Urban air quality mapping: new methodologies based on the GMES/COPERNICUS services ETC/ACM Technical Paper 2012/5

The objective of this study was to evaluate if new material available from recent and current projects could be used to update and improve methodologies and to support local decision makers in getting air pollution maps over their areas of interest, when they do not have the resources to develop their own mapping tools. More precisely, the objective is to define and assess approaches that can be easily coupled with Chemical Transport Model outputs delivered by the future operational GMES/COPERNICUS services (www.gmes-atmosphere.eu) and to promote the use of this material for urban issues in European countries. NO2, PM2.5 and PM10 issues are the main priorities for such work.

Several approaches are considered. Some of them are based on the current practises developed by the ETC/ACM and some others take advantage of new developments in recent research projects like the EC4MACS project fitted to provide methodological tools to the European Commission (http://www.ec4macs.eu).

Finally some examples of maps are provided for a sample of cities involved in the Air Implementation Pilot study launched in 2012 by the EEA with the aim of encouraging experience sharing across European cities and developing proposals for improved implementation of air regulation.

Prepared by: ETC/ACM Consortium member Laurence Rouïl (INERIS, France).

Published by: ETC/ACM, December 2012, 46 pp.