The evaluation of atmospheric pollution in Europe Wenche Aas EMEP/CCC (NILU) The EMEP Programme

Outline  History of EMEP (CLTRAP)  Environmental issues throughout the history of EMEP  Trends  Outlook

Long Range Transport of Air Pollution history  1866, “Brand” (H. Ibsen)  1872, The term ”Acid Rain” was introduced (R.A. Smith)  1881, Black snow observed in Southern Norway (W.C. Brøgger)  , reductions in salmon stocks in Southern Norway  1916, reduced trout stocks reported (Landmark, Dahl)  1934, First association made between acid rain and adverse effects on fisk populations was made (Torgersen)  1959, The relationship between Acid Rain and acidity in rivers and lakes was described (Dannevig)  , The relationship betweeen Acid rain and fish death was described (Odén, Dannevig).  , OECD-project and the SNSF-project  1979 CLTRAP “Brand” (Henrik Ibsen, 1866); ” Worse times, worse sights flashes through future nights! The sickening black coal clouds of the Brits descends on the country, soils all the fresh green, suffocates all green sprouts, moves low with poison mixed”

Protocols to the Convention 1)The 1984 Protocol on Long-term Financing of the Cooperative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe (EMEP protocol) 2)The 1985 Protocol on the Reduction of Sulphur Emissions or their Transboundary Fluxes by at least 30 per cent 3)The 1988 Protocol concerning the Control of Nitrogen Oxides or their Transboundary Fluxes 4)The 1991 Protocol concerning the Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds or their Transboundary Fluxes 5)The 1994 Protocol on Further Reduction of Sulphur Emissions 6)The 1998 Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). The Aarhus protocol 7)The 1998 Protocol on Heavy Metals. The Aarhus protocol 8)The 1999 Protocol to Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground- level Ozone. The Gothenburg multi-pollutant protocol

The EMEP vision; To be the main science based and policy-driven instrument for international cooperation in atmospheric monitoring and modelling activities, emission inventories and projections, and integrated assessment to help solve transboundary air pollution problems in Europe UN-ECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution ( 51 Parties) - 8 Specific protocols, where the first is European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) (42 Parties)

EMEP Topics  Acidification and Eutrophication Sulphur, Nitrogen, base cations  Photochemical oxidants Tropospheric ozone, precursors (NOx, VOC)  Heavy metals Pb, Cd, Hg, +++  Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) PAH, PCB, HCB, Chlordane, DDT/DDE...  Particulate matter PM mass, chemical speciation, physical characterisation

Light blue = no risk Forests – acid dep. Semi-natural – acid dep.Freshwater – acid dep. Health - PMHealth+vegetation - ozoneVegetation – N dep. Projections for 2020

Monitoring programme: Level 1 Main ions in precipitation and in air heavy metals in precipitations ozone PM 10 and PM 2.5 mass meteorology at ca 125 sites Level 2, supersite (joint EMEP/GAW) POPs Heavy metals in air and aerosols VOC EC/OC, OC speciation Mineral Dust PM speciation incl. gas particle ratio + all level 1 activities sites Both levels are mandatory by all Parties

Monitoring programme, Level 3 Optical propertiesScattering and absorption coefficients Research driven and voluntary,

Emissions 1980 Trends in Sulphur Modelled

Long-term changes in sulphur

k tons NO 2 /year Average 24% decrease Decreased NOx emissions are mainly due to changes in combustion sector Average 20% decrease Decreased NH 3 is due to activity changes and control measures in agricultural sector Trends in Nitrogen emissions, k tons NH 3 /year

Trends in observations, sites with N in air and 33 sites with S,N in precip and S in air Change in chemical composition in air. Less (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 and more NH 4 NO 3. Shift in equilibrium between HNO 3 + NH 3 = NH 4 NO 3 Emission reduction 65% 30% 22%

NOx Violet = 60% or more Red = % Yellow = % Green = the goal is achieved Emissions left to reduce, NH 3 SO 2

Spanish emissions Distance to target (Goth. Protocol) EMEP report 1/2006

Ozone baseline (1987 –2004) at Mace Head, Ireland

Ozone is a large health problem in Europe Summer 2003 ETC/ACC

8 th TFMM meeting, Dessau, 2007 Contribution of non-European sources to Hg depositions in the NH 25-60% of Hg depositions in Europe comes from global sources EMEP region Hg deposition to Germany Hg deposition to the UK Hg intercontinental transport

From 8 th TFMM meeting, Dessau, 2007 Contributions of different emission sources to total depositions of 2,3,4,7,8-PeCDF over Austria and Finland Austria 25% Slovakia 6% Poland 5% Germany 8% Czech Republic 9% Other 15% non-European sources 17% Re-emission 15% Finland Other 16% Poland 6% Russian Federation 5% Ukraine 3% Sweden 3% Finland 21% non-European sources 40% Re-emission 6% PCDD/F intercontinental transport

Particles cause large environmental problems  Local: health and visibility  Regional: acidification, eutrophication, ozone  Global: climate, (ozone layer)

50 % of PM 10 in Berlin is from regional background PM [µg/m³] urban background Urban areascountryside Traffic, local sources Ref: Martin Lutz, Senate Department for Urban Development Berlin

Radiative forcing by sulphate and by carbonaceous material High uncertainty in both direct and indirect effect of aerosols on the climate

Intensive measurements and modelling of size segregated chemical composition of aerosols in June 2006 and Jan 2007 Wenche Aas, Rami Alfarra, Elke Bieber, Darius Ceburnis, Thomas Ellermann, Martin Ferm, Marina Frölich, Robert Gehrig, HC Hansson, Gyula Kiss, Ulla Makkonen, Nichos Mihalopoulos, Eiko Nemitz, Rene P. Otjes, Noemí Perez, Cinzia Perrino, Jean Philippe Putaud, Christian Plass-Duelmer, Gerald Spindler, Svetlana Tsyro, Milan Vana, Karl Espen Yttri.

PM 10 June 2006 PM2.5 june 2006 PM 10 Jan 2007 PM 2.5 Jan 2007 PM 2.5 June 2006

Extreme episode, May 2006 CO, PM, O 3 and AOT were all record high Forest fires in eastern Europe observed in the arctic

 Challenges  Unresolved issues (Acid, Eutrophication, PM, Ozone, HMs/POPs)  Additional pollutants (new POPs, health relevant exposure,....)  climate change, biodiversity, biogeochemical cycles, hydrological cycle, land-use changes, biomass burning.....  Synergies wrt climate change  large overlap in parameters of relevance  Joint infrastructures  EMEP wrt GEO (GEOSS)  ”New” technologies: multiple platforms and data assimilation  Near-Real-Time data provision  GAS; GMES Atmospheric Service  Geographical coverage  Hemispheric and global transport fluxes  Regional vs. Local pollution issues EMEP in the years to come...

Thank you for the attention AND Congratulation with the 35 year anniversary !!