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 chemistryphotochemistry
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringair pollution engineering
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorologyatmospheric circulation
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdata sciencedata processing
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
28040 MADRID
Spain