研究领域

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Air pollution Remote tropical oxidant chemistry

Air pollution Poor air quality, particularly in urban areas, has a demonstrable effect on human health, but the processes responsible for producing the main pollutants, namely particulate matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and heat are often not well understood and are poorly predicted. One of the most important air pollutants is NOx (the sum of NO + NO2), which is emitted largely from traffic exhausts and has direct health effects, as well as being a precursor for photochemical ozone (O3) formation, one of the major constituents of ‘smog’. Despite advances in vehicle technology over the past 10-15 years, NOx levels in the UK (especially in cities) have remained stubbornly high. In order to investigate possible reasons for this, NOx emissions were investigated by direct measurements of the NOx flux from an elevated site above central London (the BT tower) and from aircraft flights over central London (see pictures below). These flux measurements have been compared to the emissions estimates of various UK and London centric inventories, with the inventories typically under predicting the amount of pollutant emitted. This work will help improve these estimated emissions, which in turn should lead to improved predictions of current and future air quality and help to direct air pollution abatement strategy.