Influence of traffic emissions on the street-level concentrations in an urban built neighborhood in Brazil: a MUNICH application
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Data
2023-10-30
Autores
Cevolani, Karina Tonoli
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Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo
Resumo
Air pollution is already considered the main environmental threat for human health. Especially in urban areas, exposure to high concentrations can be more frequently due to the proximity to traffic emissions and limited dispersion. Combination of air quality deterioration and rapidly urban growth may result in a increase of clinical cases. In order to analyze the influence of traffic emissions in Enseada do Suá, an urban neighborhood located in Vitória city/Brazil, simulations with MUNICH were performed to November and December/2019. Based on that, three additional emissions scenarios were proposed to provide subsidies for strategies for pollution control. Emissions data required by MUNICH was defined based on the emission inventory released by the State Institute of Environment and Water Resources (Base year 2015). Particularly, volatile organic emissions were chemically speciated following factors associated with combustion of Brazilian fuels available in the literature. Meteorological data and background concentrations were obtained from modelings with WRF-Urban model version 4.1.5 and Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model version 5.3.2, respectively. Street network and buildings were obtained from Vitória city hall’website. MUNICH simulations indicated that peaks of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were associated with low values of planetary boundary layer and/or friction velocity. In addition, a decrease by roughly 30% on the aspect ratio in a primary street (street 119 which is near to the air quality station placed at Enseada do Suá) resulted a decrease by 13.0%, 13.7% and 8.9% on the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 over streets 112 and 119 (near the Enseada do Suá station). A better agreement between modeled and observed NO2 concentrations were achieved when a correction on background concentrations were applied, which suggests that this pollutant is more affected by urban background. Regarding PM10 and PM2.5, results indicated a potential overestimation of resuspension emission. Hence, it is a key factor to obtain higher concentrations over the study area. With respect to the additional traffic emission scenarios, simulations showed that all urban mobility scenarios resulted in reductions on the air concentration. For all analyzed pollutants, largest decreases were obtained for null emissions on primary streets, which are the most relevant for the total emission rate estimated for Enseada do Suá. In this scenario, average PM10, PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations over street segments may be reduced by up 66.1%, 79.6% and 92.5%, respectively. However, violations to Brazilian standards and WHO air quality guidelines - 2021 (WHO 2021) were noted. Larger number of exceedings to the WHO 2021 in comparison to the current standards in Brazil suggest a need to update the national legislation. Finally, more ambitious strategies are required to control pollution in the study area aiming human welfare.
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Modelo MUNIQUE , Material particulado , Dióxido de nitrogênio , Cânions urbanos , Trânsito cenários de emissões