Grantee Research Project Results
2012 Progress Report: Analysis of the Co-benefits of Greenhouse Gas Abatement for Global and US Air Quality under Future Climate Scenarios
EPA Grant Number: R834285Title: Analysis of the Co-benefits of Greenhouse Gas Abatement for Global and US Air Quality under Future Climate Scenarios
Investigators: West, J. Jason , Hanna, Adel , Smith, Steven J. , Horowitz, Larry W. , Emmons, Louisa , Vizuete, William
Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Current Institution: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory , National Center for Atmospheric Research , Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: September 1, 2009 through August 31, 2013
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2011 through August 31,2012
Project Amount: $300,000
RFA: Adaptation for Future Air Quality Analysis and Decision Support Tools in Light of Global Change Impacts and Mitigation (2008) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Air , Climate Change
Objective:
Actions to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) will affect air quality directly through reductions in emissions of co-emitted air pollutants, and indirectly through changes in global climate. Research on the effects of climate change on air quality has emphasized meteorological downscaling to translate future climate change from general circulation models (GCMs) to a regional scale. Here we propose to emphasize methods of chemical downscaling, in which future climate and pollutant emissions will be simulated in a global chemical transport model (CTM), to provide initial and boundary conditions for a U.S.-focused regional CTM. We use these methods to address the air quality co-benefits of actions to reduce GHG emissions, both globally and in the United States, by analyzing the mitigation of methane emissions and the control of GHGs generally, in future scenarios to 2050.
Progress Summary:
We have published one journal article supported by this project (Smith, et al., 2011), demonstrating methods to evaluate air pollutant concentrations in a global CTM as part of the process of developing RCP scenarios. We completed the MOZART-4 global simulations for Task 2 for several scenarios and future years, and have added an analysis of health outcomes related to these scenarios. For Task 1, the meteorological downscaling has been completed, and work to set up the CMAQ simulations is under way. Finally, for Task 2, work to downscale future simulations of global climate to the United States is under way.
Future Activities:
In the near-term, we plan to focus on completing a manuscript for the global co-benefits analysis that we recently completed. For Task 1, we will focus on the CMAQ simulations, with a goal of writing a journal article on this work in the next year. For Task 2, we will focus on meteorological downscaling of future climate simulations, to allow analysis of the co-benefits research in the United States.
Journal Articles on this Report : 1 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 15 publications | 6 publications in selected types | All 6 journal articles |
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Smith SJ, West JJ, Kyle P. Economically consistent long-term scenarios for air pollutant emissions. Climatic Change 2011;108(3):619-627. |
R834285 (2009) R834285 (2011) R834285 (2012) R834285 (Final) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
PM2.5, PM10, multi-pollutant strategies, climate-air interactions
, RFA, Air, Atmosphere, Air Pollution Effects, climate change, air quality, environmental monitoring, GHGRelevant Websites:
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.