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Biogenic emissions in the Mediterranean area

Objective

To quantify the emission rates of selected reactive trace gases from vegetation to the atmosphere in the Mediterranean Basin.


The BEMA project will focus on those trace gas species that take an active part in tropospheric photochemistry, especially reactive volatile organic compounds and reactive oxygenated species.

The core of the study will be a series of intensive field measurement campaigns conducted at a minimum of three sites in France, Italy and Spain. Both emission fluxes and the ambient concentrations of the primary compounds and their reaction products will be determined.

The field measurement campaigns will be complemented by a series of other activities, including the identification of the major vegetation types in the mediterranean Basin, intercomparison exercises, laboratory experiments to identify emitted species and hydrocarbon reaction products.


Emission and concentration data obtained from these and other sites will be extrapolated to allow an estimation of the emission and concentration of these trace gases from vegetation in the entire Mediterranean Basin. Comparisons will be made with anthropogenic concentrations.

These data will be of value for the parameterisation of tropospheric chemistry models and in particular will allow assessment of the role of these compounds to ozone formation and consumption. Without such data the effects of proposed EC emission control strategies on ozone formation cannot be predicted for the photochemically active Mediterranean region.

The project is related to a first phase 1994-1995, mostly devoted to the measuring campaigns; a second is foreseen for 1996-97, to complete the in-field measurements and to scale-up the experimental data.

A preliminary measuring exercise of 15 days with the participation of all 13 laboratories involved has been performed at Castelporziano near Rome in June 1993. The exercise was successful in providing information on the test site and in tuning the BEMA objectives.

Call for proposal

Data not available

Coordinator

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF ITALY
EU contribution
No data
Address
Unical-Polifunzionale
87036 RENDE
Italy

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Total cost
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Participants (11)