The impact of ship emissions on air quality and human health in the Gothenburg area – Part 1: 2012 emissions

• Published in: Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2020-06, Vol.20 (12), p.7509-7530
• Main Authors: Tang, Lin, Ramacher, Martin O. P, Moldanová, Jana, Matthias, Volker, Karl, Matthias, Johansson, Lasse, Jalkanen, Jukka-Pekka, Yaramenka, Katarina, Aulinger, Armin, Gustafsson, Malin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Air freight services; Air pollution; Air pollution control; Air quality; Air quality management; Airborne particulates; Cargo ships; Coasts; Computer simulation; Confidence intervals; Domains; Emission analysis; Emission standards; Emissions; Emissions control; Exposure; Fatalities; Governance; Harbors; Harbours; Health; Life expectancy; Life span; Mortality; Nitrogen compounds; Nitrogen dioxide; Nitrogen oxides; Organic compounds; Outdoor air quality; Ozone; Particulate emissions; Particulate matter; Particulate matter emissions; Pollutants; Pollution abatement; Ports; Quality management; Regulation; Scale models; Ship terminals; Shipping; Sulfur; Sulphur; Summer; Suspended particulate matter; Titration; Traffic models; Urban air; Urban air quality; Vehicle emissions; VOCs; Volatile organic compounds
• ISSN: 1680-7324; 1680-7316; 1680-7324
• DOI: 10.5194/acp-20-7509-2020

Ship emissions in and around ports are of interest for urban air quality management in many harbour cities. We investigated the impact of regional and local ship emissions on urban air quality for 2012 conditions in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, the largest cargo port in Scandinavia. In order to assess the effects of ship emissions, a coupled regional- and local-scale model system has been set up using ship emissions in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea as well as in and around the port of Gothenburg. Ship emissions were calculated with the Ship Traffic Emission Assessment Model (STEAM), taking into account individual vessel characteristics and vessel activity data. The calculated contributions from local and regional shipping to local air pollution in Gothenburg were found to be substantial, especially in areas around the city ports. The relative contribution from local shipping to annual mean NO.sub.2 concentrations was 14 % as the model domain average, while the relative contribution from regional shipping in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea was 26 %. In an area close to the city terminals, the contribution of NO.sub.2 from local shipping (33 %) was higher than that of road traffic (28 %), which indicates the importance of controlling local shipping emissions. Local shipping emissions of NO.sub.x led to a decrease in the summer mean O.sub.3 levels in the city by 0.5 ppb (â¼2 %) on average. Regional shipping led to a slight increase in O.sub.3 concentrations; however, the overall effect of regional and the local shipping together was a small decrease in the summer mean O.sub.3 concentrations in the city. In addition, volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from local shipping compensate up to 4 ppb of the decrease in summer O.sub.3 concentrations due to the NO titration effect. For particulate matter with a median aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 2.5 µm (PM.sub.2.5 ), local ship emissions contributed only 3 % to the annual mean in the model domain, while regional shipping under 2012 conditions was a larger contributor, with an annual mean contribution of 11 % of the city domain average.