For the first time, the Canary Islands will have access to air quality prediction information.
High spatial and temporal resolution emissions systems will be created based on official data from the annual emissions inventories reported by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO).
A collaborative web portal will allow visualising and downloading data on the daily evolution of GHG emissions in Spain and its main metropolitan regions.
The results and tools developed will be available to the public administration, the scientific community, private entities and citizens.
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) and the State Meteorological Agency of Spain (Agencia Estatal de Meteorología, AEMET) have joined forces to improve the representation of atmospheric emissions and completing the air quality prediction and greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring systems in Spain. This collaboration is part of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia, PRTyR) funded by the European Commission to repair the harm caused by the Covid-19 crisis.
One of the main actions of the project is the development of a national emission system at very high spatial (up to 1 km x 1 km) and temporal (hourly) resolution, which will cover all the autonomous communities and will include, for the first time, the Canary Islands. This initiative will provide detailed data on air pollutants emitted by anthropogenic, biogenic and biomass burning sources, such as nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. These data will improve the accuracy of the national air quality forecasting system that AEMET develops and operates, as well as the quality of the information derived from this system for decision-making.
The action includes as a differential the use of official annual emission inventory data registered by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico, MITECO). This will make it possible for this information to be used in future modelling work to support the new European Directive on air quality, recently approved by the European Parliament. During the project, knowledge transfer will be carried out through practical workshops to promote the use of the system and foster collaboration between different actors.
According to Marc Guevara, researcher at the BSC's Department of Earth Sciences and scientific coordinator of the project, this initiative has great potential to represent in detail when, where and how atmospheric emissions are generated. "The accuracy of air pollutant emissions that we will obtain will not only improve air quality modelling in Spain, but also support applications in public health and environmental management".
Another relevant action in the project is the creation of a national monitoring system for GHG emissions, including carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4), which combines data from emission inventories with observations derived from ground-based instruments operated by AEMET. In addition, a collaborative web portal will be developed to visualise, analyse and download the data estimated by the system, facilitating the monitoring and assessment of GHG emissions in Spain.
The main objective of this action is to develop a GHG emissions modelling system in near real time, with a high spatial (1 km x 1 km) and temporal (daily) resolution. This will support entities representing large GHG sources, such as cities, with actionable information on their emissions with the spatial, temporal and sectoral resolution needed to assess and guide progress towards GHG reduction targets set for the coming years.
The expected impact of these actions is significant. For Carlos Pérez García-Pando, ICREA and AXA Professor, and co-leader of the BSC’s Atmospheric Composition group: "Air quality and climate change significantly affect health, well-being and economic development. With this project, Spain will increase its strategic capabilities for predicting and monitoring atmospheric pollutants and greenhouse gases, enabling better decision-making for their control and contributing to international efforts to mitigate climate change”.
The collaboration between AEMET and the BSC is also a fundamental axis in this initiative. Yolanda Luna Rico, Head of AEMET's Development and Applications Department, highlights: "Thanks to the funds of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTyR), it has been possible to articulate a collaboration with the BSC whose results will be a successful example of cooperation between a public operational centre such as AEMET, and a public supercomputing centre, such as the BSC".
Picture: Rubén Pérez Planillo