ with plume-in-grid and an aircraft-specific 1-D emission model
Atmospheric environment (1994), Vol.147, pp.384-394
12/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/121142
Appears in Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT)
Abstract
Aviation activities represent an important and unique mode of transportation, but also impact air quality. In this study, we aim to quantify the impact of aircraft on air quality, focusing on aviation-attributable PM2.5 at scales ranging from local (a few kilometers) to continental (spanning hundreds of kilometers) using the Community Multiscale Air Quality-Advanced Plume Treatment (CMAQ-APT) model. In our CMAQ-APT simulations, a plume scale treatment is applied to aircraft emissions from 99 major U.S. airports over the contiguous U.S. in January and July 2005. In addition to the plume scale treatment, we account for the formation of non-traditional secondary organic aerosols (NTSOA) from the oxidation of semivolatile and intermediate volatility organic compounds (S/IVOCs) emitted from aircraft, and utilize alternative emission estimates from the Aerosol Dynamics Simulation Code (ADSC). ADSC is a 1-D plume scale model that estimates engine specific PM and S/IVOC emissions at ambient conditions, accounting for relative humidity and temperature. We estimated monthly and contiguous U.S. average aviation-attributable PM2.5 to be 2.7 ng m−3 in January and 2.6 ng m−3 in July using CMAQ-APT with ADSC emissions. This represents an increase of 40% and 12% in January and July, respectively, over impacts using traditional modeling approaches (traditional emissions without APT). The maximum fine scale (subgrid scale) hourly impacts at a major airport were 133.6 μg m−3 in January and 165.4 μg m−3 in July, considerably higher than the maximum grid-based impacts at the airport of 4.3 μg m−3 in January and 0.5 μg m−3 in July.
•A plume-in-grid approach increased U.S. aviation-attributable PM2.5 by 2–27%.•Alternative emissions increased U.S. aviation-attributable PM2.5 by 12–40%.•Subgrid-scale aviation PM2.5 impacts were up to 100× higher than grid-based impacts.
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Details
- Title
- Multiscale predictions of aviation-attributable PM2.5 for U.S. airports modeled using CMAQ with plume-in-grid and an aircraft-specific 1-D emission model
- Creators
- M.C Woody - University of North Carolina at Chapel HillH.-W Wong - Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA, USAJ.J West - Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USAS Arunachalam - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Publication Details
- Atmospheric environment (1994), Vol.147, pp.384-394
- Academic Unit
- Aviation Sustainability Center (ASCENT); Emissions
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd
- Grants
- 13‐C‐AJFE‐UNC-02, 04, 06, Federal Aviation Administration (United States, Washington) - FAA
- Identifiers
- 99900620454401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article