EURODELTA-Trends, a multi-model experiment of air quality hindcast in Europe over 1990–2010
Journal article, 2017
The EURODELTA-Trends multi-model chemistry-transport experiment has been designed to facilitate a better understanding of the evolution of air pollution and its drivers for the period 1990–2010 in Europe. The main objective of the experiment is to assess the efficiency of air pollutant emissions mitigation measures in improving regional-scale air quality.
The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions.
The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions.
Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community.
The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.
The present paper formulates the main scientific questions and policy issues being addressed by the EURODELTA-Trends modelling experiment with an emphasis on how the design and technical features of the modelling experiment answer these questions.
The experiment is designed in three tiers, with increasing degrees of computational demand in order to facilitate the participation of as many modelling teams as possible. The basic experiment consists of simulations for the years 1990, 2000, and 2010. Sensitivity analysis for the same three years using various combinations of (i) anthropogenic emissions, (ii) chemical boundary conditions, and (iii) meteorology complements it. The most demanding tier consists of two complete time series from 1990 to 2010, simulated using either time-varying emissions for corresponding years or constant emissions.
Eight chemistry-transport models have contributed with calculation results to at least one experiment tier, and five models have – to date – completed the full set of simulations (and 21-year trend calculations have been performed by four models). The modelling results are publicly available for further use by the scientific community.
The main expected outcomes are (i) an evaluation of the models' performances for the three reference years, (ii) an evaluation of the skill of the models in capturing observed air pollution trends for the 1990–2010 time period, (iii) attribution analyses of the respective role of driving factors (e.g. emissions, boundary conditions, meteorology), (iv) a dataset based on a multi-model approach, to provide more robust model results for use in impact studies related to human health, ecosystem, and radiative forcing.
Author
Augustin Colette
Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS)
Camilla Andersson
SMHI
Astrid Manders
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
Kathleen Mar
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)
Mihaela Mircea
ENEA Centro Ricerche Bologna
Maria-Teresa Pay
Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
Valentin Raffort
École des Ponts ParisTech
S. Tsyro
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
C. Cuvelier
Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission
Mario Adani
ENEA Centro Ricerche Bologna
B. Bessagnet
Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS)
Robert Bergström
SMHI
Microwave and Optical Remote Sensing
Gino Briganti
ENEA Centro Ricerche Bologna
Tim Butler
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)
Andrea Cappelletti
ENEA Centro Ricerche Bologna
Florian Couvidat
Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS)
Massimo D'Isidoro
ENEA Centro Ricerche Bologna
Thierno Doumbia
Pantheon-Sorbonne University Paris
Hilde Fagerli
Norwegian Meteorological Institute
C. Granier
University of Colorado at Boulder
Pantheon-Sorbonne University Paris
C. Heyes
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Z. Klimont
International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Narendra Ojha
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Noelia Otero
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS)
M. Schaap
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO)
Katarina Sindelarova
Pantheon-Sorbonne University Paris
Annemiek I. Stegehuis
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
Yelva Roustan
École des Ponts ParisTech
R. Vautard
The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA)
Erik van Meijgaard
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Marta G. Vivanco
Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas (Ciemat)
Peter Wind
University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway
Geoscientific Model Development
1991-959X (ISSN) 1991-9603 (eISSN)
Vol. 10 9 3255-3276Subject Categories
Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Roots
Basic sciences
DOI
10.5194/gmd-10-3255-2017