US EPA

1563169 

Journal Article 

Athens air quality and importance of biogenic emissions: A case study 

Polymeneas, P; Pilinis, C 

2008 

1 

Global NEST Journal
ISSN: 1790-7632
EISSN: 1108-4006 

10 

2 

151-160 

WOS:000257936200004 

Two three dimensional Eulerian air quality models, PMCAMx and UAM-AERO are used to predict the concentrations of various pollutants in the Greater Athens Area (GAA) during the episode of June 22-26, 2003. The predicted levels of gases and aerosol pollutants are compared with measured concentrations from monitoring stations, in order to evaluate the performance of the models. Comparison of the results reveals that PMCAMx simulated the ozone diurnal pattern better than UAM-AERO, as the predicted by UAM-AERO maximum daytime concentrations were much higher than those of PMCAMx and way above the measured ones. PMCAMx also shows signs of superiority in terms of its ability to predict the NO2 and NO concentrations. Two sets of simulations, one with both anthropogenic and biogenic emissions and one without biogenic emissions were performed. Comparison of the two simulations reveals the important role that biogenic emissions play in the formation Of 03, NOx and secondary aerosols. Additional simulations with PMCAMx show that the concentrations of all the pollutants depict a highly non-linear behaviour, when anthropogenic VOC emissions are reduced in the GAA. 

biogenic emissions; ozone; nitrogen dioxide; nitrogen monoxide; VOCs; aerosols; modeling; PMCAMx; UAM-AERO