Our experts provide policymakers with the scientific evidence required to make the best choices to improve air quality. This evidence is based on a detailed analysis of the current situation and future policy scenarios.
VITO offers the ATMO-Street model to derive high-resolution air quality maps down to the street level for air quality assessments and planning.
This model chain is integrated into a user-friendly ATMO-Plan tool harmonising air quality modelling for planning and environmental impact assessments.
ATMO-Street for urban air quality
ATMO-Street is a combination of modelling techniques ranging for the regional to the local scale used to create high-resolution air pollution maps.
The ATMO-Street model can be used to derive historic maps but can also be applied in scenario mode to analysis the impact op policy scenarios.
Key features:
- An intelligent interpolation model (RIO) for regional pollution levels is combined with a Gaussian dispersion model (IFDM) and a street canyon model (OSPM) to capture the different scales and sources influencing urban air quality.
- ATMO-Street handles emissions of all relevant sectors (e.g. road transport, shipping, air traffic, industry, residential and agriculture).
- The high-resolution maps are used to assess compliance with ambient AQ limits, identify hotspots for mitigation actions and provide insights into the geographical variation of air quality across a region or city.
QUARK for fast air quality screening
QUARK (Quick Urban AiR quality using Kernels) is a modelling approach developed for the fast calculation of urban air quality assessments at a high spatial resolution. It is a light version of the ATMO-Street model.
VITO developed QUARK to model pollution levels adown to street level (100m) according to European standard.
- Based on the underlying ATMO-Street methodology and applying pre-calculated ‘Kernels’, it allows fast modelling of the whole EU at a high spatial resolution.
- The methodology has been refined to achieve an improved methodology for NO2 exposure assessment at EU scale.
- The model is also extensively applied in NO2 source apportionment studies for road traffic emissions in all of Europe’s main cities.
ATMO-PLAN for harmonised air quality modelling
ATMO-Plan is an online user interface on top of the ATMO-Street modelling chain. It allows users to configure ATMO-Street input, launch model simulations on an high performance computer and visualise and analyse the modelling results.
ATMO-Plan is used to support the preparation of urban air quality plans in the context of the EU Ambient Air Quality Directive and by air quality consultants preparing air quality impact assessments for compliance with environmental planning regulations.
ATMO-Plan offers authorities a tool to harmonise the modelling approach in their region. The software is configured with all input data to run the baseline scenario for a specific location. The user interface offers a lot of flexibility to create additional scenarios targeting:
- Road traffic
- Residential emissions
- Industrial point sources
The integrated road traffic emission model FASTRACE applies COPERT emission information to turn road traffic volumes into emission information.
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Would you like to know more about air quality assessment and planning? Get in touch with Lisa today.
