Objective The objectives are to characterize the injection of air pollutants that take place at the insular and peninsular level in the Mediterranean area and determine the long range transport scenarios for these pollutants.The RECAPMA project has served to corroborate earlier findings about the characteristics of the atmospheric circulations and their related air pollution cycles, chemistry, and long-range transport processes in Southern Europe. It has documented that pollutants can oscillate, and age within confined airsheds under episodic conditions in winter, or can be re-circulated over the coastal areas for extended periods of time in summer. In the first case, novel findings relate to the role of HONO in the photochemistry in large urban regions. In the second case high concentrations of photooxidants are generated which, within 2 to 3 days, act as the background airmass to new coastal emissions. These processes can be considered to form a large "photo-chemical reactor" which operates almost every day from spring to fall over the Mediterranean coastal areas. It can generate ozone levels several times higher than EC directives for damages to vegetation for periods lasting weeks to months. Finally, some of these aged pollutants can be transported into the mid-troposhere through convective or orographic injection and contribute to the long-range transport and/or exchange of photooxidants between Southern and Northern Europe.The project is structured in two phases: Compilation and treatment of historical data. Interfacing with other programs. Systematic measurements and/or data compilation and processing. Intensive field measurements. Data compilation and preliminary reporting. Systematic data compilation and processing. Intensive field measurements. Data compilation and interpretation. Simultaneous field campaigns will be initiated during this period. Parallel activities will include: development and verification of a suitable weather forecast procedure; organisation of field campaigns for measurement of the atmospheric flows and associated air quality parameters; study of the mixed layer evolution in Madrid and Rome, and diurnal cycles of their urban plumes; analysis of samples, data processing and reporting. Fields of science natural scienceschemical sciencesphysical chemistryphotochemistryengineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineeringnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorologyatmospheric circulationnatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollutionnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing Programme(s) FP2-STEP - Two specific research and technological development programmes (EEC) in the field of the environment STEP/EPOCH - STEP -, 1989-1992 Topic(s) Data not available Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator CENTRO DE INVESTIGACIONES ENERGETICAS, MEDIAMBIENTALES Y TECNOLOGICAS Address 22,avenida complutense 22 28040 Madrid Spain See on map EU contribution € 0,00 Participants (3) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE France EU contribution € 0,00 Address Rue de la federation 31-33 75015 Paris See on map INSTITUTO DE METEOROLOGIA Portugal EU contribution € 0,00 Address Rua c do aeroporto de lisboa 1749-077 Lisboa See on map NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ITALY Italy EU contribution € 0,00 Address Unical-polifunzionale 87036 Rende See on map
